In Toronto, public housing is getting a massive do-over. Well, at least in part. Witness the Regent Park revitalization: Within the last year, vertically dense, glass and concrete structures with the look and basic amenities of the better condos that line the Gardiner Expressway rose up near Dundas and Parliament.
The buildings reflect light, unlike their [...]

Every iPhoneur (the post-post-modern flaneur) operates in a state of flow when they are perambulating around the city with their camera poised: walking, observing, discerning. Every picture (“capture” in the iPhoneur’s lingo) represents a unique, timeless and irreproducible moment of truth. Each pathway to that enlightened photo is unique…..
Is it?
As much as I would like [...]

Top Up
Top Up has come to my neighbourhood. Born in the upper crusty Leasides in the 90s it crept across the Millwood bridge and has reproduced on every street. Beige stuccoed boxes are replacing homegrown, affordable, in-need-of-love worker’s cottages and three bedroom homes. The decharacterization of East York has begun.
My five year old thinks it [...]

This week urban theorist Richard Florida released his latest publication – “The Great Reset”. In this new book, Florida examines the recession as “the mother of invention” and as he points out in the video CURL helped produce – “A crisis is a terrible thing to waste”.
He reflects back at other periods of economic crisis [...]

Canada has offered a $550 million loan for the construction of a bridge joining Detroit and Windsor. The bridge would mean long and short-term job creation and economic growth for the Windsor region. The loan would be repayed to the Canadian government in full via toll revenues. It could also mean a break for a [...]

I wander. I have never been lost….in the geographical sense. But I like to roam. Peregrination is my preferred word for this activity, not just because it is a big, important sounding word, but because it calls to mind a stealthy black figure with scimitar wings cutting the blue overhead , [...]

It started in the summer of 2009 with U.S. government surveillance balloon hovering over the city of Sarnia, Ontario and led to a city-wide protest during which residents bared their bottoms to the camera.
With a population of 72,000 Sarnia borders with Port Huron, Michigan and in the most recent months has been dealing with fighter [...]

On May 1 and 2nd thousands of Torontonians will take part in the 4th annual Jane’s Walk – a series of neighbourhood walking tours done in honour of urban activist/writer Jane Jacobs. What started in Canada four years ago has now gone global with 46 North American cities participating last year. This year atleast 112 [...]

The city of Toronto has decided to embrace a program that has long been active in Canadian cities such as Montreal. Although we won’t see it this summer, Bixi Bike sharing system is scheduled to launch in Spring/Summer 2011. With 1000 bikes in 80 locations, it’s a great alternative to getting around the city, not [...]

Are you an artist looking to showcase your global cities related work? CURL is always looking for interesting artists to profile in the Artist-In-Residence section. Please forward samples of your work and bio to mars@criticalresearchlab.org