iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Reposted by @gamarad.bsky.social

Alex Bozikovic @alexbozikovic.bsky.social · 08/10/2026

What if a solution to the housing crisis is right in front of us? My long read on the shrinking neighbourhoods of Toronto and Vancouver and how we could fill them up with people again. www.theglobeandmail.com/canada/artic...

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Alex Bozikovic @alexbozikovic.bsky.social · 20/08/2026

Gentle density reform in Toronto has been a waste of time. After 4.5 years, 1,200 net new homes. That’s 266 homes/year, equal to one highrise apartment building. And that’s not counting multiplexes being “deconverted” to houses. malcolmkennedy.com/to-multiplex...

malcolmkennedy.com

Toronto Multiplex Tracker — Map of Gentle Density Permits

An interactive map of every new multiplex in Toronto: duplexes through six-plexes, laneway and garden suites, and secondary suites. Built from City of Toronto building permits and refreshed every day.

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Damien Moule @damienmoule.bsky.social · 16/06/2026

As part of Bill 98, a new regulation has been proposed capping minimum lot sizes in zoning to 175sq.m. In Toronto lot subdivision would be feasible in most of the city. I think that's the effective end of Neighbourhoods policy and with it the OP. toronto.cityhallwatcher.com/p/are-counci...

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Alex Bozikovic @alexbozikovic.bsky.social · 11/06/2026

Public land should serve the public. Sadly in Toronto, the parks department and library actively resist this kind of deal and no one makes them cooperate.

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Quantian @quantian.bsky.social · 07/06/2026

Solar canopies over car lots are a terrible idea relative to just sticking them in a field somewhere but it is an idea that will never ever ever die because it’s like catnip for boomers

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Damien Moule @damienmoule.bsky.social · 04/04/2026

I am particularly annoyed by Toronto's response on minimum lot size. They say they don't want minimum lot size reform because it could limit the construction of multiplexes. This totally ignores that multiplexes have been far more likely to be built in areas that don't have *any* minimum lot size.

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Stephen Jacob Smith @stephenjacobsmith.com · 07/03/2026

From the NY Times write-up of the incident that kicked off billions in sidewalk shed requirements: "Despite the number and density of high-rise buildings flush with sidewalks in [NYC], there have been relatively few fatalities caused by falling objects." timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine...

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Uytae Lee @uytaelee.bsky.social · 11/01/2026

NEW VIDEO: North America’s Elevator’s Problem Elevators are absolutely essential to modern cities..... and it turns out North America kind of sucks at them. We partnered with @sightline.org to look into the many issues plaguing our elevator industry, and what it might take to fix it.

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Colleen @cbailey6.bsky.social · 27/12/2025

Not sure what to do about this. If you try to raise it with councillors, they will ask staff and staff will say that the money in reserves is all allocated and the growing reserves aren't a problem. But, if the money came out of underspending on the operating budget, it sure seems like a problem?

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Colleen @cbailey6.bsky.social · 27/12/2025

An important chart to understand as Toronto heads into next year's budget process. We'll hear that the budget is barely balanced, the situation is precarious, the same as we have heard for the last 5 years, despite the City actually posting billions in surplus except in 2023. Why?

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Damien Moule @damienmoule.bsky.social · 19/12/2025

From the Metro Toronto Planning Board's 1959 draft Official Plan (voted down by Metro Council). You could not say something this obvious in Toronto's Official Plan anymore.

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Colleen @cbailey6.bsky.social · 13/12/2025

Obviously no one from Toronto is in a position to criticize Calgary since we didn't even pass the citywide sixplex reform that our HAF agreement required. But I feel for Calgary advocates who worked on zoning reform, saw it succeed and people then said "Too much housing. Roll it back."

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Ontario Traffic Man @ontariotrafficman.bsky.social · 06/12/2025

The promise: Subway for the cost of a streetcar The result: Streetcar for the cost of a subway

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Oh The Urbanity! @ohtheurbanity.bsky.social · 05/12/2025

I distinctly remember the consensus in Toronto 10+ years ago that subways were about wasting money to preserve more surface space for cars. LRTs were the sensible progressive option, providing almost as good service for much less money. It turns out the service is... not so great after all.

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Damien Moule @damienmoule.bsky.social · 25/11/2025

The estimated budget for the Waterfront East "LRT" (streetcar with tiny tunnelled section) is $2 billion?!?! Subway prices for 4km of streetcar. Glad we'll spend next year's municipal election talking about a made up crime surge. www.thestar.com/news/gta/tor...

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Marco Chitti @chittimarco.bsky.social · 22/11/2025

Metrolinx: we'll need to do discontinuous electrification at Union Station because we can't touch the heritage canopy SBB/CFF/FFS: we are raising the existing canopy at the Gare de Lausanne by 1 m and move it laterally by 90 cm to slightly modify the tracks' geometry. youtu.be/CNuJLQguRgo?...

youtu.be

Gare de Lausanne; la métamorphose expliquée.

YouTube video by SBB CFF FFS

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Jeff Allen @jamaps.bsky.social · 22/11/2025

Charting number of rental units in apartment buildings in Toronto by year of construction (This is a quick update to a similar chart I made ~2.5 years ago) #toronto #housing #dataviz #NationalHousingDay

Stacked bar chart showing the number of apartment units in Toronto by year of construction with categories for private, TCHC, and other social housing. The vast majority were built in the 1960s and 1970s, with a minor up-tick in recent years.

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Urban Land Rent 🇸🇴🚰 @urbanlandrent.bsky.social · 21/11/2025

Are you fucking kidding me it’s like we are living in a cartoon

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Michael Druker 🇨🇦 @mdruker.app · 18/11/2025

The real galaxy brain Canada is to make London Ontario the biggest London, but Canadians are afraid to dream big

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Stephen Jacob Smith @stephenjacobsmith.com · 13/11/2025

“A large housing project delivering more than 500 homes in west London will no longer go ahead…Specifically, [the developer] claims that the most significant reason for its termination was the new requirement to provide two staircases in London for buildings over 18 metres.”

bbc.com

Developer Peabody pulls out of building 564 homes in Southall - BBC News

Hundreds of affordable homes will no longer be built in west London after Peabody withdraws plans.

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Marco Chitti @chittimarco.bsky.social · 05/11/2025

I've done something that I don't do very often. I wrote a short, quick polemic post. It was prompted by a discussion in here. It's about why I'm still skeptical about ALTO's HSR project and why there is no way around transparency in public projects. open.substack.com/pub/marcochi...

open.substack.com

Why I’m still skeptical about ALTO’s HSR project

A reality check and a plea for transparency.

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Nilo @nilo.bsky.social · 24/10/2025

This is an incredibly absurd way to develop laws. It’s essentially a fact free vibes Only method of developing rules. It can’t go the way of the dodo fast enough.

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gamarad.bsky.social @gamarad.bsky.social · 15/10/2025

@alonlevy.bsky.social In your transit costs spread sheet, do you usually include things like operations and maintenance or just the capital cost?

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Colleen @cbailey6.bsky.social · 26/09/2025

Strange scenes at Planning and Housing Committee yesterday: a heritage listing of a 1930s 4plex in Leaside was upheld over objections of residents and neighbours. The residents clearly know what's up, even as the City sticks to canned lines that listing is no big deal, doesn't impede development.

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Oh The Urbanity! @ohtheurbanity.bsky.social · 21/09/2025

The most underappreciated issue in urbanism is the Anglosphere’s transit construction cost problem. It’s not just that we’re spending too much money on any particular project. It’s that we could be getting *much more transit* for the *same amount of money we’re currently spending*.

youtu.be

How This Small City Built Light Rail For Cheap

YouTube video by Oh The Urbanity!

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Stephen Jacob Smith @stephenjacobsmith.com · 21/09/2025

Despite all of these junkets, I don’t think either the Austrians or the Americans really have a clue about what the circumstances are like in the other place. Neither understands the vast gulf in demand, shortage, or construction cost between the two places.

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Stan Oklobdzija @stano.bsky.social · 27/08/2025

In 2020 (technically it started in 2019,) I was at a New Year's Eve party hosted by some of Raman's campaign leads. Several people there were mad at me when they learned I did work for Abundant Housing LA. What a gigantic difference five years makes!

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alex williams @atwilliams.bsky.social · 20/08/2025

so okay! first piece out from me at Common Wealth "Beyond Bidenomics: On what is living and what is dead in economic policy" the argument is that progressives should take credit for the successful parts of the pandemic policy response and build the next Thing www.common-wealth.org/perspectives...

common-wealth.org

Beyond Bidenomics | Perspectives

On what is living and what is dead in economic policy.

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Damien Moule @damienmoule.bsky.social · 24/07/2025

Happy we got the transit lanes on Bathurst and Dufferin south of Bloor but this graphic from @chittimarco.bsky.social is going to be constantly on my mind when I use them.

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Stephen Jacob Smith @stephenjacobsmith.com · 23/07/2025

@englishrail.bsky.social and I have a piece in the Globe & Mail about how Canada can make housing more affordable and accessible, and disentangle itself from its unreliable and hostile southern neighbor: give its elevator industry the option to use the European/global standard, not just the U.S. one

theglobeandmail.com

Opinion: Canada’s outdated elevator rules are adding to the housing crisis

The high cost of elevators is a barrier to the development of affordable, accessible homes

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Jonathan O'Brien @jonobri.com · 12/07/2025

The Problem with Urban Planning: a professional silo is gatekeeping our nation's growth. My new essay w/ @inflectionpoints.work The problem at the heart of planning is not political—it's professional. 🧵

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Stephen Jacob Smith @stephenjacobsmith.com · 08/07/2025

Slide from a presentation I just did. “Fear of heights”…I gotta use this one again…

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gamarad.bsky.social @gamarad.bsky.social · 05/07/2025

@alonlevy.bsky.social Have you written anything about the cost-benefit of the lines proposed for the next phase of the Grand Paris Express? I recall that the cost-benefit for some of the lines in the first phase was weak

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Quantian @quantian.bsky.social · 29/06/2025

Under fairly reasonable assumptions about productivity growth, current fertility patterns mean the typical worker born today in a developed democracy will experience negative real wage growth their entire life.

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Marco Chitti @chittimarco.bsky.social · 10/06/2025

A depressing but unsurprising story of the DB-Metrolinx divorce I don't know who needs to hear this, but if Canadian politicians want to improve in the fields where we aren't a frontrunner (e.g. transit ), they need to get rid of the current class of managers and their backward-looking culture

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rev. howard arson @theophite.bsky.social · 07/06/2025

this post is a joke from a New York Times reporrter's work account about video of an infant being raped to death

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gamarad.bsky.social @gamarad.bsky.social · 03/06/2025

Does anyone know of any jurisdictions which do land use planning and permitting at the state/provincial level rather than at the municipal level?

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Alex Bozikovic @alexbozikovic.bsky.social · 01/06/2025

It’s telling that Chow talks about development charges paying for affordable housing and shelters. How it is logical to tax housing to pay for housing? Why are these programs funded from DCs at all? The idea that DCs cover the “impacts” of growth is a sham. www.thestar.com/politics/fed...

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Beautiful Women Updates @aoife.bsky.social · 29/05/2025

my takeaway from reading 150 years worth of historical transit and planning documents is that the solutions have been known the entire time and studies are just a way for people who don't want change to waste time

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Damien Moule @damienmoule.bsky.social · 27/05/2025

Worst instincts of City Planning on display here. Creating an unnecessary rule on the off chance that someone makes a multiplex unit that too closely resembles lower income housing. Why should we care if a multiplex unit has 5 or 6 bedrooms?

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David Ho @davidho.bsky.social · 25/05/2025

Hard to believe they’re talking about the same event.

Headline from the independent: Trump gives rambling speech about trophy wives, golf and the 'great late' Al Capone in politically-charged West Point address

Headline from the New York Times: Trump Gives Commencement Address at West Point, Stressing a New Era

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TheDesk.net @thedesk.net · 19/05/2025

Scoop: CBS News pulled a "60 Minutes" segment that focused on job losses at the Internal Revenue Service hours before it was scheduled to air, replacing it with a feature story on Cajun music. Story: www.msn.com/en-us/news/o...

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Reece Martin @rmtransit.bsky.social · 19/05/2025

A big part of the reason Toronto feels unserious about being a city is that it has policies like requiring all manner of private amenities. As if condo dwellers have nothing else to do - especially in the old city. brandondonnelly.com/the-city-is-...

brandondonnelly.com

The city is the amenity

The City of Toronto requires amenity spaces to be provided in new housing developments of a certain size. Here, for example, is the relevant excerpt from the recommended zoning by-law amendment that i...

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Oh The Urbanity! @ohtheurbanity.bsky.social · 17/05/2025

I admit, it’s not a great time to be an urbanist who cares about Toronto. The biggest transit expansion in North America … is being bizarrely mismanaged. The city seemed to be hitting its stride on bike infrastructure … that Doug Ford is now dead set on stopping and even reversing.

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Marco Chitti @chittimarco.bsky.social · 17/05/2025

No only there will be zero accountability. There will be zero lessons learned from the errors of this project because we will never know what went wrong. So we will start from zero and make the same mistakes again and again and again...

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Stephen Jacob Smith @stephenjacobsmith.com · 16/05/2025

The alarm in my building has been sounding almost every morning this year due to a telecom issue that we cannot resolve. We’ve put so many active systems in our apartment buildings at a high cost and for no societal improvement in fire outcomes relative to countries with more passive strategies.

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