Letter to Toronto City Councillor, Mary-Margaret McMahon (Ward 32)
Dear Councillor McMahon,I am a resident of Ward 32, and am writing to express my concerns regarding the service-cutting fiscal plan proposed by Mayor Rob Ford. As I am sure…
cities
EcoCity 2011 – Networked Urban Sustainability: Breaking the Integration Barrier
September hit with the usually flurry of activity, which means that I'm only now putting up this version of one of the two talks that I gave at the 2011…
The Economy: Stealing The Future, Selling it In The Present, and Calling It GDP
In this TED talk from last month, futurist Alex Steffen shares a vision of the way our cities offer the key to addressing climate change. Cities, Steffen says, can help…
Tax value
This piece in the Globe today by a Toronto architect, Jack Diamond is worth a read because it's the kind of case that's not often made these days for what's…
On the Green Party platform.
Finally -- for now, at least, until the Tories and NDP release the rest of their platforms, and the Libs release anything at all -- I'm going to take a…
On the Ontario PCs’ platform
So, here we go with the Ontario PC Platform, the Changebook (warning: PDF). Or is that the Change Book? ChangeBook? I don't know, and I don't think they do, either.According...
On the Ontario PCs’ platform.
So, here we go with the Ontario PC Platform, the Changebook. Or is that the Change Book? ChangeBook? I don't know, and I don't think they do, either.According to this,…
Montreal discovers it’s not easy going green: New Economist Green Cities Index
An article that I wrote on the new Green Cities Index (.pdf) released last week by yhe Economist Intelligence Unit is out in today's Montreal Gazette. It was an interesting…
Kunstler on The City of the Future and "Yesterday’s Tomorrows"
I'm no apocalypse junkie; visions of the end of days don't do much for me. But I am going to recommend James Kunstler's most recent article anyway. Kunstler is a…
Solar Map of New York City
New York City's new Solar Map has gone live, and it's a beauty. With a googlemap style interface, you can zoom into any building in the greater NYC area. Click…
How Rob Ford Can Fix Social Housing
I have an opinion piece in today’s Toronto Star regarding Toronto’s Mayor, Rob Ford, and the Toronto Community Housing Corporation (TCHC). Mr. Ford would like to see a considerable number…
Municipalities, Procurement and Canada-EU Trade
There is an excellent post by Scott Sinclair at the CCPA blog.
Post C40 Summit Cities Need to "Go Big or Go Home" on Climate Policy
[I've got a new piece running over at The Mark News. The latest Clinton C40 urban climate summit just wrapped up in Brazil, and as always there's been a flood…
Bixi Responds to Flurry of Financial Coverage
Montreal news has been awash with coverage of BIXI's financial situation. After some delay, the city has approved $108million in loans and loan guarantees for the non-profit that operates BIXI.…
Jane’s Walk 2011: This Weekend Biggest Ever now in 15 Countries
This weekend is the fifth year of Jane's Walk, and it is the biggest ever. Volunteers will lead 491 walks spread across 72 cities and 15 countries. What I love…
Eco-Sensual: LEED certified sensual healing in Montreal
“Eco-sensual design” – it's got a Marvin Gaye kind of ring to it – but I like it. It's Montreal architect Owen Rose's (meme-worthy) shorthand for the relationship that exists…
Jay Carson, Cities, and Climate…no wait Donald Trump & Tori Spelling!
I rarely read Fortune magazine. OK, that's an overstatement. But it came across my desktop last week when they ran an interview with Jay Carson, disheveled CEO of the newly…
Railway Opens Tokyo’s Largest Rooftop Farm
JR East railway, one of Tokyo's largest railway operators, has opened a 535 sq.m. (5758 sq.ft.) rooftop farm on top of the company's Lumine Ogikubo Building. Part of a series…
Cities Running Huge Risks by Ignoring Climate Change II: UN Habitat Report PDFs
I've been amazed at how little attention UN Habitat's Report on Cities and Climate Change has garnered since its release at the end of March. The report (which I contributed…
Bixi Sighting: New Ads Mark Roll Out of 2011 Bikes
Here are some of the first bixis of 2011, notice anything different? New ads, mounted above the wheel and on the baskets, have raised a lot of criticism on Twitter…