A Mississauga man took the city to court over not mowing his lawn - and won www.cbc.ca/news/canada/...

"The Ontario Superior Court has ruled that Mississauga’s tall-grass by-law violates the Charter right to freedom of expression, setting an important precedent for environmental stewardship and municipal accountability" wolfruck.com/ontario-cour...

Applications are now open for funding from Toronto’s Outside Mural & Street Art Program tinyurl.com/yc3czdat

Great, detailed review of "Messy Cities", citing many of the authors, putting it in broader context - a and a great table of words used for neat and messy urbanism. urbanspringtime.blogspot.com/2026/01/mess...

"Sandwiched between a wave of contemporary high-rise developments, the 1800s homes on Draper Street might just be a testament to how heritage properties can co-exist with modern architecture." www.thestar.com/news/gta/a-s...

"There’s a metal artist in Toronto who has left thousands of pieces of guerilla artwork all around the city. Usually found in the form of small metal plaques etched with drawings and bolted to municipal infrastructure ..." www.torontotoday.ca/local/arts-c...

Astonishing that cities continue to fight naturalized front yards - even when they have bylaws allowing such exemptions. www.thestar.com/news/gta/the...

Extremely funny to call the pope “holier-than-thou”

Nice to see Messy Cities in good company!

Delightful storymap of the work of Toronto Nature Stewards at Middle Mill in the Don Valley. Shaping rewilding that is happening naturally in order to support native species and biodiversity. storymaps.arcgis.com/stories/cc2e...

Guerrilla sign art! www.theguardian.com/world/2025/d...

Giant pitcher in Taddle Creek park gives tribute to the now-buried creek.

Kensington Winter Solstice Parade, my favourite night of the year. It started a bit b4 this snippet I shared last night before we joined in and started walking along. Here’s the start of the route, utterly packed into the intersection: a riot of colour & echoing sounds of 🎶 of several bands.

I had a lot of fun writing my contribution to this one … alongside so many great urbanists!

Excited to get this shout-out!

Sam the Record Man - Toronto Canada 1968

life determining moments are without fanfare… #StreetPhotography #StreetMural #ArtIsEverywhere #Toronto 🇨🇦

The LEGO Tower on Harbord Street by Toronto artist Martin Reis.

Holyday's motion to discontinue a grant program that provides bottled water to homeless people FAILS 3-22.

Street art and tags. Still lit at 8:19am. West Toronto Railpath.

"Rapid transit must be rapid" is the sort of completely commonsense obvious fact that so often seems to fail to occur to most of Toronto council.

I love this so much. Please never change those factory passwords, traffic engineers!

Extremely Scrooge-coded

Honestly, have people who say this sort of thing never been to Europe or East Asia? (The countries eating our lunch on reducing traffic violence.) Yes, they've made a bunch of design changes to reduce speeds, and have much better transit. But they also have speed and red light cameras everywhere.

This is depressing. So many strong candidates.

Ghost outline of fallen leaf

More endorsements!

"Messy Cities" at Type Books in The Junction - alongside books by contributor @smkasman.bsky.social !

A winter, sunset-y walk through the Betty Sutherland trail. cc @torontoboris.bsky.social

He’s passed away now and there’s a new owner. But Mr. Hather of the Hather House on Ruskin used to put out painted signs, and wood carvings and all sorts of incredible things on his fences and front porch at Christmas.

A nice recommendation!

Always so interesting to see one's city through outside eyes. Can sometimes realize you have good ideas that you weren't conscious of.

Episode from @99pi.org that touches on how Sesame Street modelled messy urbanism. With a chaser about creating public spaces for those messy teenagers. 99percentinvisible.org/episode/649-...

5. Adaptable Cities and Temporary Urbanisms by Lauren Andres. bsky.app/profile/moda...

10. Messy Cities - Why We Can’t Plan Everything by @dylanreid.bsky.social, Zahra Ebrahim, Leslie Woo, and @JohnLorinc. bsky.app/profile/moda...

Encampment by @maggiehelwig.bsky.social and Messy Cities (ed. Zahra Ebrahim, Leslie Woo, @dylanreid.bsky.social, and @johnlorinc.bsky.social) are top sellers by Canadian-owned publishers! (#16 and #23, respectively.)

Trekked to the 7 Subway at Grand Central today to see “Abstract Futures” (2025), the newest public artwork to grace the walls of the New York City subway system, designed by the feminist art collective Hilma’s Ghost, a 600-square-foot glass mosaic mural. Remarkable!

Messy Cities: Why We Can't Plan Everything (ed. @johnlorinc.bsky.social, @dylanreid.bsky.social, Leslie Woo, and Zahra Ebrahim) on @canadianarchitect.bsky.social's Best Books for Canadian Architects 2025 list! www.canadianarchitect.com/best-books-f....

This right here is the joy of city living. You often encounter your fellow human beings doing spontaneously excellent things.

Home-made wayfinding on Geary Ave.

Public art display frame on a wall on Dovercourt

"Toronto has more than 1 million regulatory signs" www.thestar.com/news/gta/is-...

“Urban Acupuncture” — How Pocket Forests Heal Our Cities with Adrian Wong of SUGi internetofnature.substack.com/p/s6e7-urban...

It’s Black Creek

The Premier is taking away speed cameras near schools. In unrelated news, BRING BACK THIRD SPACES! Even if we have to reclaim them ourselves! ✊ #BikeTO #WalkTO #LoiterTO #VisionZero #TOpoli #ONpoli

Toronto’s white squirrel #Toronto #Photography #StreetArt

Ask for more bikeshare glam shots and you shall receive

Children and snails wandering the world Finding agency in digital and real worlds open.substack.com/pub/colinell...

He grew up in a time before Toronto banned neighbourhood stores. Here's what he says we're missing www.thestar.com/real-estate/... via @torontostar

Great review of "Messy Cities" in the Literary Review of Canada, by @fabulavancouver.bsky.social . With shout-outs to @smkasman.bsky.social and @theurbangeog.bsky.social, among others . And in very distinguished company with Richard Harris's latest book. reviewcanada.ca/magazine/202...