Cities Alive

  Fort York is one of Toronto’s most iconic historical landmarks. It’s both well-known and under-appreciated. The core of the Fort has been preserved, but its fringes have been in constant flux since the late 1700s. Fluid Fort York, a course taught at the University of Toronto’s Master of Landscape Architecture Program, had students re- imagining the edges of Fort York as a fluid landscape. This is a landscape that has the ability to evolve with changes in a community. In this episode of Cities Alive, we’re “Holding Down the Fort”. You will hear from several students as they tell their story of Fort York. These stories created a narrative for the site which helped guide them through their projects. Some are quirky, some grim, some preserved, and some forgotten. We hope that each story allows you to re-imagine the Fort as it was and as it can be. This episode was a collaboration between the University of Toronto’s John H. Daniel’s Faculty of Architecture, Landscape, and Design, Projexity and Cities Alive. Check out Fluid Fort York to see all of the students’ design proposals for Fort York.  

Millennial’s values and the market realities they face are becoming more and more prominent and this may be impacting the way our cities are developing. Places where cafes now spread like wildfire, smart phones and Instagram followers have more currency than the car you don’t drive. So how can planners do more than respond? Work is becoming less structured – more people are working from home, we have more flexible hours. Housing has become expensive relative to most people’s incomes, people are more transient and more likely to rent than a generation ago. How can zoning respond to these changes? How can it be flexible but proactive? In Zoning Out! – Part 2 we will hear more stories from people that are using zoning in unlikely places to create vibrant neighbourhoods that enabling entrepreneurial spirit and how different zoning tools can give communities a bigger steak and municipalities more teeth to direct change. In this episode we are looking at trends in zoning, so no zoning out! This is an Ontario Professional Planners Institute episode.

For a long time, zonings main purpose was to separate incompatible land uses, but that course seems to be taking a turn. Zoning is becoming more comprehensive and more flexible. Rather than restricting, zoning is encouraging complete communities, innovative businesses, it is enabling people to start community gardens in under-used land and helping direct transit and community infrastructure to where people need it the most. In this episode of Cities Alive we will hear stories from people that are using zoning in unlikely places to create vibrant neighbourhoods that enabling entrepreneurial spirit and how different zoning tools can give communities a bigger steak and municipalities more teeth to direct change. In this episode we are looking at trends in zoning, so no zoning out! This is an Ontario Professional Planners Institute episode.  

Large-scale transit projects are the most politically volatile initiatives in urban planning. In order to succeed they require the involvement and cooperation of all levels of government as well as public engagement and support. The role of planners in major planning projects is to provide impartial professional advice to council and the public to ensure they make informed decisions. In this second episode of Planning with Politics, we talk with planners, elected officials and entrepreneurs from across Ontario to understand how planners can work within the political arena to shape the cities of the 21st century. Voices include: Carl Zehr – Former Kitchener Mayor, Rob Horne – Commissioner of Planning – Region of Waterloo, Iain Klugman – CEO of Communitech, Marni Cappe – RPP, and Adam Lauder – Planner at the City of Waterloo. This episode is brought to you in partnership with the Ontario Professional Planners Institute.

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