Results tagged “urbanplanning”

Back in May, when the Metro Central YMCA announced they were planning a green roof to accompany other repairs, it was an idea that made sense: the rooftop running track was a flat, ugly expanse of hot concrete, and certainly not much to look at from the surrounding condo towers. Originally intended as a outdoor terrace for exercising and lounging, it barely served the purpose—it was much more comfortable to run on the air-conditioned interior track, and with nowhere to sit on the hard surface, the area didn't lend itself to yoga classes, stretching, or even a nice place to read a book.

The next time somebody tells us that Toronto is in the midst of a war on cars we are going to buy them a plane ticket to Copenhagen. Or possibly Bogotá. New York if they want something closer to home. We will send them to one of the growing number of cities that are actually demonstrating the nerve to redefine their planning priorities in favour of liveability and environmental sustainability and dare the auto-obsessed malcontents to say that they aren't all the better for it. For all the recent controversies over Toronto's Bike Plan and Walking Strategy, over our notions of just talking about taking down one portion of one disastrous highway, and converting one traffic lane on a road that is not used to capacity [PDF] to allow five times the number of people to use it on their bikes, Toronto's initiatives are piddling, tentative, nibbling-around-the-edges sorts of things when compared with what is happening elsewhere in the world.

Ever wonder what distinguishes a good bicycle rack from a bad one? Or what the optimal buffer is between a bike lane and a parked car? If so, then last week's Bike Summit was the place for you, as active transportation activists, transportation planners, urban infrastructure experts, and assorted cycling gurus came together to consider these and other such questions. Organized by the Toronto Coalition for Active Transportation (TCAT), the second annual conference was a day-long extravaganza devoted to everything on two wheels.

Following a protracted day of heated debate over a plan that should really have been a no-brainer, City Council wisely passed the measure that would remove the reversible centre lane of traffic on Jarvis Street (one which should never have been added in the first place) in return for a four-kilometre stretch of curbside bike lane. Opponents complained that not many cyclists use Jarvis Street and it was therefore unfair to add a few minutes to Rosedale commuters' travel time; proponents say that the street operates like a downtown highway, and that the unusually narrow lanes are a deathtrap for cyclists—and therefore a deterrent. Drivers gripe that people on bikes are aggressive; cyclists answer that eighty kilos of pugnacity is no match for 2,000 kilograms of steel. And so on, and so on. The acrimony between cyclists and automobilists may have yet to be assuaged, but even kids in kindergarten learn the importance of sharing.

The Metro Central YMCA at Yonge and Grosvenor found itself with a problem, but one that led to a new opportunity: the roof is leaking and needs extensive repairs. Featuring a running track and not much else, the large concrete rooftop slab is more akin to the upper deck of a parking garage than a place to exercise or enjoy, but its barren configuration made it a premium site for a forthcoming downtown green roof.

Between the 1950s and 1990s, the urbanized area of the GTA more than tripled from 193 square miles to 656. Yet, in the same time period, the population only doubled. Toronto became, former mayor John Sewell writes, "a city that resembled Vienna surrounded by Los Angeles." In The Shape of the Suburbs (UTP, 2009), Sewell sets out to investigate how low-density sprawl became the predominant urban form in the suburbs beyond Metro Toronto, what is now the 905 region.

In her ambitious new book, The Walkable City (Véhicule Press, 2008), Mary Soderstrom writes: "The walkable city, the oldest kind of city is going to be the key to whatever success we have in meeting the challenges of the future."

Bad Buildings recently had the unusual ambivalent fortune (that is to say, neither good nor bad; we're reserving judgment lest you get the impression we're an urbanity snob—heaven forbid) of traveling north on Hurontario Street in Mississauga, past the intersection of Burnamthorpe Road. For the urbanity snobs among you, this would be Mississauga downtown—a nifty bit of urban planning that says, hey, we CAN build a "city" out of nuthin'. (Note ambivalent tone torquing only-and-ever-so-slightly)

Love or loathe the spindly structure on the OCAD grounds, you'll have a chance to speak to one of the minds behind the Alsop North America creation tomorrow evening courtesy of Salon Voltaire.

Downtown corners are speckled with hot dog vendors selling wieners to hungry pedestrians. There are no salad bar carts, no roti carts, no souvlaki carts, and no Chinese bun carts. Food vendors on the street sell hot diggity dogs due to Toronto's strict public health bylaws:

Food preparation must be limited to the reheating of precooked meat products in the form of wieners or similar sausage products to be served on a bun. Hazardous raw meats (hamburger patties, steaks, shish kabobs, farmers sausage and chicken) must not be cooked on the cart.

As for street eats, it’s wieners or nothing. Health-conscious and multiethnic food lovers must go elsewhere. There are also stipulations for the vending cart itself, which include policies on umbrellas and condiment protection. The street food vending bylaws differ from the regulations for preparing food inside of a vehicle. Kitchens on wheels such as Chinese food trucks on the U of T campus and ice cream trucks are permitted to sell their food since cooking, pouring, dicing, and slicing in a vehicle is acceptable.

Are you a fan of municipal development and urban planning? Do you read Spacing (or at least say you do)? Then you should endeavor to visit A Visual Legacy: The City of Toronto’s Use of Photography, 1856-1997, an exhibition of images from the City of Toronto Archives.

The TTC has gotten approval to start construction on the St. Clair Right of Way. Hopefully this ends the protracted legal squabble that had more twists and turns than a John Grisham novel, including a decision overturned because one of the judges had a conflict of interest. Torontoist, has strongly supported faster, better transit and honestly doesn't feel that a ROW will destroy the neighbourhood like the folks at Save Our St. Clair claims. Inconvenience cars and deliveries maybe, but destroy a whole neighbourhood? Last time I checked the best way to do that was not fixing gridlock and by pushing a heavy amount of traffic onto your streets.

We were shaking our heads in disappointment when Mayor Miller announced that the city would support empowerment of the Toronto Waterfront Revitalization Corp. (TWRC), but only if he was placed on its board- a familiar story of bureaucratic stalemate. The recent announcement of the Waterfront Design Review Panel, however, is surely a sign of hope in repairing this city's post-war urban planning faux pas.

The PugAws are advised by a supreme council of pugarbitors, all of them 'individuals who are experts in their respective fields who share a passion for improving architecture and urban planning in the City of Toronto.' And indeed, who could deny that Geddy Lee and Jeanne Beker are experts in their respective fields. We're more than happy to pug along with these cultural savants. Bring on that crystal monstrosity!