Every bit of bike infrastructure in Toronto is an opportunity for dishonest pandering. Here’s the Toronto Sun falsely reporting that an existing bike lane is new. And Brad Bradford’s campaign complaining about the non-change. This lane is years old. torontosun.com/news/local-n...

Wow I love this

Kengo Kuma and Paul Raff win the Banff visitors' centre competition. It's a strong scheme, appropriately (but not slavishly) contextual. If built it will be the best architecture the federal government has delivered in decades. www.canadianarchitect.com/parks-canada...

This is the context in which some political leaders want to expand Billy Bishop airport. – cc @greglindsay.org – cc @alexbozikovic.bsky.social

Raccoon Park, Toronto. Elaborate design and consultation process leads to this. Chaotic site plan with weird wedges of grass that have been trampled and killed by dogs. Expensive shade structure that provides shade to a place you can’t sit.

Weird integrity TO is not here driving & filming the 8:47am morning rush hour chaos on Bathurst that the transit lanes have caused.

Toronto keeps building parks that try to do everything at once - and end up doing nothing well. A look at how the city’s parks dept has lost the plot on design, process and public space. And yes: We can do better.

Toronto: Truck City

End of the McLaughlin Planetarium in Toronto. Operated 1968-1995.

I wrote about a city being set in motion

Toronto keeps building parks that try to do everything at once - and end up doing nothing well. A look at how the city’s parks dept has lost the plot on design, process and public space. And yes: We can do better.

In 2005 Ontario’s Liberal government passed an excellent anti-sprawl, pro-intensification planning policy. That meant building apartments in Toronto. That, not this, was democracy in action. www.thegrindmag.ca/how-ontarios...

Lots of people, lots of green, no cars. It exists and it is wonderful.

Any suggestions on a new name for the Ontario Place spa and waterpark? They might need one. #ONpoli www.theglobeandmail.com/canada/artic...

Nice to see one (retired) Liberal have the spine to stand up against this ludicrous and destructive plan www.tvo.org/article/anal...

The crucial line in the MP's reply is, "As a frequent user of Billy Bishop Airport..."

On Toronto's island airport, only Carney can stop the madness. Where is the case for an expansion? And what else could this place be? My column: www.theglobeandmail.com/canada/artic...

This piece does something incredibly rare in our local context, but it's important - it specifically calls out the conversion of affordable rooming houses to "luxury single family homes". This is a problem local advocates have been pointing out for awhile, so it's nice to see it named in this op-ed.

YES

On Toronto's island airport, only Carney can stop the madness. Where is the case for an expansion? And what else could this place be? My column: www.theglobeandmail.com/canada/artic...

What a clown. Every word of this is the most obvious nonsense.

Super niche post, but this is useful. English-Canadian planning is all UK with a small helping of France and then, post-1970, a bit of Italy - the qualitative urban design stuff is largely La Tendenza, diluted and misused

Why are the Liberals so obsessed with Billy Bishop Airport, a tiny boutique airport that carries less than 5% of Toronto’s passenger traffic? “We must look at how passenger volumes might grow.” - @juliedabrusin.bsky.social Why? Who says that is in the public interest? Based on what?

Of all the ways to make a building more interesting - ornament, different materials, artwork - articulation has got to be the worst. Each of the extra corners from the building shifting in and out is a potential leak, and the yellow planes are extra walls that reduce energy efficiency.

My take on Toronto’s extraordinary new waterfront neighbourhood plan. SLA, Allies and company have worked wonders. And there’s a car-free street. www.theglobeandmail.com/canada/artic...

Over at the Musk site, a culture warring advocacy group says driving in the streetcar lane is civil disobedience. Real Thoreau level thinking. Cause if there’s any group oppressed by govt, it’s drivers

My take on Toronto’s extraordinary new waterfront neighbourhood plan. SLA, Allies and company have worked wonders. And there’s a car-free street. www.theglobeandmail.com/canada/artic...

Doing some work on Toronto parks and thinking about their vision statement. What is a park for? “Personal well-being” first, as well as “healthy living.” “Parks are an extension of people’s homes.” “New, multi-functional parks of all shapes and sizes will be added… in lockstep with growth.”

Look away, there has been a violent murder.

Perks is a politician of compassion and integrity. His replacement had better be ready to govern and, if necessary, to crack some heads. www.thestar.com/news/gta/gor...

Self-storage at Yonge/Bloor? Brookfield should be ashamed. And why is KPMB taking this job? urbantoronto.ca/news/2026/04...

Almost a kilometre of new lakefill. This project will be a disaster for Toronto’s waterfront. The Port Authority has a plan. They are choosing to keep it secret and leak it piecemeal so we can’t get a handle on it. www.theglobeandmail.com/canada/artic...

Alas, Nigel Dunnett is gone, and too young. A towering figure in landscape and horticulture. thedirt.news/landscape-de...

Higher population density, and more populated big cities, are the magic wand vs the climate crisis. Above a certain density, population growth *reduces* carbon output, by making possible the transition to electric private and public transportation, non-emitting energy and heating, etc

Map of North America, Greg Curnoe, 1972

Some good news: Markham Street in Mirvish Village, the best large development in Toronto, is finally open.

The new Ontario Place, now including a provincial police station with highway patrol and horses. A great park in the making!

It turns out that treeless open fields with hot play equipment are not, in fact, good public space. www.thestar.com/news/gta/why...

Berkeley Castle (renovated by AJ Diamond, 1983). Column from Carrere & Hastings’s 1912 Bank of Toronto.

This election year is going to be so stupid. This waterfront line is desperately needed and this Scarborough LRT makes little sense.

Toronto in one sentence:

Such a lovely project in London by David Kohn, praised by @edwinheathcote.bsky.social: www.ribaj.com/buildings/sm...

Doug Ford wanted to buy a $29mm jet, at least in part, because he is afraid of flying. Imagine a government that cared that much about the needs and abilities of other people. www.theglobeandmail.com/politics/art...

If you haven't been to Billy Bishop Airport or don't spend time on that section of the waterfront, you might not realize that thousands of people live 500 metres or so from the runway. Here's what expanding it could mean to them: www.thestar.com/news/gta/wha...

Thread

Truth

How not to display art, by Michael Govan

Masonry and high ceilings were cheap and also seen as necessary. More importantly: those in charge gave a damn.

An apartment building doesn’t fit the “context” and won’t provide enough parking, says Brad Bradford. If it’s housing vs. the complaints of wealthy residents, we know which side he is on. beachmetro.com/2026/04/16/e...

1000% this.