Torontoist » Urbanist

Urbanist: Walking All Over The Pedestrian

Erinn Cunningham — Thu, 20 Dec 2007 17:00:00 +0000

Urbanist is a photo series that will look at developments, architecture, trends and activities happening in various cities––including our own––to inspire the urbane urbanist at home to make Toronto a better place.

Everyone in Eastern Canada noticed that there was a snow storm on Sunday. No doubt, people in many places have had a tough time getting around as a result. Toronto and many other cities talk a good talk about pedestrians being at the top of the list when it comes to the transportation hierarchy. The City’s Official Plan, which exists to guide policy and development, clearly puts pedestrians at the top of the list, and at the bottom, the private vehicle. However, when a storm like this hits, it seems that reality doesn’t match the rhetoric being offered. Pedestrians are at the bottom, left to wait while the private automobile takes precedent.
Four days after the storm hit, many city sidewalks are only being cleared now. Highways and arterial roads were cleared not long after the storm hit. Residential streets followed a day or so afterwards. Sidewalks that aren’t in front of businesses or homes come last, since many have not been cleared yet. It seems that the people running the city forget that at some point, we are all pedestrians, even if it is while we walk to the bus stop, or on our way to our cars. Either way, expect your journey on foot to be a challenge. Urbanist would suggest a protest to change the state of affairs, but with all that snow, who could march without tiring themselves out?
Photo by Erinn Cunningham

Urbanist: Take Something, Leave Something

Erinn Cunningham — Thu, 13 Dec 2007 14:00:00 +0000

Urbanist is a photo series that will look at developments, architecture, trends and activities happening in various cities––including our own––to inspire the urbane urbanist at home to make Toronto a better place.

Sometimes what makes a city great are small, less obvious things that make you smile, or better yet, engage your environment in a more active way. Around Ottawa, you can find swap boxes like the one shown above on telephone poles or construction hoardings. They are guerilla art. Their concept is simple: take something and leave something. It can mean leaving something like a trinket, a poem, a drawing, or mini treatise on why you think the current state of affairs sucks. The boxes themselves can be messages: the one above lampoons Ottawa’s current mayor for being hell-bent on a tax freeze, and asks what you’re willing to trade to get a 0% tax increase. Swap libraries for a tax freeze, maybe?
While they’re not going to change the world, swap boxes at least represent a small step towards engaging people in a large city and trying to have some fun at the same time. Civic spaces can’t always be programmed spaces with the right street furniture. Sometimes they need unprogrammed, spontaneous elements that make people stop and think outside the box for a moment.
Photo by Zoom! at www.knitknut.net

Urbanist: So Long, Roy’s Square

Erinn Cunningham — Wed, 28 Nov 2007 16:00:00 +0000

Urbanist is a photo series that will look at developments, architecture, trends and activities happening in various cities––including our own––to inspire the urbane urbanist at home to make Toronto a better place.

December will bring about the demolition of the building at the southeast corner of Yonge and Bloor to make way for the gargantuan condo development known as One Bloor East. Urbanist is generally supportive of the condo boom since it means more people living downtown and not in the sprawling suburbs. However, this development is an example of how redevelopment can hurt the urban fabric. If 80 storeys of condos isn’t enough, Roy’s Square, a laneway that frames the site, will disappear along with the building it surrounds. While this may not be catastrophic, it represents the loss of a refuge from a bustling part of downtown where office workers can go and grab some a reasonably priced lunch while they sit on the patio that adorns the laneway and watch people. Without these little side streets where smaller businesses can thrive in a downtown core, a shopping district can lose its diversity, as only the biggest retailers can survive. A big city needs to foster small places to remain diverse and vibrant.
Photo by Erinn Cunningham

Urbanist: Supporting The Local Arts

Erinn Cunningham — Wed, 21 Nov 2007 16:00:00 +0000

Urbanist is a photo series that will look at developments, architecture, trends and activities happening in various cities––including our own––to inspire the urbane urbanist at home to make Toronto a better place.

While Toronto has been making headlines in recent years for its investment in artistic institutions such as the Art Gallery of Ontario, Royal Ontario Museum, and the Four Seasons Centre for the Performing Arts, Ottawa has been in the spotlight of late because of the new theatre built by the Great Canadian Theatre Company (GCTC). The GCTC recently opened up a brand-new home at Wellington Street and Holland Street in partnership with Windmill Developments, a local developer with a green bent. The Irving Greenberg Centre For The Performing Arts occupies the first two levels of The Currents, a green condominium project.
While the architecture is a little bland, the project is a good development for two reasons. First, the condos and theatre both incorporate green building technologies in the design, lessening the environmental footprint of the building. More importantly, this project is an important step towards sustainability for the local arts. In a city where the local arts scene is often overshadowed by national arts institutions, this represents an important investment in local arts and reinforces attempts at neighbourhood-building in the area. It also bolsters the creative element’s presence, which is important when trying to build an innovative city. While Toronto’s local arts scene is thriving, the Irving Greenberg Centre For The Performing Arts is an important reminder that local arts and artists, not just big institutions, need the support of philanthropic and government investments as well.
Photo by Erinn Cunningham.