Love this — organ tuners as accidental climate historians

The town where I grew up tore down a nice modernist elementary school and rezoned it… for McMansions. The planning of the Toronto region is worse in most respects than it was in 1965.

We know now that Harbourfront is - Giving up its theatre for 3 years - Giving up or sharing much of its main building with the Ontario Science Centre for 5+ years - Has an outgoing CEO What is left of this organization?

Toronto, 1945-1975, was shaped by highly interventionist planning. It’s unfortunate that many people assume that the sprawl 1975-2000, which broke from that earlier tradition, is the right and natural way to build a city.

Make that pavement work harder.

I wrote about Trump’s ballroom and the right’s quest to remake the symbolic order for @nyreviewofarch.bsky.social nyra.nyc/articles/wre...

Your regular reminder that the province intervened in municipal land use regulation because cities have and are very inclined to continue to strongly curb the right to build housing for people. (And that the soft approach that leaves cities a lot of wiggle room has failed.)

In Calgary, a new library/fire station. HCMA and Hereby. Meanwhile, Toronto’s public library is actively resisting efforts to colocate its branches with other public uses.

Centennial Library in the town of Mimico (now part of Toronto), 1967

NEW: How did the introduction of the Ultra-Low Emissions Zone (ULEZ) change London’s geography of work? In a new @theifs.bsky.social paper, @joelkariel.bsky.social, Fizza Jabbar and I have taken a look – and it turns out people adapt in surprising ways. A thread. 1/

This is asinine – worrying about eight-storey buildings on suburban arterial roads plunging the city into darkness. Yet the planning profession, including Toronto’s municipal planning department until very recently, was selling that narrative for half a century. Words have consequences.

Abject, despicable cruelty from three politicians.

Ford closed the science centre for no reason, is shrinking it dramatically, and gov’t doesn’t want you to know the truth about this. My column: www.theglobeandmail.com/canada/toron...

Ford closed the science centre for no reason, is shrinking it dramatically, and gov’t doesn’t want you to know the truth about this. My column: www.theglobeandmail.com/canada/toron...

Good space and time to re-plug my Heritage Ottawa lecture later this week.

Most of Vancouver is de facto a gated community for rich people. It’s been said many times, but can’t be said often enough. Luckily, this is going to change!

Sad news. @azuremagazine.bsky.social has gone bankrupt and been acquired by Sandow.

I guess it's fitting that it's a reimagined, worse version of someone else's artwork

News today about the Ontario Science Centre: Its "temporary location" will take over most, or possibly all, of Harbourfront Centre. 86,000 square feet is a larger fraction, if not all, of Harbourfront's buildings. news.ontario.ca/en/release/1...

In the first six months of congestion pricing, air pollution within Manhattan's toll zone dropped 25%. Pollution fell across the five boroughs and in the suburbs, too. A clean air win all around.

Since 2000, London has added more than 1.9 million residents (+26%), but the number of vehicle miles driven has declined by 10%; it's declined most spectacularly in the center. Outside of London, vehicle miles traveled have increased rapidly over the same period. content.tfl.gov.uk/travel-in-lo...

complaining about paywalls when so many journalists are being laid off and there are fewer market incentives to do great reporting and in-depth investigations, data analysis and features is also wild when everyone understands you need to pay for electronics, streaming services, and utilities

Ha www.theglobeandmail.com/canada/artic...

My obituary for Frank Gehry: www.theglobeandmail.com/arts/art-and...

Toronto just opened a new rail line, Line 6 Finch West. It cost C$3.5 billion to build for 10.3 km of route, from which I conclude it must be a 100% underground city center line and the picture of a tram in the article is unrelated. www.thestar.com/news/gta/fin...

Frank in his kitchen. RIP.

RIP Frank Gehry. Here's the Danziger Studio and Gehry talking about the material (article: www.domusweb.it/en/from-the-...)

There are many reasons to remember the life and work of Frank Gehry today but want to highlight that he was a good employer who knew how to run an office and took construction seriously.

My obituary for Frank Gehry: www.theglobeandmail.com/arts/art-and...

Frank Gehry, 1929-2025. He died today at home in LA.

“A very long range plan based on a foundation of hope, rather than evidence” www.theglobeandmail.com/opinion/edit...

No need to be polite or forgiving about it: The Netflix/Warner Bros. deal (if it goes through) is a devastating blow for movie theatres, filmmakers, television creators and, of course, audiences. We should all be mad as hell. www.theglobeandmail.com/culture/film...

Trump’s new architect for the White House. Have the “trad” culture warriors seen this yet?

Homeslice literally demolished a piece of history and still hasn't settled on an architect.

For years, I’ve heard Toronto people claim that heritage doesn’t stop new housing. That has always been nonsense. Now the city is *openly, explicitly* saying a rich area shouldn’t be rezoned because heritage is more important than housing. www.toronto.ca/legdocs/mmis...

oh my god

Wild to see the defences of this project, which aims to build a city of 400,000 in the middle of nowhere. This has never worked and plainly is not going to work. The site has no economic or spatial logic other than that of a distant suburb.

The average Quebec household has shrunk by 45% while houses have grown by 76%

Shawn is of course right. And I hate this dumbass stunt so much. Nobody is ever bringing home 40 sheets of plywood in their personal vehicle. This is a fantasy for people who have never dealt with construction. 90% of things you’d buy for a house renovation fit comfortably in that car.

“The vacated homes were substantially cheaper than the new units and spanned diverse locations and housing types.” When people move into new housing developments, they free up space in older housing. This is good for housing affordability and availability.

This is on Toronto & the local “progressive” councillor to who, despite obvious need for change and pleas from locals, did nothing for years, long before ford’s destructive meddling.

Pedestrian struck by motorist on Parkside a block from the speed camera that vigilantes kept tearing down that caused ford to remove them from all Ontario. Drive as you wish Ontario. Nobody matters. This is what you voted for.

“A museum takes care of its collection, but the museum itself must change.” I write about the Gardiner Museum’s refresh: www.theglobeandmail.com/culture/art-...

Architecture "patterns" from NSW Australia: apartment buildings up to 49 units, far larger than the Canadian equivalent. www.planning.nsw.gov.au/government-a...

“A museum takes care of its collection, but the museum itself must change.” I write about the Gardiner Museum’s refresh: www.theglobeandmail.com/culture/art-...

Even his architect thinks this is heinous. One person should not have unchecked power over the built environment, any more than any other aspect of culture or society

Your high-quality public building is way over budget? Amateur stuff. In Toronto we make bad public buildings that are way over budget.

. @katewagner.wehwalt.net "These projects, no matter how lovely or sophisticated, are tainted work." www.artnews.com/art-in-ameri...