Spacing

One of my earliest memories was driving out St Clair to my grandmother's place in Etobicoke past the old Stock Yards. I remember the train tracks, the stock yard pens, the old buildings and the smell.
That drive took us past Wychwood were old PCCs were kept, but that's another story for another day!

Ontario Stockyards, 1991 - Spacing Toronto The neighbourhood designation “Stockyards District” evokes indistinct memories of what for much of the twentieth century was one of Toronto’s most concentrated zones of heavy industry. Sadly, nothing ...

Once upon a time, the Stockyards District was actually stockyards. Photographer Peter MacCallum shares his photos from that era spacing.ca/toronto/2025...

REID: The pedestrian blood sacrifice - Spacing Toronto In the early 2000s, I moved into a new condo building in the Garment District south-west of Queen and Spadina. The area had been mostly an employment area for decades, but thanks to the innovative “Ki...

"Relying on pedestrians getting killed or injured in order to identify danger spots is hardly in keeping with a Vision Zero policy." From @dylanreid.bsky.social spacing.ca/toronto/2023...

Stylish old school convenience store hanging sign. (Hanging signs were once considered "messy" by urban reformers who tried to ban them - see the @spacing.bsky.social book "The Signs that Define Toronto").

What does Toronto's new bike plan offer Scarborough? - Spacing National This post by Marvin Macaraig, Ph.D., is part of Spacing’s partnership with the Toronto Cycling Think & Do Tank at the University of Toronto. Marvin is the Scarborough Cycles Project Coordinator at the...

I wrote this article and took this pic... 10 years ago... and still nothing has changed at this problematic intersection, despite our continuous calls for complete street safety improvements on Danforth in #ScarbTO.

spacing.ca/national/201...

#BikeTO #WalkTO #Ward20 #TOpoli @dylanreid.bsky.social

Its not about speed cameras on Parkside - Spacing Toronto Unless you live in a hermetically sealed box, you likely know that the serial be-heading of the speed camera on Parkside Drive has mutated from a weird slice-of-city-life story to the digital front pa...

Its not about speed cameras on Parkside Drive, writes @johnlorinc.bsky.social. #TOPoli #ONpoli

spacing.ca/toronto/2025...

Is Toronto’s public design in the toilet? The city’s plan to repair and replace 125 public washrooms is a rushed, one-size-fits-all approach that misses an opportunity to showcase design

In this spot on column, @alexbozikovic.bsky.social cites the "To the Loo!" design competition we co-sponsored. The winning design and runners up will be featured in our next issue. It would be fantastic if they ended up featured in an actual Toronto park.

www.theglobeandmail.com/canada/artic...

"May We Present, Miss TTC!" by Natalie Welsh was inspired by her "Fitting In?" project on the history of women's uniforms in Canada, which was part of her Master of Arts in Fashion at Toronto Metropolitan University. Find out more on the project website: fittinginexhibit.com/homepage-%E2...

2025 Public History Award Nominees – Heritage Toronto Discover the 2023 Heritage Toronto Book Award nominees, which cover a range of heritage topics, from music history to multiculturalism.

Very pleased to have four Spacing pieces nominated for Heritage Toronto awards in the public history category!
- "Historic Clamour"
- "May We Present, Miss TTC!"
- "Queer Yonge"
- "Remembering the Harriet Tubman Youth Centre on St. Clair West"
www.heritagetoronto.org/programs/her...

Reading List: Unplanned Suburbs - Spacing Toronto We think of suburbs as places where the middle classes go to leave the city. But Richard Harris’s book Unplanned Suburbs: Toronto’s American Tragedy, 1900 to 1950 (1996) reveals that, for several deca...

Much of Toronto's early expansion took the form of "shacktowns," where owner-built housing on small private lots provided affordable housing for workers. @dylanreid.bsky.social explores the seminal 1996 book "Unplanned Suburbs" that analyzed this phenomenon. spacing.ca/toronto/2025...

EVENT: On the Edge - Photographs of Toronto’s Downtown Waterfront 2023-2025 - Spacing Toronto The fifty photographs in the exhibition On the Edge – Photographs of Toronto’s Downtown Waterfront 2023-2025 collectively present a record of the expansive downtown waterfront in its current state of ...

Upcoming event: On the Edge – Photographs of Toronto’s Downtown Waterfront 2023-2025, by Steven Evans, launching with a panel discussion featuring senior editor @johnlorinc.bsky.social and Prof. Marco Polo on Sept. 25. spacing.ca/toronto/2025...

GOOD SPACES CREATE GREAT PLACES: A magazine and a retail store combine to change how we view Toronto. - Hidden Gems Toronto The  dynamic duo of Matt Blackett and Dylan Reid have been part of an intriguing organization that has played a critical role in making our city better. Matt is the publisher and creative directo...

The Hidden Gems podcast interviewed Spacing's publisher @matthewblackett.bsky.social and editor @dylanreid.bsky.social about the magazine and store, and how a love of Toronto (despite frustrations) is the uniting characteristic of our readers. hiddengemstoronto.buzzsprout.com/1745243/epis...

Check out the latest issue of @spacing.bsky.social, which includes a piece I wrote about department stores in Toronto (inspired by the demise of The Bay) #TOHistory

Order a copy from @spacingstore.bsky.social or check out your favourite newsstand!

In my intro to the new Waterfront themed issue of @spacing.bsky.social , I wrote:
"It’s a bizarre concatenation of clashing jurisdictions, priorities, and funding that we can build an astonishing new river but can’t fix a little pedestrian bridge."

spacing.ca/toronto/2025...

Everyone's favourite Toronto History story. On @spacing.bsky.social , the 2012 story about it by @adambunch.bsky.social has been in the top 10 viewed pages *every single week since then*! Yes, for 13 years.

Here’s @johnlorinc.bsky.social on Toronto & its ravine burden. The city passed a ravine strategy years ago but much of it is unfunded.

The long battle for Yellow Creek Ravine - Spacing Toronto Because the summer of 2025 has been all about infernal heat and drifting smoke, as opposed to the Biblical downpours of recent years, the public/media conversation about climate hasn’t focused on the ...

The long battle for Yellow Creek — the ravine has finally found its way onto City Council's radar, but is there real money there to fix damage inflicted by climate change? Senior editor @johnlorinc.bsky.social explores the erosion of soil & money.

spacing.ca/toronto/2025... #TOpoli #ONpoli

Very happy to announce my latest piece as part of the new @spacing.bsky.social issue!

It tells the story of The Concerto Cafe and other early espresso houses that changed coffee culture in Toronto! Check it out!

Shawn Micallef: It’s a basic need. So why isn’t Toronto flush with accessible, well-designed public washrooms? The winner of a competition to design a better public washroom shows what could be done to public facilities, if the city really wanted to.

Spacing will be featuring the winner and runners-up of this competition our next (fall) issue, as well as a Q+A with the winners. www.thestar.com/opinion/cont...

You'll also find some great pieces by @bobgeorgiouto.bsky.social on the birth of Toronto's patios, @jbcurio.bsky.social on the rise and decline of Toronto's cathedrals of commerce, the department stores, a double feature on fake historical plaques, and much more.

NEW ISSUE: On the waterfront - Spacing Toronto We think of the Toronto islands as a nice-to-have, a lovely space for recreation and escape from the city. But in fact Toronto owes its very existence to those islands, specifically, the sheltered har...

NEW ISSUE: Waterfront Rising - Issue 71 looks at the remarkable changes happening on Toronto's waterfront and potential ideas for its future. Editor @dylan_reid introduces the new issue. spacing.ca/toronto/2025...

PODCAST: Spacing Radio 089, Global ideas for local placemaking - Spacing Toronto In this episode we bring you the highlights from Global Placemaking Summit which took place in March at Evergreen in Toronto. First, we drill down into the meaning to the term with some of the event o...

On the new @spacingradio.bsky.social podcast, we bring you the highlights from this year’s Global Placemaking Summit: spacing.ca/toronto/2025...

PODCAST: Spacing Radio 089, Global ideas for local placemaking - Spacing Toronto In this episode we bring you the highlights from Global Placemaking Summit which took place in March at Evergreen in Toronto. First, we drill down into the meaning to the term with some of the event o...

On th latest @spacingradio.bsky.social, we bring you the highlights from the Global Placemaking Summit held at @evergreencanada.bsky.social. We speak to experts from around the world: spacing.ca/toronto/2025...

Editorial: Swimming in cities is a triumph of science and citizen action As the Seine opens to recreational swimming for the first time in 100 years, we should applaud more than the science for such environmental cleanups

Spacing's new waterfront issue, available any day now, includes an article by Charlotte Reed about how Toronto could incorporate more swimming beyond beaches in the waterfront. cen.acs.org/environment/...

Out of time on out of touch proposals - Spacing Toronto As housing shortages continue to pressure municipal officials, cities must place greater priority on effective solutions that have a real chance at market. The agonizing over luxury condos or more “Mc...

Maxed-out condo tower applications are still landing in municipal planning committees, even though the condo market is dead in the water, writes Michel Nayrouz spacing.ca/toronto/2025...

Re-upping my column from @spacing.bsky.social: spacing.ca/toronto/2025...

"There may be nothing that we value more than the safety of our children, but when it comes to pickups this priority is largely invisible."

OP-ED: Warning about the danger to kids from pickup trucks - Spacing Toronto How many people would buy a new version of a home appliance knowing that it is seven times more likely to cause injury to a child than its traditional counterpart? Not many, you say. Yet on our public...

Pickup trucks are seven times more likely than a conventional car to kill a child that is struck, and @albertkoehl.bsky.social argues the federal government needs to mandate safety warnings in pickup truck ads. spacing.ca/toronto/2025...

Sarah Hood wrote about him in @spacing.bsky.social a few issues ago.

Image of Lanrick on Metro Morning

I quite like the shirt and hat combo.

Thx @tomflood.bsky.social @uoftcities.bsky.social

Read the good stuff I was talking about in @spacing.bsky.social

‘Why Canada Must Recognize Bicycle Mechanics as a Profession’
spacing.ca/toronto/2025...