The Toronto Star

Christopher Hume talks to Joe Berridge, a Toronto planner who has been appointed to Britain's Commission on Architecture and the Built Environment, about the power of urban design.

Peter Calthorpe is in Markham, Ontario working on, in his words, 'the highest manifestation of transit-oriented development I have been involved in.'

New light rail projects are taking off in the Toronto area. A new 15km line will be operational by 2013, but the city is still trying to raise funds to replace its aging streetcar stock.

Christopher Hume tours Dubai, and though he finds some redeeming qualities, the overall impression is that the fantastical city is a "ruin-in-waiting".

An new exhibition in Toronto called Carrot City: Designing for Urban Agriculture includes a concept for Pig City, a high-rise swine farm.

The recession and the end of the age of fast-growth will be a good thing for Toronto, argues Christopher Hume.

Dalton McGuinty, Premier of Ontario has announced a plan to counteract the intense NIMBYism that has stifled projects throughout the province.

Architect Wes Jones argues that architecture is "an argument for a better world". But the general public doesn't understand how. Neither do most architects, writes Christopher Hume.

This column looks at the NIMBY-minded attitude of one couple that has been fighting to prevent a bus line from coming into their neighborhood.

Christopher Hume looks at the welcoming power of benches in seating-heavy Montreal, and argues that other cities need to take the simple step of planting more benches to make urban areas more lively and attractive.

Christopher Hume argues that Toronto's planners, in planning for easy vehicle access to the revitalizing waterfront, will be harming it as a pedestrian environment.

By moving out to areas where planning approvals are faster, rapidly-expanding churches are creating suburban sprawl, according to a recent study from researchers at Ryerson University.

Toronto's Metrolink brings together city and transportation planners to brainstorm the transit of the future.

This column from the Toronto Star argues that Toronto needs to take at least a few lessons from Vancouver if it wants to improve its planning.

Though there is some resistance to change, many cities in North America have their sights on undoing the damage of the last 50 years of suburban development.

UCLA Professor Donald Shoup has criss-crossed the nation lecturing about the many benefits from market pricing of parking -- but he says too many cities are still making decisions based on politics.

By looking closely at the key factors that helped London's congestion charge succeed, other cities can decipher whether a similar scheme would work in their jurisdictions.

Planning has become too much like a court case, with two sides and one winner. According to columnist Christopher Hume, this adversarial nature must be changed.

The German city of Bremen has lessons to teach North American cities about sustainable transportation, according to this article from The Toronto Star.

Forget slogans and fancy trains. If transit agencies just focused on getting people where they need to go in a consistent, reliable (and preferably quicker) way, more people would abandon their cars.