The Globe and Mail
After Disaster, Planning Provides Road to Recovery for Lac-Mégantic
Lac-Mégantic, Quebec was the site of a train derailment that cost dozens of lives and destroyed 10 blocks of its downtown. Now residents and town leaders are working to heal from that tragic event with plans for the future.
When Debating a Controversial Plan, Does 30 Percent Equal a Majority?
In the face of vocal opposition, Vancouver's city council approved a proposed bike route and greenway. For one former councillor, if a third of the speakers in hostile public meetings support a project, that's enough to indicate a silent majority.
Vancouver Gets Its Wheels
Vancouver has apparently overcome the obstacle that's prevented the city from hopping on the 'urban trend of the century'. When the city's bike-share system begins operation this fall it will feature 'the continent’s first helmet-dispensing system'.
Are Vancouver's Leaders 'Tone-Deaf' to Residents' Vision for the City?
After less than a year on the job, Vancouver's planning manager is under fire for controversial proposals. Do the recent misfires reflect poor messaging, tight budgets, and short timelines; or a more fundamental problem with the city's leaders?
Key Decision Due Over Fate of Vancouver's Viaducts
The movement to dismantle the twin viaducts that hover over Vancouver's downtown reaches a crucial milestone today, as the City Council votes to fund the study of how to transform "the last, large, under-utilized area close to the city’s core."
Canada's Mayors Push for Affordable Housing Help
The mayors of Canada's 22 largest municipalities are pushing the federal government to extend a subsidy program used to assist 600,000 low-income households that is due to expire next year.
Canada's Rental Housing Crisis: A National Disaster That Demands a National Answer
With little fanfare, a rental housing crisis has gripped Canada. 42 per cent of young adults live with their parents and hundreds of thousands are on affordable housing waiting lists. It's time for Ottawa to step in, argues Denise Balkissoon.
The Big Move: Will Toronto Seize its Future by Funding an Ambitious Transit Plan?
As the city's controversial mayor snickers at proposals for new funding sources for transit, Toronto is missing out on another opportunity to build a big-city mass transit system, says Marcus Gee. How much will it cost the city in the long run?
Canada's 'Slab Farm' Blind Spot
In Canada, more people live in suburban high-rise apartment buildings than any other housing type. Doug Saunders looks at the country's belated recognition for its "elevator suburban" identity.
Can Intelligent Traffic Lights Ease Toronto's Gridlock?
Faced with paralyzing gridlock, North America's fourth-largest city is studying several potential solutions for easing congestion - including traffic lights that think for themselves.
Why Are There So Many Vacant Condos in Vancouver?
New analysis of census data has found that a quarter of the condos in some areas of downtown Vancouver are empty or occupied by non-residents, leading analysts to raise concerns about the role of investors in the city's housing market.
In Toronto, Urban Amenities Lag Behind Condo Boom
Since it began in 1999, Toronto's condo boom has added 120,000 units to the city and, in the process, transformed its urban landscape. City leaders are just now beginning to address how to accommodate these new residents.
Why Has 'Vancouverism' Become a Hard Sell in Canada?
Vancouver's remarkable experiment in livable density is the envy of, and model for, cities across the world. So, after a decade of skyline expansion across Canada, why has densification 'lost steam' in the country? Doug Saunders investigates.
'House Poor' Canada Bemoans its Growing Affordability Crisis
Richard Blackwell examines the foundations of Canada's housing "affordability crisis," in which prices have doubled over the last decade due to low rates and easy mortgage terms.
Disgruntled Developers and Residents Have Vancouver Planning Chief Talking Transparency
Just two months into his job as Vancouver's Chief Planner, Brian Jackson is responding to a growing backlash from developers and residents unhappy about an opaque system for determining and implementing community benefits.
Toronto's Skyline Has High Ambitions Despite Housing Bubble Concerns
By a ratio of two-to-one, Toronto is far outpacing NYC in terms of high-rises and skyscrapers currently under construction. As other Canadian cities follow suit, Jim Flaherty, Canada's Finance Minister, is taking measures to cool the market.
Toronto Confronts Challenges of Extreme Intensification
For Ken Greenberg, it's clear Toronto is "going through a metamorphosis of extraordinary proportions," comparable to the development of New York in the mid-20th century. He examines how the city must prepare for an unprecedented scale of development.
Suburban Canada Dreams of Density
As one of North America's largest suburbs, Mississauga is joining some of its neighbors in the Greater Toronto Area in planning an unprecedented effort to replace its suburban roots with something more urban.
Can Toronto's New Planning Head Succeed Where Others Have Failed?
This week it was announced that, after a lengthy search, Toronto had found a candidate willing to take on the challenge of guiding the city's planning efforts amid a hostile climate created by "car-loving" mayor Rob Ford.
Canadian Planners at a Crossroads
As several major Canadian cities seek to hire new chief urban planners, candidates are facing an emerging set of demographic and political challenges, while some question the role such officials should have in shaping the country's landscape.
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