Category Archives: News

Top 10 Books for New Planning Students

Posted on August 20, 2018 by Laura Taylor

Students often ask me what planning books they should be reading, especially when they are beginning their graduate studies in planning at York (and curiously, when they are about to finish). Incoming students are typically interested in issues related to the … Continue reading →

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Greenbelt Plan Review

Posted on February 5, 2016 by Laura Taylor

With a focus on the Greenbelt, here are my thoughts on the Crombie Advisory Panel Report Planning for Health, Prosperity and Growth in the Greater Golden Horseshoe: 2015-2041: Recommendations of the Advisory Panel on the Coordinated Review of the Growth Plan, … Continue reading →

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Jane’s Walk: Cool enough for school!

Posted on February 19, 2015 by Laura Taylor

If you’ve been a tourist in a city other than your hometown, you may have taken an outdoor tour of an interesting place. But have you ever thought of doing your own? How about a Jane’s Walk? Or, even better, … Continue reading →

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Paper Towns

Posted on July 25, 2014 by Laura Taylor

“Paper towns” in John Green’s 2008 novel of the same name are places that exist on paper but not in real life. The story takes Quentin, at the moment of his high school graduation, to many paper towns in the … Continue reading →

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Still working on my article about the landscapes of Toronto’s apartment towers but in the meantime…

Posted on January 24, 2014 by Laura Taylor

Spacing’s Shawn Micallef believes a Brutalist-architecture renaissance is upon us, according to his article in the Toronto Star. Is it possible that Toronto’s apartment towers will be cool? Gentrified? Much focus of late on the towers as spaces of “vertical … Continue reading →

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Nature in the city

Posted on November 17, 2013 by Laura Taylor

urbantoronto.ca is a fascinating view into Toronto’s future. The effect of seeing the collection of (all?) development proposals underway in the city and region is at once thrilling and terrifying. Toronto is transforming before our eyes. We are in the … Continue reading →

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Tom Slater’s Top 10 Books

Posted on July 15, 2013 by Laura Taylor

It’s never easy to make a top 10 list of influential books but here is a terrific list for urban studies folks. What are yours?

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NASA’s view of sprawl

Posted on July 8, 2013 by Laura Taylor

                    Amazing sight/site for students of sprawl! Views of urbanization and its impacts from space.  

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Toronto Chief Planner’s Roundtable on “Next Generation” Suburbs

Posted on April 19, 2013 by Laura Taylor

“What are we going to do with the suburbs?” What is it about the suburbs that makes planning for them seem so difficult? Why do we need a roundtable on what to do with the suburbs?     Toronto’s new Chief … Continue reading →

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Hidden Landscapes

Posted on February 8, 2013 by Laura Taylor

While I am definitely a student of the visible landscape, no less material is the hidden landscape of networks. The book, Tubes, by Andrew Blum, reveals the hidden landscape of the internet, which works in the background to support our … Continue reading →

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