Development priorities in Canadian cities and a decade of co-operation in Cascadia

My recent interview on changes happening in Canadian cities open.spotify.com/episode/0L0v...

Adopted pursuant to the City of Toronto Act, this seems like collateral damage from debate over the use of green standards applied through other planning powers. Who specifically lobbied for this? Used for +15 years,well priced in, guess you never waste a good crisis, but feels like looting.

Caught this leaving Houston - Tell me without telling me that, for some, a new stadium surrounded by a sea of parking is a little bit of heaven

Meanwhile in Canada … 🇨🇦

Chocolate making in the heart of Toronto - every city should have a golden ticket

South Beach North, Toronto (Etobicoke/Mimico) 🇨🇦

The Crisis We Needed? Rethinking Toronto Housing In A Post-Speculation Market Delays, cancellations, and a market in flux may feel like crisis — but for those shaping the city, this could be a generational opportunity.

“…aligning financial feasibility with social value” for “a city that functions best when it responds to (all) the diverse needs of its residents” is the intergenerational moment for Toronto storeys.com/toronto-hous... The Crisis We Needed? Rethinking Housing In A Post-Speculation Market

Winnipeg ✈️ 🇨🇦👇

Goal line approaching - final finishing inside and out & now leasing

Toronto “returned to office” looking more likely

I sent you a DM on this platform

Redefining “office” through a community & hotel concierge lens to compete with work from home

Is there one place that explains both USMCA trade rules & current 🇨🇦🇺🇸 tariffs on all goods & services & importantly the volume of trade by category of good or service so that one might judge the facts against the myths & judge the comparative impact of any new tariffs between old friends?

Both practices of leaders & nations down through history - which appeals to the better angels of our nature?

Trade: is the exchange of goods and services between parties for mutually beneficial purposes.

Extortion: practice of obtaining something through force or threats.

America: scenes from your Canadian cousins today

Instead of “annex”, a more accurate quote reference from your President would be to “economic(ally) force” Canada - a decidedly less neighbourly foreign policy position than what annex might be read to imply

Would be interesting to see performance metric of land area by height permissions (as a housing density surrogate) for large and medium NA cities - would expect inner cities (Cambridge) of city regions (Boston Metro) to show higher “performance” by default given comparably smaller land area

4 storey brick building under construction

Progress looks like this from July ‘24 to February ‘25 for this Toronto infill - 4 storey, 6 rental homes & 1 commercial unit

Buying “Canadian” product that says it’s made with domestic and imported products, is labelled “Alaskan”, melts ice faster than salt, in metric & bilingual of course - seems like next level patriotism 🇨🇦

The only further consultation you need on updating Toronto’s Avenues policies: Just talk to your kids, your extended family, friends and employees or coworkers to hear how they struggle to find financially attainable homes to rent or own in Toronto secure.toronto.ca/council/agen...

A 🇨🇦 rally might exercise some emotional energy - to help keep the country together, this one almost 30 years ago in Montreal

And the Raps won !

Best Canadian made Bourbon? asking for my friends 🇨🇦

The lack of well planned transportation alternatives including frequent high speed rail within dense urban regions contributes to overtaxing the demand for airport capacity, airports which might function better (and more safely) if longer distance travel needs were met in priority

A proposed fourplex in Etobicoke was rejected after opposition from more than 40 neighbours More than 40 households opposed the proposal, which sought to build larger than current rules allow.

Objections included impact on “community integrity”; wouldn’t providing more local housing options actually improve community integrity ? www.thestar.com/real-estate/...

Two years after the city allowed four-unit multiplexes in residential neighbourhoods, staff want to test sixplexes in this Toronto ward The plan would see sixplexes allowed as a right, a move welcomed by Scarborough North Councillor Jamaal Myers as a way to ‘densify gently and over time.’

Toronto’s inner suburbs: more housing choice for more people in more places www.thestar.com/news/gta/two...

x.com/gregglintern...

Thinking @bsky.app is like vaping after giving up cigarettes on that other place (X) / relaxing with less side effects

Building more homes in Toronto: permissive zoning ✅
eliminate charges✅
align financing options ✅ lanewayhousingadvisors.com/2025/01/cmhc...

Reimagining Urban Leadership There’s often a chasm between what urban planners envision and what is actually realized. Many plans, no matter how meticulously crafted, remain unfulfilled, leading to a cognitive dissonance between ...

“urban planners are not merely neutral technicians but are embedded in complex political environments.” Or as I liked to say “read the room”. Great piece by Jason Syvixay
www.canadianarchitect.com/reimagining-...