When trying to solve the problem of the lack of affordable housing, the thinkers and planners and innovators and design enthusiasts come up with some pretty creative ideas. Like the IKEA House, for example, or the notion of shipping container architecture. A group of Toronto activists are proposing a "use it or lose it" bylaw "that would see vacant and underutilized buildings and spaces expropriated by the City and redeveloped as badly needed affordable......

Former Torontoist contributor Ted Healey came across a great find at the Wellesley & Ontario condo and townhouse development known as "The Star of Downtown." Previously the subject of an Ugly Stick here on Torontoist, the condo's advertisements have seen plenty of scorn since they were put up. The latest addition to the front facade is thanks to someone named Defy, who has decided to give a voice to the gay urban professionals artificially......

The elite of the documentary film world gathered this morning at Revival for a press conference announcing the lineup of this year's Hot Docs festival. It's a powerhouse program, which TVO's Rudy Buttingnol attributes to the filmmakers and the growing importance of the medium. "Documentaries are helping change the way people think," says Buttingnol, who will also receive the inaugural Outstanding Industry Achievement Award. "Just look at how governments around the world are now trying......

A conference about culture-led regeneration in Toronto headed up by independent non-profit real-estate developer Artscape took place yesterday at the Joseph Workman theatre at the Queen Street CAMH. In recent days, the unpopular OMB ruling to demolish the historic Abell Street building and its 80 live-work studios has crystallized the dire need to improve methods of city planning for many citizens. This has left many people asking, how do we go forward and make things......

The urban sprawl in Toronto is a continual point of debate on Torontoist (see, for instance, our interview with Brad Lamb), but tomorrow you will get a chance to share your opinions on the matter outside of our sullied comment threads. On Monday, 7pm to 9pm at the Parkdale branch of the Toronto Public Library, fourth year students from Ryerson University will present their study of gentrification in Parkdale, followed by a moderated panel......

Brad J. Lamb is not, to put it gently, universally loved. As head of his eponymous Brad J. Lamb Realty, he is a titan of Toronto's condo industry, the closest thing we have to a Trump -- right down to his new TV show that airs in February, Big City Broker. And, as titans tend to be, Lamb is a polarizing character; indeed, it seems that the only thing Lamb has in common with......

Before we begin, we'd like to extend our deepest sympathies to the family of James Kim. We are not, by any means, trying to discount that tragedy by juxtaposing posts about the Kims with more light-hearted posts. It's the nature of doing a compilation such as this one: we're trying to give a full slice of the goings-on in the Ist-a-Verse: the good, the bad, and the ugly. Londonist wants you to know where to......

Blame international architect Will Alsop for the latest Queen West trend. When his design for the Westside Lofts condo presentation centre was constructed near Queen and Gladstone, many regarded the multi-coloured swiss cheese structure as garish and ugly. At yet, the building's hideousness has proved the secret to the condo project's attention-getting strategy. Clearly, other Queen West businesses have taken a cue from Alsop's design. Art supply store Woolfitt's sits in the shadow of......

Torontoist still has mixed feelings about condos. On one hand, they're harbingers of gentrification, and are often built with little or no regard for the surrounding neighbourhoods. On the other hand, it beats paving over another patch of forest or farmland for a subdivision. So just what is the place of the condo in Toronto? That's what Condo Boom!, a group show currently running at the Theatre Centre, looks at. The show features work by......

Former TOist contributor J. Kelly Nestruck won't be giving a Trampoline Hall lecture about this, although we think it would work as a topic, Mr. Nestruck is actually presenting Montreal film Roger Toupin, Épicier Variété a film about a neighbourhood grocer and how the forces of gentrification affects a neighbourhood institution. "I have been waiting and waiting for it to show up in Toronto theatres. With gentrification such a hot button issue in this......

Part of the networked city, the pigeon condo has been erected down at Yonge and Lakeshore, under the Gardiner. Promo material explains: Pigeon Condo is developing luxury housing for pigeons at the desirable intersection of Yonge Street and the Lakeshore Boulevard, in the heart of Toronto's revitalized waterfront. Showings of the presentation suite are happening this weekend, On Saturday (June 3rd) Tej Ajji will speak about gentrification, there will be pigeon feeding and model......

54east, the half-art, half-BIAish, bus route inspired magazine recently released its Spring 2006 issue. The cover story, points of origin, profiles in a positive, hard working way, successful entrepreneurs whose businesses line the Wexford neighbourhood. The article includes photos of Ian Leventhal's murals of the same business owners. Fortunately, the subscribe button on the 54east website doesn't work, which means you'll have to go out and visit this free-from-gentrification-worry neighbourhood and pick yourself up......

In due time, you'll be able to fold a map of city in half, with Yonge Street as the crease, and witness the more or less symmetry in Starbucks locations on Queen Street. One Starbucks is on Queen West in Beaconsfield, site of the infamous "Drake you ho this is all your fault" tag of last year. The other is planned for Queen East in Leslieville, home of the infamous commenter Joe Clark. More......

Even with the gentrification of the Gladstone and the Drake, the Queen West strip still has it's quirky nature intact. We found these bottle people dancing around at the corner of Queen and Beaconsfield practically at the hotel's doorstep.......

Gentrification finally, finally wrought a bookstore. With the addition of Type, the stretch of Queen West across from Trinity Bellwoods Park officially moves into the lead as the quaintest little block in the West. No longer just a place to buy cushions and tin trinkets, you can now snag yourself a book to get sticky with croissant fingers as you spend your summer Saturdays reading in the park. Specializing in "the nicest editions of everything,"......

One of the complaints of the Toronto arts scene is that it's far too downtown-centric. Yet interestingly many of its artists, and many many Torontonians actually come from and some still live in the suburbs. Couple this with the gentrification happening all over downtown Toronto and you can come to the conclusion that sooner or later artists will be priced out of their downtown live/work spaces and crappy basement apartments. This is what Brenda Goldstein,......

Someone please fire the marketing team at Landmark Building Group. The marketers at this developer's have come up with this painfully obnoxious video advertising their lofts. We've seen better acting and production from late night spots and these ads simply scream gentrification. The video touts the location of their project (right across from the Drake) and has one of the most asinine slogans we've seen in recent memories ("Are you on the list?"). It's a......

It goes without saying: This winter's must-have fashion item is the chunky heel. The trendy style of boot, resurrected only this year, appear to be making a lasting impression on the fashion community. This article, entitled "Boots march to superstardom," sets the tone as such:No longer an afterthought to a collection, boots are now seen as an integral part of creating an image for a line, as well as a useful new revenue stream......

Sometime Saturday afternoon, Martin Zimmerman opened the door to his grocery store and rung in his first customer. There was no fanfare, no balloons or streamers, no band or ribbon cuttings, Martin Zimmerman simply opened his doors and let the throng of Saturday shoppers stumble upon his store. His Freshmart, which would be a fairly unassuming grocery store anywhere else in the city, has raised the ire of many in the neighbourhood because of......