The square itself is at least a good intention - we need a public square in the city centre for events to take place, for people to gather and enjoy the city. However, the design itself is a total failure and it is silly to sugar-coat it. There are a million nice public squares, including...

These numbers just remind me one thing: most cities are really not dense. The French city I live in has a density of 9000/sq km in the city proper, which is more than twice the density of Toronto, even denser the the old Toronto. Yesterday I took a long walk, and merely less than 30 minutes on...

Everything about the square is mediocre and underselling Toronto. It fits perfect the mediocre surrounding buildings. The stage, the fountains both completely lack any sort of imagination, beauty or boldness. And then years later, after spending millions, they copied both and put in on NPS. If...

This has nothing to do with America. The word itself is Italian, and not surprisingly, Italian cities have far more graffiti than American ones. It is not a "Chinese-themed" building. It is just an ugly building. The green overhang doesn't make a Chinese theme. This whole damn thing should be...

According to our zoning, half of downtown itself is zoned as residential... which means no retail allowed? The last thing we need is "respect the zoning", which essentially says no building taller than 6 stories outside the financial district. :P

South or north of Richmond makes the fundamental difference. Anything south of it is nothing worth celebrating at all. North of Richmond (but south of Carleton) and east of Jarvis, I cheer for it every time because anything new and decent is positive for the area.

I proposed a long time ago that neighbourhoods such as Rosedale should have their fair share of homeless shelters and public housing. Then people say "oh, that will be impossible because the rich won't allow it" as if keeping moss parking poverty dominated is a better option, as if the moss park...

I have to agree. During the past 8 years, I entered the hard rock cafe exactly once. The shoppers on the lower level of Eaton Centre? Probably once a week. Hope this Shoppers will sell more products than it normally does. What about the one at Yonge/Carlton? It is very busy most of the time...

If the parliament streetcar had a frequency of 5-6 minutes, and goes to the core, the ridership would be vastly different. From the map, it shows this bus stops at Queen and King, plus Richmond and Adelaide. No wonder few people want to take it. King and Queen are like 400 meters apart and TTC...

I have a feeling that Church st will be very different in a few years, but it will not be that much better. Those new highrises will make that section of Church similar to the Bay st condor corridor. My only hope is that the influx of new residents will encourage more interesting retail nearby...

It is a private investment. And those companies have the right to keep no matter how many employees they deem appropriate, and during what period, as long as it doesn't breach any contract. and I highly doubt redevelopment of one hotel is going to affect the tourism industry. And Airbnb can...

Unfortunately yes, although that doesn't mean there is nothing we can do to improve it. We could widen the center island to provide more space for people to walk and sit on. Plus something a bit more interesting than just grass and tiny trees. And more unfortunately, University ave as it...

The problem is that your argument is based on nothing concrete, just a hunch that it is too many people for the infrastructure. I am sure the city considers this factor while approving this project (or any project of large scale). Of course your concern is legitimate, but you talk as if you...

we are talking about a city that is not even brave enough to give ROW to its busiest streetcars, to have one single car free street. Sorry, I am not that optimistic. Toronto is still a car's paradise, and that includes downtown.

Yes, but the "prominent location"? The building fits the location quite well. Everything at that prominent location is ugly. The mall, 1 Dundas East, the embarassing sterile square pretending to be a big deal. There is absolutely nothing pretty about this intersection so this new building...

It is poorly built, but in reality, it is not bad for Toronto's usual standards at all. Of course it does not, and shouldn't stack up against UT's expectation, but UTs expectation is way higher than Toronto normally gets. So yes, it is a bad buiding, but not particularly bad for Toronto (It...

I think the problem with Jarvis is building height is too small compared with the width of the street, plus the lack of pedestrians, which is why the perception of a freeway is strong. Imagine the same streets lined with mid to high rises on both sides and plenty of pedestrians (due to more...

The latter is particularly important. Streetcars are great, however, experiences in taking streetcars in Toronto is usually filled with frustration because of the mixed traffic and excessive number of stops. this is how tram works in France, just notice how much space is given to the tram (no...

Is it possible for the city to demand a certain percentage of units allocatd to low income? I do think the Dundas/Jarvis development is a great thing and should not be stopped, after all, downton east should look and function like that forever. For the issue often brought up concering the...

Why do we assume these condos are available to only the rich and well-off? It is not the Shangrila. Admittedly they won't be cheap, but most of them are not upscale or beyond reach either. They are after all condos with small space, often starting from the 300s. I think an average Toronto...