Toronto's lack of focus on transportation planning and the absence of a national strategy for mobility is turning the city into a messy gridlock, according to this column.
Writing for the Globe and Mail, Lisa Rochon argues that mobility is key to the city's beauty, and not enough attention has been paid to making the city move better.
"Beauty in a city has as much to do with ease of transportation as it does with the aesthetics of a particular building. The truth is that the postwar road is dead. We need to unpark our brains, so we can reclaim the thousands of kilometres of roads criss-crossing our cities and convert them from economic dead zones to places designed to attract people and revenue.
Consider that Hong Kong has consistently invested an amount equal to 1 per cent of the country's gross domestic product in that city's public transit over the last 20 years. Singapore, too, has invested heavily. Despite a multibillion-dollar price tag, the City of London remains firmly committed to building subways and regional rail lines, public-private partnerships that provide new linkages from north to south and east to west allowing passengers to travel fluidly from Heathrow to Canary Wharf in about 15 minutes."
FULL STORY: Toronto’s gridlock is never going to be beautiful
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Atlanta Bus System Redesign Will Nearly Triple Access
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Toronto Condo Sales Drop 75%
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Urban Design for Planners 1: Software Tools
This six-course series explores essential urban design concepts using open source software and equips planners with the tools they need to participate fully in the urban design process.
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Learn the tools for implementing Universal Design in planning regulations.
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