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NEWS
Walkable cities become grist for conspiracy mill
February 27, 2023
Being a city planner might sound like a mundane job, plodding through zoning regulations that read like riddles written by Gollum from Lord of the Rings. But it can be a polarizing profession that evokes high emotions from citizens opposing change in their neighbourhood or reacting to the very mention of the words “bike lane.”
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NEWS
Reclaiming the spirit of the shopping mall
February 6, 2023
The origin of the North American shopping mall is a story of irony and frustration that sent an architect back to Europe resenting what his idea had become.
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NEWS
Arts can lead in downtown renewal
January 16, 2023
When we compete with other cities for tourism, immigration, business investment and even for retention of our own young people, the quality of downtown and its ability to offer an urban lifestyle choice often factors centrally in any success.
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NEWS
Sign, Sign, Everywhere a Sign: Using Interior Wayfinding Signage as a Teaching Tool
September 28, 2021
Signage exists everywhere in our world. You see it when you drive down the street, you read it as you walk through malls and airports. It is in our grocery stores, in our workplaces, and it is most definitely in our schools.
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NEWS
Retrofitting Makes Room for Residential
June 24, 2021
As architects, designers, and urban planners, building great buildings and communities is what we always strive to do. As we see built structures from our past become abandoned and disused, we are presented with opportunities to reimagine the roles these structures can play in the future of our communities.
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NEWS
Zoning affects a city’s social fabric
January 18, 2021
All North American cities use zoning to regulate the development of land and buildings. By assigning properties into different categories of parkland, commercial, residential and industrial uses, zoning establishes the rules for what can and can't be built.
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NEWS
Housing key to deracializing cities
July 13, 2020
The COVID-19 pandemic exposed the racial inequity that exists in North American cities, with racialized neighbourhoods being hit disproportionately hard by the virus. The solution to combat systemic racism in urban design reads much like the solution to make cities more resilient against future pandemics. At the foundation of the challenge is housing.
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NEWS
Crises helped shape modern architecture
May 15, 2020
Modern architecture was born out of a global health crisis. With tuberculosis crippling cities in Europe and North America in the early 20th century, gleaming white medical facilities called sanitoriums were designed to provide patients access to sunlight and fresh air, the only known treatment for the disease. This inspired architects to use the same ideas to promote mental and physical health in all new buildings.
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