John Lorinc

1 week ago | spacing.ca | John Lorinc

How should a city solve major problems without allowing the proposed solutions to inadvertently prevent the solving of said major problems? This bureaucratic paradox — the outlines of which will be familiar to any civil servant tasked with a big job and limited resources — hangs like a sword of Damocles over a pair of recent city council directives aimed at confronting two of Toronto’s most tenacious headaches: chronic congestion and the enveloping shabbiness of our public realm.

2 weeks ago | spacing.ca | John Lorinc

Cultural historian and Spacing contributor Cheryl Thompson launches her new book, Canada and the Blackface Atlantic, tonight at 6:30 pm at A Different Booklist (779 Bathurst, at Bloor). The book — Prof. Thompson’s third — traces the origins of 19th century theatre and dance in Canada, and its connection to blackface minstrelsy, an immensely popular performance art in Toronto.

2 weeks ago | spacing.ca | John Lorinc

Ontario superior court justice Paul Schabas this week granted an interim (“interlocutory”) injunction preventing Queen’s Park from ripping up three Toronto bike lanes pending a final decision, and the ruling reads like a vindication for the city’s cycling community. Justice Schabas found that the province had failed to make any kind of persuasive argument that removing bike lanes from Bloor-Danforth, Yonge and University would improve congestion.

3 weeks ago | theglobeandmail.com | John Lorinc

Open this photo in gallery:More than 90% of respondents said they are favouring Canadian products over American, while 73% were boycotting major U.S. retailers.rustamank/iStockPhoto / Getty ImagesPlease log in to bookmark this story.Log InCreate Free AccountCanadians have been doing a whole lot of patriotic squinting lately—scrutinizing country-of-origin labels in supermarket aisles or poring over cancellation terms on their U.S. travel reservations.

4 weeks ago | spacing.ca | John Lorinc |Peter MacCallum

There’s nothing even the least bit surprising about the fact that cities, or urban affairs more generally, have had so little play in the federal election. Yes, all three major parties talk about housing and housing affordability. Both the Conservative and the Liberals have unveiled crime agendas.