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Messy Urbanisms @messyurbanisms.bsky.social · 01/10/2026

A fine example of messy urbanism, a gauge of the vitality of a city and its democracy.

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PlacemakingX @placemakingx.bsky.social · 01/10/2026

How Busking Fits Into the Placemaking Movement An interview with @ethankent.bsky.social, Executive Director of PlacemakingX by Busking Project busk.beehiiv.com/p/how-buskin...

busk.beehiiv.com

How busking fits into the Placemaking movement

An interview with Ethan Kent, Executive Director of Placemaking X

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Messy Urbanisms @messyurbanisms.bsky.social · 29/09/2026

Academic gargoyles at the entrance to Trinity College

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Toronto Boris @torontoboris.bsky.social · 29/09/2026

There are firsts for everything. And this is the 1st payphone booth I've ever encountered that situated on someone's front lawn, by their front door. I guess it beats getting a landlines in 2026. #LindsayON #discoverON #phonebooth

A Bell phonebooth right in front of someone's front door in Lindsay ON.

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Messy Urbanisms @messyurbanisms.bsky.social · 29/09/2026

Love that the University of Toronto has enabled a mobile coffee kiosk on the transformed, now pedestrian King's College Circle #coffee #kiosk

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John Michael McGrath @jm-mcgrath.bsky.social · 27/09/2026

The corollary to this is that progressive urbanism must also be at least a little bit libertarian to be liberatory; to get organic, informal networks you need to allow the uncontrolled and unpredictable, whether that's different and novel housing or jobs or amusement.

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Messy Urbanisms @messyurbanisms.bsky.social · 27/09/2026

The delightful facade of Queen Books, with bookshelves and a chorus of reader gargoyles.

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Messy Urbanisms @messyurbanisms.bsky.social · 27/09/2026

Construction detritus showing at the end of the Leslie Street Spit, with a touch of improvised sculpture.

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rudy.ca @rudydotca.bsky.social · 24/09/2026

Kensington Market #Toronto #TOphoto

a laneway in Kensington Market featuring riotously coloured murals, tags, and grafitti

Rumble Pontiac is a bar on Baldwin St, but it used to be a car dealership on Bayview Ave at Broadway (not sure if the bar's sign is from the car dealership)... you might remember the jingle "Ramble into Rumble, you'll see"

an old Subaru snoozing in the warm September sun in a Kensington Market back alley

Kensington Market Garden Car is a twenty-year-old tradition (thanks Yvonne Bambrick) and i believe the car has been replaced at least once

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Dylan Reid @dylanreid.bsky.social · 22/09/2026

I mentioned Parking Day in my chapter in "Messy Cities" about flexible streets. It can be seen as the original germ of programs like CafeTO that take over parking spaces for other purposes.

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Peter Norton @norton.bsky.social · 22/09/2026

They fought for children’s right to walk.

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Lloyd Alter @lloydalter.bsky.social · 18/09/2026

Jan Gehl wrote: “A good city is like a good party — people stay longer than really necessary because they are enjoying themselves." That's why I love PARK(ing) Day- get outside, take back the streets, and party. lloydalter.substack.com/p/its-parkin...

lloydalter.substack.com

It’s PARK(ing) Day because streets are for people

At least in Toronto, this icon of tactical urbanism is still going strong.

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Messy Urbanisms @messyurbanisms.bsky.social · 20/09/2026

"Messy Cities" featured in the Dutch newspaper Het Parool, with @shebuildscities.bsky.social and @dylanreid.bsky.social . Big thanks to Sterre Marsman for featuring the book.

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Melissa & Chris Bruntlett @modacitylife.com · 20/09/2026

For decades, one of Budapest’s most spectacular public spaces was reserved exclusively for moving cars. Today, on summer evenings and weekends, the city is testing a different future on the Danube River: one where the din of traffic gives way to conversation, music and the ringing of bicycle bells.🧵

People of all ages and abilities walk, bike, dance, dine, drink, gather, and simply linger on the former motorway along the east bank of the Danube River in Budapest.

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Kieran Healy @kjhealy.co · 19/09/2026

I’m sorry for the poor quality of the photo of this incredible fight—possibly a territorial display, or competition for a recent kill—that I witnessed in the wild yesterday evening, but as you can imagine I was running for my life at the time.

Two tyrannosaurus rexes fighting at a bus stop

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Doug Gordon @brooklynspoke.bsky.social · 19/09/2026

Our crosswalk flowers are BACK. An annual block party tradition. (Never mind the pavement condition. That’s a city issue.)

Spray painted stenciled flowers on a white crosswalk

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I wish ill on ___ @monicarooney.bsky.social · 19/09/2026

Three Little Free Libraries that look like the house behind them. East York. #TOPhoto #Toronto

A small Little Free Library shaped like a house. It has two stories, a porch on the left with a gable window over it sticking out of a black shingle roof. The right has white wood panels on the first floor and cedar shingles on the floor above. It looks like the house behind it. It is in front of a white picket fence.

A small Little Free Library shaped like a house. It has a brick first floor and light yellow siding on the second floor. There is a porch on the left. It has red shingles. It looks like the house behind it. It’s a bit shabby.

A small Little Free Library shaped like a house. It has a door and large window on the first floor which is a mix of brick and white wood siding. The second floor has a peak of beige siding. There is a round window in the peak and there is a wooden detail at the top. It looks similar to the house behind except the big house has a second floor in the beige siding before the peak with the round window and wood detail.

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Laura G Mitchell @lauragmitchell.com · 19/09/2026

Seriously, every day. I don’t think it should take special training for a contractor to understand blocking pedestrian crosswalks is not legal or safe.

Road closed signs are blocking a pedestrian crosswalk

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Kate Armstrong @brainchain.ca · 19/09/2026

I’m a failed optimist tonight but this may help you

A graffiti of a red wall and a milk glass that says ‘full’.

In the right frame there is oversized white boxing gloves for Bloor boxing and fitness

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Francesca Bouaoun @francescabouaoun.bsky.social · 17/09/2026

📍 College & Lansdowne #Toronto

Large colourful mural covering the entire side of a building. Depicts foxes, butterflies and flowers. Artist is Nick Sweetman.

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Jason Thorne @jasonthorne.bsky.social · 17/09/2026

A fascinating streetscape. This is Elbląg (Poland) where post-war reconstruction of its Old Town didn’t really begin until the late 1970s. It was inspired by the historical architecture, and built on the original street grid and building footprints, but with a very distinctive post-modernist style.

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Cassie Smith (she/her) @cassiesmith.bsky.social · 18/09/2026

It's happening! It's happening! School Streets in Ottawa. It was so great to be able to open this street up for kids and families to get to school safely and actively. As one parent I chatted with this morning said, seeing kids prioritized like this - it gives me hope. www.cbc.ca/player/play/...

cbc.ca

Elementary school in Vanier closes street to cars during morning drop off

Twice a week during morning drop off, a section of Alice Street outside Trille des Bois Public Elementary School will close to cars as part of a pilot program run by a local non-profit. The CBC’s Jodi...

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Messy Urbanisms @messyurbanisms.bsky.social · 18/09/2026

The Don Valley seems wild, but it's actually a feral landscape recovering from industry. Walk along side paths and you still see the detritus of industry poking through.

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Marcus @marcusjmerritt.com · 17/09/2026

POV: you're walking across Gallagher to the old Al-Haramine and you look up

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Messy Urbanisms @messyurbanisms.bsky.social · 17/09/2026

Messy Cities co editor @zahraeb.bsky.social gave the closing plenary address at the Mpact Transit+ Community conference today on the theme of messy cities. She showed contributor @smkasman.bsky.social's Bloordale Beach project and then had contributor Fadi Masoud as part of the panel discussion

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Messy Urbanisms @messyurbanisms.bsky.social · 16/09/2026

Toronto Parking Day is coming up Sept. 18-20, when parking spots around the city get taken over for fun installations, "Re-imagining parking spaces as people spaces." www.parkingdaytoronto.ca

parkingdaytoronto.ca

Park(ing) Day Toronto

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Cycle Fun Montreal @cyclefunmontreal.bsky.social · 16/09/2026

Jean-Paul Riopelle sculpture/fountain has a 35-minute presentations: a show of lights, fire, and mist, take place every evening from May 15 to October 15 at the following times: 5:35, 6:35, 7:35, 8:35, 9:35, and 10:35. (Fire photo is not my photo) info: artpublicmontreal.ca/en/%C5%93uvr...

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Jason Thorne @jasonthorne.bsky.social · 07/09/2026

“The mark of a great city is in how it treats its ordinary spaces, not its special ones” (Aaron Renn). Under a bridge and along a highway embankment in Vilnius, Lithuania.

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The Urbanist @theurbanist.org · 16/09/2026

Marymoor Park (#9) got a shout out for a wayfinding blunder that a local citizen took it upon themselves to fix.

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BrianMcLachlan @brianmcl.com · 15/09/2026

Recent pink graffiti snaps. Okra, Chest?, ? and Spook. #Toronto #Graffiti #StreetArt

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Toronto Boris @torontoboris.bsky.social · 15/09/2026

Graffiti Alley Tripper The personification of Toronto's transit zeitgeist, the enduring CLRV. Remember and dearly missed on these streets. #BlueSkyArtShow #EastCoastKin #UrbanGaze #Toronto #GraffitiAlley #AlleywayTO

Miral of a CRLV streetcar in a Toronto alley.

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Alex Freeman @northernnerd.bsky.social · 14/09/2026

There's like a million monarchs flying down the MGT at Marilyn Bell, I feel like a disney princess.

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Qagggy! @qagggy.bsky.social · 14/09/2026

Vancouver is a great case study for other North American cities reaching that tipping point where public demand for high quality pedestrian space is rising...but overcoming the obstacles takes effort.

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Historical Marker Ahead @historicalmarker.bsky.social · 14/09/2026

In Toronto, a historical marker celebrating historical markers: “This plaque was commemorated on October 10, 2018, to commemorate its own commemoration. Plaques like this one are an integral part of the campaign to support more plaques like this one.”

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Concretebotany @concretebotany.bsky.social · 14/09/2026

#Petunias shot this morning in Bella Vista. #Bloomscrolling #FeralOrnamentals

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Spacing @spacing.bsky.social · 14/09/2026

Peter MacCallum discovered a trove of images of Yonge Street on a November evening, 1965, by press photographer Nick Loek, capturing the nightlife mix of neon glamour, vitality, and sleaze on this busy strip at the time. spacing.ca/toronto/2026...

spacing.ca

Yonge Street, Evening, November 6, 1965 - Spacing Toronto

A few of weeks ago, while searching the Toronto Telegram online archive for aerial photos of the historic industrial waterfront, I came across a remarkable series of about 40 images from 1965 by Teleg...

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Dan Marshall @danmarstp.marshallwords.com · 14/09/2026

Biked to my Dr Appt in St Louis Park. Arrived 1/2 hour early, wasting time in waiting room. Should have driven, would still be enjoying traffic on 394. 😜 #BikeSky

Bike in front of vibrant new mural on greenway

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West End Phoenix @westendphoenix.bsky.social · 14/09/2026

This week's garage mood: emojional 😃😍😚😫🤪 #garagemoods

A photo of a garage door with many emojis painted in it

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Wil Deny @wildeny.bsky.social · 14/09/2026

DIESL

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guylaine l’heureux @chagota.bsky.social · 05/09/2026

Le jardinage guérilla […] est beaucoup plus qu’une pratique consistant à planter des fleurs dans des espaces abandonnés. Les recherches démontrent qu’il peut constituer une forme d’engagement citoyen capable de transformer des terrains négligés en lieux de vie, de rencontre et de biodiversité.

plus.lapresse.ca

Refleurir un passage piétonnier | En fleurs et contre tous

Avant 2024, le passage piétonnier Sainte-Rose – au sud de Sainte-Catherine, entre Beaudry et de la Visitation – était un espace d’insécurité et d’abandon, où les herbes en friche dissimulaient seringu...

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Brent Toderian @brenttoderian.bsky.social · 31/08/2026

Given the unusual timing & challenges, Vancouver’s Granville Street pedestrian zone 7-Week extension since the World Cup ended is one of the most important street transformation pilots in North America. The public support for the street has been remarkable. This week/weekend is the last. Come see.

People walking along the pedestrian Granville Street in Downtown Vancouver this past weekend during the Dutch Street Market.

All sorts of activities on Granville Street, including simple games like cornhole toss. Constantly in use. Simple things like games and chalk work very well, especially with kids and families, but also with adults!

Area assigned for kids to play mini-soccer on the street.

The ability of the street to attract kids and families was a specific goal for the extension, and a specific success that we’ve seen realized.

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Goodnews @goodnews.computer · 04/09/2026

Take a break from being depressed that everything you love is being destroyed by slop for a moment and let me tell you about the beautiful symbiotic relationship between graffiti writers, train yard workers, and model train enthusiasts.

A hand holding a model train with a replica of the same graffiti on the full scale train car behind it.

A model train with two graffiti pieces on opposite sides.

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Toronto Boris @torontoboris.bsky.social · 01/09/2026

The Porcelain Rule holds fast. Around the next bend an alleyway throne appears. On everywalk, at least one toilet proclaims its dominion over the local alleyways. #AlleywayTO #UrbanGaze

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Francesca Bouaoun @francescabouaoun.bsky.social · 24/08/2026

📍 Dundas St West #Toronto Luvsumone (Moises Frank)

Huge mural on entire side of a brick building depicting a tiger against a green backdrop.

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Jill Lightner @jilllightner.bsky.social · 25/08/2026

Street art in her honor from SE Seattle

A glittery tinsel-fringed illustrated portrait of Dolly Parton on a telephone pole. There's a cartoon voice bubble with a quote from her that says "find out who you are and do it on purpose."

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Don Curren 🇨🇦🇺🇦 @dbcurren.bsky.social · 20/08/2026

“ #AncientRome was a #city of immigrants,” writes historian Ryan R. Abrecht, “a pre-modern metropolis of perhaps a million people at its height, most of them #immigrants or the descendants of immigrants.” #Rome daily.jstor.org/ancient-rome...

daily.jstor.org

Ancient Rome: A City of Immigrants - JSTOR Daily

A neighborhood beyond the Tiber became home to generations of Jewish and Syrian migrants who reshaped the imperial capital.

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Shawn Micallef @shawnmicallef.bsky.social · 20/08/2026

I wrote about what a revelation it was to discovery that Berlin is an open water swimming city. So much swimming. Special shout out to 4-season swimmer @jessicajlee.bsky.social who brought me to some Berlin swimming spots I'd never have found on my own. www.pinktickettravel.com/Destinations...

Screen shot of article w photo of Berlin lake

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Laurel @laurelfynes.bsky.social · 20/08/2026

That place lead me to meet a hero many year ago, a hero who became a very dear friend. I miss you, Diane. I raise my cuppa to you. ❤️

A mug made to commemorate Diane Kashin, decorated with some of her beloved buttons and a favourite phrase “it’s a good mess” in front of a tea cozy decorated with printed tea pots.

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