How Planning Can Help Dogs and Humans Co-Exist

Not everyone is sold on the idea of dogs as "man's best friend," and not everyone is comfortable navigating a public realm where dogs are crowdsourcing their marks. What are planners to do?

June 6, 2017, 9am PDT | James Brasuell | @CasualBrasuell

A real dog and a sculpture of a dog in Allan Gardens Dog Park in Toronto.

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Barbarou Carou and Bria Aird write for the Ontario Professional Planners Institute on the subject of a side effect of increasing activation of the public realm and park space in Toronto: In addition to parks full of people and families, "parks are also having to address another energetic, rapidly growing and noisy population: dogs."

The question posed by the headline is more provocative with phrasing: "Has the public realm gone to the dogs?"

Carou and Aird focus on the potential solutions and strategies available to planners as the tackle the issues raised by thousands of dog owners and animal lovers packed into a dense urban neighborhood.

Full Story:

Has the public realm gone to the dogs? The challenges of incorporating dog ownership into planning

Published on Thursday, June 1, 2017 in Planning Exchange