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Regional governance model sorely needed in the Greater Toronto Area
Over the last few days, it has been a transit junkie’s feast. Last week David Quarmby from Transport for London (TfL) was at the Toronto Region Board of Trade touting a regional governance model to oversee transit. An eye opener was Quarmby’s proposal of TTC being handed over to Metrolinx, which I will discuss later. Along […]
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Getting to yes means departing from Jacobsian activism
Originally posted on Global News on January 31, 2014. Jane Jacobs was a community activist in the 1960’s during a time of urban renewal. Slums were being razed for highway projects. Downtowns and urban areas were crime-ridden. Activists were deafened. Jane Jacobs railed against planners and engineers of the day because urban renewal was the […]
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Craft beer urbanism – putting the hop back into cities
Originally posted for Global News on January 6, 2014 What is craft beer urbanism you ask? If urbanism is about bringing people together through culture and placemaking, then craft beer urbanism creates that interaction through its location decisions and ability to congregate local residents as well as tourists. As with urban planning trends and movements, […]
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Transit leadership is about making difficult choices, not the status quo
Originally posted on Global News on December 20, 2013. Leadership is about making the tough decisions. Colin Powell said “Being responsible means pissing people off.” Leadership is not about repackaging the status quo. Last week, the Transit Investment Strategy Panel did just that. On the one hand, Anne Golden, with the release of the panel’s […]
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The Return of the Community Mall
Cover Image Credit: Real Estate, Arthur Hammond, 1973 This article was originally posted by me on July 20th, 2012, then reposted on The Urbanist on July 24th with my permission. Yorkdale Shopping Centre was the first regional shopping centre in Canada built in 1964. It was a burgeoning mall with Simpson’s, Eaton’s and Dominion as its anchor stores. […]