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Totally agree: just look at what initiatives like "Streets to Homes" and that conversion of the Edwin Hotel to transitional housing (W. of Broadview on Queen E.) manage to do to maximize the chance that homeless people, even long-term homeless, can get their lives and dignity together again. And...

For a break from this interesting transit debate on the "Mayor Rob Ford's Toronto" thread, I recommend these two videos on Vimeo: 1) "Rosh HaShana in 6! with Rabbi Moshe Steiner and Mayor Rob Ford" http://vimeo.com/29375990 2) "Rosh HaShana 5772 Greetings from Mayor Rob Ford"...

I'm surprised that there has only been a few mentions so far in this thread of the major reason for having smaller library branches, rather than just a handful of major branches: if the public library is going to perform its educational, entertainment, and community functions adequately, it has...

One tendency in small-c conservatism is the preservation of continuities, rather than opportunistic changes in direction subject to changing political fashion. I think this fits in very well with the necessities and practise of city development, which need to be focused on the long term, since...

O.K., thanks for being the guinea-pig, I have to overcome my old-fashioned aversion to games on the computer and try the demo sometime. Does the demo install a whole boat-load of files/drivers into the system directories? Does it uninstall cleanly? That's what I worry about with games... I...

Interesting videos of buildings swaying and rattling: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ieWDQp9Krac http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A8s0T4BoSCQ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H-r7J7Bite8

This looks interesting: I'm not a computer game player, though, but this may interest some people: the "advanced map editor that allows players to create their own cities"sounds like it could even be a planning tool for Toronto transit plans (since nothing real is ever going to be built here...

Rob Ford will cancel everything once elected. Quantum mechanical laws will fail. Time will stop. Well, something like that... I doubt we will notice any change, unless Ford really gets Council onboard his initiatives--whatever they will be.

O.K., I had not yet read that report in detail, I must have skipped that paragraph. I wonder if those estimated costs are in any public document? Still, I am fed up with the lack of ambition in Toronto's planning processes: sure, it's always easier to build new stuff, to erase or ignore the...

Well, on that basis, the Behnisch/Transsolar proposal for the reuse of the Hearn Power Plant wins: the hockey rinks would go inside an existing building, and new design and engineering elements would ensure both energetic and financial sustainability. See my posts #88, #96 and #126 in this...

There's an English translation of the presentation by the proponent, Song Youzhou, chairman of Shenzhen Hashi Future Parking Equipment Co., Ltd..

Interesting video on the BBC website: Remarkable renewal brings visitors to Medellin There have been significant investments in public spaces and cultural amenities (libraries, museums,etc.), as well as such things as a gondola lift integrated into the transit system (part of the city is on...

Oh dear, I did not check my references before posting: I lived in London for a short period as a child, and the huge size of the Battersea plant made a durable impression in my memory. I've never really looked at any photos of the Tate Modern, so jumped to conclusions that battersea was the...

I have to agree with you, the Hearn could be used in so many more innovative ways than just a hockey sports complex. I take consolation in the fact that the AGO seems to engage in major renos every 10-15 years, so I am hoping that by 2025 at the latest, they will realize the wisdom of moving to...

Sure, the stacked rink proposal looks really nice, but it is a night-time view! Of course it will look luminous, ethereal, magic, etc. Day-time views are the real test: will it retain some of the glass lightness, or will it look like any old tinted glass cubic suburban office building? Questions...

Interesting, detailed summary (with lots of links to further discussion) of the what, why and how of the recently enacted EU Energy Performance of Buildings Directive which mandates national governments to develop building standards that require: Market forces will ensure that the economic...

I guess the Behnisch/Transsolar Hearn Power Station reuse project is dead in the water. What a pity: putting a sports centre inside that huge building seems like such a good idea (what other uses can fit inside such an immense envelope?), and making it into a kind of example of people- and...

The exhibition has been extended to 16 July 2010. There is also a video posting of the opening talk by Stefan Behnisch and Thomas Auer. The principals start talking at 06.45

I think the new stacked-arenas-in-a-glass-building is crazy from a logistical perspective: moving people (& Zambonis!) around is going to be a nightmare of industrial sized elevators. And then there are the energetic & materiel requirements of keeping sunlight/heat out and the ice cold. The...

I haven't followed this thread in the last couple of days, but I wonder if we can take a different approach to the problem of property destruction and anti-establishment demonstrators. The motivations and the symbolic values of property damage are two entirely separate things. What motivates...