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Urban Planning
Changes to B.C. building code address secondary suites, energy efficiency
VICTORIA – The British Columbia government has announced changes to the building code that expand options for secondary suites in multi-family buildings.The change will give local governments the choice to allow secondary suites in…
New 60-foot public art installation illuminates second phase of Toronto master-planned community
As the Galleria Mall site undergoes transformation to become Galleria on the Park, one of the largest master-planned communities in Toronto, the 60-ft-tall shopping centre pylon has been reimagined into a glowing beacon for the…
Climate change causes sinkholes, unstable bridges and ruptured pipelines
A bus got caught in a sinkhole in downtown Pittsburgh on Oct. 28, 2019.
(Darrell Sapp/Pittsburgh Post-Gazette via AP)
Roads, buildings and industrial facilities rely on the integrity of the ground they’re built upon. But when soils shift…
Toronto Ontario Airbnb tribunal upholds Toronto rules on short term rentals city
TORONTO – An Ontario tribunal has upheld rules passed by the City of Toronto on short-term rentals like Airbnb.The Local Planning Appeal Tribunal said in a ruling released Monday that it has dismissed an appeal by several residents who…
3 ways cities can prepare for climate emergencies
Thousands of people evacuated Calgary when its two rivers flooded in June 2013.
THE CANADIAN PRESS/Jonathan Hayward
Cities are on the front line of climate change. While their footprints cover a mere two per cent of the Earth’s surface,…
Sidewalk labs releases further plans for Toronto waterfront development
TORONTO – Sidewalk Labs has released a 482-page document updating its plans for a development on Toronto's waterfront in a bid to alleviate some of the privacy concerns that have swirled around the project since its proposal.The…
Department Store Repurposing Wins Urban Design Award
The transformation of a late 19th-century department store in London, Ontario into a multi-disciplinary centre of learning for Fanshawe College has received an Award of Excellence in Urban Design for Adaptive Re-Use.The award was…
When capitalism kills culture: Gentrified real estate puts squeeze on indie bookstores
Independent bookstores are places where culture is collected and disseminated. The gentrification of city centres makes their existence increasingly precarious.
Kévin Langlais on Unsplash, CC BY-NC
The story is all too familiar – yet it…
What a minority government could mean for affordable housing in Canada
An aerial view of houses in Oshawa, Ont. is shown in November 2017. Canada’s minority government could result in progress on affordable housing.
THE CANADIAN PRESS/Lars Hagberg
Along with climate change, affordable housing was one of the…
Ontario Launches Web Portal for Unsolicited Infrastructure Proposals
The Ontario government has launched a new framework for receiving and evaluating infrastructure proposals from the private sector. A web portal will obtain unsolicited infrastructure proposals (USP) through an existing procurement.…