Toronto Star

Just a year into his term, Christopher Hume delivers a scathing critique of Toronto Mayor Rob Ford and his pro-vehicular policies.

Despite the dark cloud that the policies of new Mayor Rob Ford have brought to several of Toronto's promising transportation and redevelopment initiatives, Christopher Hume gives us 10 reasons to feel optimistic about the future of the city.

...to the intensification of uses and street-level interaction, at least. Christopher Hume provides readers with the leading viewpoints on the matter at "Too Tall?", an ongoing exhibit on Toronto's "fear of heights."

Some say that there is simply not enough retail in existence now; versus U.S. cities, at least, Toronto has fewer malls in both numbers and square footage. Dana Flavelle explores why that might not necessarily mean it's underserved.

Jack Layton, longtime advocate for a national housing policy in Canada has succumbed to cancer just months after leading his New Democratic Party from third party status to official opposition.

Architecture critic Christopher Hume writes an homage to urban planning icon Jane Jacobs, highlighting the resiliency of her positions on density and diversity.

With its planning department reporting to a deputy manager several steps removed from the mayor's office, Toronto's planning system is "just insane", writes Christopher Hume.

A 42-storey condo building to be built in Toronto will include parking for nine car-share vehicles and 315 bicycles but no on-site parking spaces for residents’ private automobiles.

There is a near-consensus on the deficiencies of big box retail, but municipalities don't have the will to turn them down. Provinces must step in with development guidelines, writes Christopher Hume.

During a round table discussion between four of Toronto's most prominent architects conclude that the city's planning, deemed dysfunctional by one, falls short.

Toronto, a land of cheap gas and unclear traffic reduction policies, has a long way to go in improving public transit, according to one architect. But designers are making progress as they make city's new subway stations as enticing as possible.

Toronto is now the biggest city in North America to ban the sale of bottled water on city premises, a victory which advocates hope will spur a reinvestment in public water facilities, including drinking fountains in new buildings.

The authors of one study assert that vibrant cities can't be engineered by the application of "nuanced criteria"; however, this has very much become the paradigm of urban planning.

As Toronto's heritage buildings fall to disrepair, new condominiums are slated to go up in their stead, prompting outcry from preservationists.