This past October I visited Pointe-à-Callière Museum of Archaeology and History in Montreal, Quebec: https://pacmusee.qc.ca/en/ .It was part of a tour with ICOMOS colleagues visiting Ottawa and Montreal https://www.icomos.org/en, as part of their annual conference. This amazing museum shows and explains a
Montreal has been making great progress in creating pedestrianized streets and enhancing pedestrian priority areas. The number of pedestrian-friendly areas has grown to nearly 56 projects, making Montreal the focal point for pedestrianization in Canada. Montreal stands in marked contrast
Inspiration Village at the ByWard Market in Ottawa was a vibrant part of the Ottawa 2017 and Canada 150 celebrations and events. It made the Market even more fun to be in from May through September of 2017, hosting over
This past January Brent Toderian was in Kingston making a public presentation to City Council, and later to a climate change symposium, talking about intensification, climate change and city planning. Finally, I thought, intensification and climate change are being discussed
Here is a great idea that turns necessity into a virtue - covering unattractive utility boxes with beautiful art! Many cities are turning to utility box wraps to eliminate the unattractive visual impact of this necessary infrastructure crowding our public streets.
Inexpensive décor from the ByWard Market BIA in Ottawa. A tree in a courtyard is decorated with inexpensive plastic flowers to identify the location of a children’s outdoor reading series. Cheap and Cheerful!
If you were in Montreal for the 375th anniversary this summer you may have seen the excellent outdoor sculpture exhibit called La Ballade de la Paix on Sherbrooke Street. These interesting art trees were located next to the McCord Museum
After a successful 30 year career in municipal government, spanning five municipalities including Toronto, London, Kingston, Whitby, and finally Brantford, Senior Planner Mark Gladysz announced that he will retire on June 15th. During his career Mark made an indelible impact
(This article was originally published in Ontario Planning Vol. 29 No. 3, May/June, 2014) Summary: This article highlights two examples of cultural venues' contributions to downtown vitality - Brantford and Ottawa. Harmony Square in Brantford was created to spark outdoor programming
(This article was published in Public Sector Digest, January, 2012) Many communities in Ontario and across Canada have started to bring post-secondary institutions into the economic mix of their downtown areas. Often, this is a single department or school, perhaps a