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...

How 300,000 commuters built a retail destination — Why retail at Toronto's Union Station was inevitable brandondonnelly.com/how-300000-c...

The other buildings of downtown: normative fabric. The everyday structures that don’t stand out, but frame the landmarks we notice. Often overlooked, they’re the backbone of downtowns. When cities value them, real local character emerges. #detroit #urbanobservations

My friend Jode Roberts in today’s Toronto Star - “You do not need 50 conversations to feel the difference. You might only need one. And you never know what a single Tuesday morning coffee chat can set in motion” www.thestar.com/opinion/cont...

Anyway, perhaps you want something else to read after 24 hours of the global goon show.

One of the most important housing strategies is to protect the affordability you already have. Toronto’s MURA Program helps non-profits buy at-risk private market rental housing to maintain it as affordable housing. Buildings like this one acquired by St. Jude to preserve affordability for 20 homes.

My top urbanism discoveries of 2025! (1/6) Toronto architect Siamak Hariri’s Bahá'í Temple in Santiago. The Wave in Vejle, Denmark by Henning Larsen. The new mass timber Central Metro Station in Naples, designed by EMBT studio Fjordenhus by Olafur Eliasson and Sebastian Behmann in Vejle, Denmark

“Give way” … one bus equals 80 cars and 80 people (on the back of all the city buses in Baku).

More midrise. Earlier this year, Council approved designating 283 km of new “Avenues” across the City for midrise development. Two weeks ago, the first phase of as-of-right zoning to implement those policies was approved (including here on Ossington Ave.).

“By reading this plaque, you have made a valuable addition to the number of people who have read this plaque” … an important heritage moment on the streets of Toronto (by artist Sarah Lazarovic).

Holiday reading.

Before and after. Adding some gentle density and contemporary design on Ossington Avenue in Toronto by architect StudioAC.

Is YOUR city the kind that encourages this kind of energy, whether it’s art, or just surprising, unexpected fun? I think every city should — it’s what I call a #CityOfSmiles (click on the hashtag to see other examples from around the world, and share your own!)

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

“While over half of the households in the US want to live in walkable places … less than 8 percent of the built environment is walkable” www.cnn.com/2025/12/19/t...

Growing the network. Another 20 km of new bikeway projects, including completing some critical “missing links”, have been approved for implementation across the city.

Graffiti Alley, Toronto

The City of Toronto’s Planning and Development Review Divisions have a new one-window web portal for information about community consultation meetings related to planning initiatives and development applications. Check it out at haveyoursay.toronto.ca/city-plannin...

With new developments, we’re always looking for opportunities to create new cultural spaces. Crow’s Theatre & Blackhurst Cultural Centre are great examples. Up next, a 32,000 sqft. creative/cultural hub in Queen West. We’re now looking for non-profit partners to animate the space tinyurl.com/57sujnu

The Children’s Art Factory in the restored 1875 Raymond Sewing Machine building on Yarmouth Street in downtown Guelph.

If our cities are shaped by stories, then great books form the foundation of knowledge and inspiration needed to build more liveable, inclusive and prosperous places. These are 24 titles we read this year that informed our approach to changing hearts, minds and streets. An #UrbanismBookClub thread.

"Local safe streets advocate has more photos of bike lanes, crosswalks and intersections than of his family from recent vacation." www.creativebyrovelo.com/therovelorec...

60 new rental homes under construction in south Etobicoke by developers Oben Flats and Windmill Developments. The 9-storey project is prefabricated using mass timber for both the structure and envelope.

Are you interesting in cities and how to make them better for everyone? Bluesky has, in my observation, the biggest and best community of urbanists and city-builders on social media, and STARTER PACKS were a KEY to creating that! I have a bunch of them. This was my first! go.bsky.app/G7isZfk

I’m looking forward to returning to speak at the Urban Future “Better Cities” event. If you haven’t been, it’s one of the best global urbanism conferences out there. The 2026 event will be taking place in March in Ljublana urban-future.org

Cool job alert!

Help lead the continued revitalization and re-imagination of Toronto’s waterfront! The City Planning Division is looking for a new Director to lead the Waterfront Secretariat. Details at jobs.toronto.ca/search/

It was also kind of crazy to be reminded of how much the needle has moved on housing policy the past few years in Toronto and Ontario, in part thanks to orgs like @moreneighboursto.bsky.social. Of course the needle needs to be pushed much further and there’s much more work to do!

The people want transit. This is an hour early and it’s freezing cold. Bigger than the crowd for the Elizabeth line (more places to wait for that though…)

You don’t see this very often anymore. 30 storeys of hand-laid brick. This is Fitzrovia’s Sloane project in North York.

“I was interested in the … unfinished quality you find in paintings by Jackson Pollock, for instance, or de Kooning … I wanted to try that out in a building.” www.theglobeandmail.com/arts/art-and...

A new route to a new park. The Don Roadway bike trail and pedestrian path is now open to Ookwemin Minising island and Biidaasige Park (Toronto).

This social post is brought to you by the letter U! 🤩 Discover the origins of yearning for walkable cities and good neighborhoods with Anna Kodé on this week's episode of 99 Percent Invisible. Available everywhere you get your podcasts 👉 https://bit.ly/48kSFTK

Check it out! Toronto’s Cycling and Pedestrian Projects team is now on Bluesky. That means Toronto City Planning and Toronto Cycling are both here … what more could anyone need?

Ground has been broken at what will be Canada's largest new co-operative housing project in over 30 yrs, with 612 rent-controlled homes. Kennedy Green designed by Henriquez Partners Architects for CreateTO, Civic Developments, Windmill Developments and the Co-Operative Housing Federation of Toronto.

Toronto’s #EmploymentAreas are vital areas designated for employment uses and economic growth and are home to 381,270 jobs in 2025. These areas continue to be a primary location for export-oriented and goods-producing businesses, hosting 91.9% of all Manufacturing jobs. https://ow.ly/oGbj50XA9EC

And visible on satellite in Apple Maps & Here WeGo maps (the two I use).

Our new island is now showing up on Google Maps! (Ookwemin Minising island in Toronto)

Great to see the Toronto architecture community giving voice to the importance and impact of the Toronto Green Standards and green roof by-law.

From a gas station to 57 new homes. New midrise in Scarborough (Windmill Development, Oben Group and RAW Architects).

The earliest iteration of the Toronto Green Standard (TGS) helped to shape Evergreen Brick Works into the environmental landmark it is today. Read more about how Bill 60 and Bill 17 will affect the TGS. #CelebratingGreenStandards #Bill60 #Bill17 #onenvironment

The future home of the Canadian Helen Keller Centre … 56 affordable and accessible homes in south Etobicoke.

Permeable roadway pavers in the reconstructed Riverside Drive in Etobicoke.

Happy #NationalHousingDay. Grateful for my team and partners across sectors working to build a more inclusive Toronto. Housing is about dignity and belonging, and I’m committed to doing my part so everyone has a safe, secure and affordable home. #CityofToronto #DevelopmentReview #CityPlanning

Curved corridors to limit a shooter’s sight lines. Bullet-proof glass. Concrete “bump outs” in hallways to provide hiding places. This is the sad new architecture of American high schools. www.youtube.com/watch?v=mXeM...

LivLofts residential conversion of a 1971 International Style office building in Don Mills by developers FRAM + Slokker and Cadillac Fairview and architect Giannone Petricone Associates.

Are you a business owner or employee in a Toronto strip plaza? Your voice can guide future City planning related to commercial space and small business supports. Take part in our PlazaPOV Survey and tell us what matters most to you and your community. Learn more: www.toronto.ca/PlazaPOV.

Future archaeologists and alien visitors are going to be so confused...

The 9.5 metre tall “Seated Bear With Friends” by artist Dean Drever, overlooking the new park and playground at the Crosstown development in Toronto.

SOMETHING NEW: Since SO MANY great new books on cities, city-building & urbanism have been published since I did my “Top 100” List back in 2013, on 100 (non-consecutive) days I’ll profile 100 NEWER BOOKS for the #UrbanismBookClub in THIS thread! Starting today (in no order), with “Messy Cities!” 1/