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We've been working on a Future of Cities special package and will be rolling out many pieces over the coming days. Here's one of mine to start, on how transit systems can recover from the daily slump while still making the case for major expansions https://www.theglobeandmail.com/canada/toronto/article-a-better-way-can-urban-transit-systems-bounce-back-from-the-pandemic/
Here’s @alexbozikovic on an idea for remaking what could be Toronto’s nicest promenade. University Ave was once grand, but now lies somewhere between dreary and bleak https://www.theglobeandmail.com/canada/toronto/article-rebirth-of-the-promenade-a-proposal-for-canadas-street-shows-what/
Our @ereguly on the urgent push to remake cities https://www.theglobeandmail.com/canada/article-bikes-pedestrians-and-the-15-minute-city-how-the-pandemic-is/
Toilets. Public toilets. The people need toilets. via @lezlielowe
From the Maritimes, @joshokane looks at people who have been untethered from their offices and are relocating to smaller cities, and whether this has the makings of a durable trend https://www.theglobeandmail.com/business/article-the-urban-atlantic-advantage-work-from-home-era-offers-halifax-more/
TIL the term ‘garage orphan,’ in an EV story not yet online, which denotes someone without private parking. Bit odd, really, given that large majorities in many big cities don’t have that luxury. Perhaps the framing should be reversed, with those who do dubbed ‘garage royalty’
“We were already looking at a way to reach beyond the walls of our theatre, to engage with our audience in nice little bite-sized chunks, to try out new artists in a low-risk format ... perhaps it becomes part of our culture in a way that it hasn’t been” https://www.theglobeandmail.com/arts/article-in-this-pandemic-urban-renewal-has-a-lot-riding-on-canadas-arts/
“Sidewalk widths and bike lanes and redesigning streets and outdoor seating ... are the easy things” @BrentToderian says. “The much harder things are the implications to car dependency, transit ridership, suburban sprawl and successful downtowns” https://www.theglobeandmail.com/opinion/article-the-urban-cure-how-cities-seize-opportunity-from-the-pandemic-crisis/
Another from me, on the elusive promise of urban package delivery by drone. While substantial hurdles remain, some progress has been made https://www.theglobeandmail.com/canada/toronto/article-drone-delivery-could-lead-to-robots-in-the-sky/
(It was in the reporting of this story that I first encountered the concept of an Australian ‘democracy sausage’)
“In a densified city, there’s no place for cars in the same amount that we were used to, because people – they need space on the streets”
— Amsterdam city cllr @Zeeger Ernsting https://www.theglobeandmail.com/canada/article-green-wave-how-canadian-cities-are-creating-new-park-space/
— Amsterdam city cllr @Zeeger Ernsting https://www.theglobeandmail.com/canada/article-green-wave-how-canadian-cities-are-creating-new-park-space/
People keep repeating this kind of thing as if it’s fact..
“The COVID-19 pandemic is likely to hasten the flight from downtown to suburb“ https://www.theglobeandmail.com/politics/article-the-future-of-the-city-includes-the-future-of-the-suburb-which/
“The COVID-19 pandemic is likely to hasten the flight from downtown to suburb“ https://www.theglobeandmail.com/politics/article-the-future-of-the-city-includes-the-future-of-the-suburb-which/
“on one particularly dire block … only two of the 13 storefronts were open: a restaurant and a plant store. On another block, three of the nine storefronts were cannabis shops” https://www.theglobeandmail.com/business/article-will-the-pandemic-reshape-landmark-high-streets-like-queen-st-west/
In Calgary, where the jobless rate in Sept was 12.6 per cent, there’s 13 million sq feet of vacant office space in the core.
“It all has resulted in a drop in tax revenues, shifting the burden to businesses outside the core and on residents” https://www.theglobeandmail.com/business/article-how-do-you-diversify-a-citys-economy-as-calgary-tries-it-looks/
“It all has resulted in a drop in tax revenues, shifting the burden to businesses outside the core and on residents” https://www.theglobeandmail.com/business/article-how-do-you-diversify-a-citys-economy-as-calgary-tries-it-looks/
In 1832, a cholera outbreak killed 4pc of Toronto’s population. That’s roughly like 120,000 of the city’s residents dying now https://www.theglobeandmail.com/canada/toronto/article-pandemics-have-changed-cities-in-the-past-and-they-will-again/
“The propulsion system ... is irrelevant. What is relevant is that any car of any technology takes up public space that should be devoted to people. For cities, EVs are not the future; they already belong in the past, along with gasoline and diesel cars” https://www.theglobeandmail.com/business/commentary/article-forget-electric-vehicles-post-pandemic-cities-dont-need-them-they/
