Messy Urbanisms

Trekked to the 7 Subway at Grand Central today to see “Abstract Futures” (2025), the newest public artwork to grace the walls of the New York City subway system, designed by the feminist art collective Hilma’s Ghost, a 600-square-foot glass mosaic mural. Remarkable!

Messy Cities at Book City Danforth!

Messy Cities: Why We Can't Plan Everything (ed. @johnlorinc.bsky.social, @dylanreid.bsky.social, Leslie Woo, and Zahra Ebrahim) on @canadianarchitect.bsky.social's Best Books for Canadian Architects 2025 list!

www.canadianarchitect.com/best-books-f....

This right here is the joy of city living. You often encounter your fellow human beings doing spontaneously excellent things.

Home-made wayfinding on Geary Ave.

Public art display frame on a wall on Dovercourt

Is this a sign of Toronto’s future? City looks to cut curbside clutter with clearer parking display Toronto city staff are proposing a pilot project of signage with clearer language and colour-coded diagrams to reduce confusion about parking restrictions.

"Toronto has more than 1 million regulatory signs"

www.thestar.com/news/gta/is-...

S6E7: “Urban Acupuncture” — How Pocket Forests Heal Our Cities with Adrian Wong of SUGi Why dense, “untidy” forests grow fastest, why soil is the real engine, and how pocket forests rewild cities from the inside out — with Adrian Wong of SUGi.

“Urban Acupuncture” — How Pocket Forests Heal Our Cities with Adrian Wong of SUGi internetofnature.substack.com/p/s6e7-urban...

Creek in concrete channel

It’s Black Creek

The Premier is taking away speed cameras near schools.

In unrelated news, BRING BACK THIRD SPACES! Even if we have to reclaim them ourselves! ✊

#BikeTO #WalkTO #LoiterTO #VisionZero #TOpoli #ONpoli

Toronto’s white squirrel

#Toronto #Photography #StreetArt

Ask for more bikeshare glam shots and you shall receive

Children and snails wandering the world Finding agency in digital and real worlds

Children and snails wandering the world
Finding agency in digital and real worlds
open.substack.com/pub/colinell...

He grew up in a time before Toronto banned neighbourhood stores. Here’s what he says we’re missing Steve Polak took the Star on a stroll down his west Toronto street to show what the city has lost, and what it could gain.

He grew up in a time before Toronto banned neighbourhood stores. Here's what he says we're missing www.thestar.com/real-estate/... via @torontostar

Building Blocks | Literary Review of Canada Frances Bula reviews “The Rise of the Neighbourhoodin Canada, 1880s–2020s” by Richard Harris and “Messy Cities,” edited by Dylan Reid, et al.

Great review of "Messy Cities" in the Literary Review of Canada, by @fabulavancouver.bsky.social . With shout-outs to @smkasman.bsky.social and @theurbangeog.bsky.social, among others . And in very distinguished company with Richard Harris's latest book. reviewcanada.ca/magazine/202...

Lubbock Will Remove Buddy Holly-Themed Crosswalk After Federal Crackdown

As someone who has written a lot about crosswalks - I think these types of crossings are fine, and a USDOT that is dismantling funding programs for bike and pedestrian infrastructure is in no position to argue this is about safety:
www.nytimes.com/2025/11/17/u...

Phonebooth with two scooters next to it

Private rooms for your phone calls - from a more civilized age.

Impressive use of pooch puns. And I’m glad I read this news or I may have called Toronto Animal Services. My fav park. It’s impressive, whimsical work by Claude Cormier.

It's really good we live so close to a store to get snacks -10 Year Old we all want walkable neighbourhoods ROVÉLO CREATIVE

Not an urbanist, a 10 year old.

A giant bear sitting on a throne looms over this Toronto neighbourhood. What’s the story behind ‘Bearbraham Lincoln’? The 10-metre tall female grizzly in a North York park is the mirror image of the Lincoln Memorial in Washington D.C.

Now this is something else ..

www.thestar.com/news/gta/a-g...

A little tree aspiring to add to the canopy along the Danforth

A couple of the hidden art deco friezes in a basement off the Queen Street subway station

Messy Cities Can messiness make our cities more liveable, lively, and inclusive?Crowded streets, sidewalk vendors, jumbled architecture, constant clamour, graffitied walls, parks gone wild: are these signs of a po...

This year, I had an essay published in this anthology. I'm biased but I love all the essays. The book was on the non-fiction bestseller list in recent months, so I suppose I'm technically a bestselling author?

cc @messyurbanisms.bsky.social

chbooks.com/Books/M/Mess...

The Bain Co-op showing its pride on the sidewalk

Love it when people put a bench outside their front yard #sitTO

The introduction to "Messy Cities" opens by describing a desire line - specifically, this one in Withrow Park!

Matt Elliott: Now, Toronto has noisy pickleball games in its crosshairs. Are we becoming the City That Fun Forgot? Tending to the whims of grumblers might make for good politics in election season, but it often makes for lousy governance.

Columnist @graphicmatt.com on finding the balance between messy fun and messy disturbance. www.thestar.com/opinion/cont...

PODCAST: Spacing Radio 90, Bless this urban mess - Spacing Toronto Change in cities is often slow, when using official channels. There is a desire to achieve the perfect plan, one that balances everyone’s needs an preferences. But sometimes you need to get down and d...

"Messy Cities" is featured on the @spacing.bsky.social podcast, as co-editors @shebuildscities.bsky.social , @zahraeb.bsky.social and @dylanreid.bsky.social discuss genesis of the book and the ideas behind it with host @glynbowerman.bsky.social spacing.ca/toronto/2025...

Condo v. Church: A story of Toronto on the steps of Sanctuary The people of Sanctuary believe they are doing the Lord's work on Charles Street East. More and more of their neighbours think the church has become part of the problem.

The sharp edge of messy urbanism

www.thestar.com/news/gta/con...

The world’s longest rainbow path. The 600 metre “Long Walk to Equality” by artist Travis Myers at Hanlan’s Point on Toronto Island … the location of Canada’s first Pride in 1971.