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Reposted by Stefan Novakovic

Jocelyn Lambert Squires @jocelynsquires.bsky.social · 14h

Exciting and FREE panel discussion on REFORMING PROCUREMENT next Tues, Oct 14 at 12pm. Hosted by @tosoarch.bsky.social, moderated by @novakovicto.bsky.social, it features reps from New York, Montréal, & Edmonton, all cities with a track record of procuring design excellence.

TSA Forum: Procuring Design Excellence - TSA

A virtual forum featuring three presentations and a panel discussion on diverse forms of procurement outside of Ontario.

torontosocietyofarchitects.ca

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Reposted by Stefan Novakovic

Jason Thorne @jasonthorne.bsky.social · 2d

The Venn diagram of urban density and average household GHG emissions is pretty much a circle. Interesting study on “Mapping household GHG emissions in the Greater Golden Horseshoe” from the University of Toronto School of Cities schoolofcities.utoronto.ca/mapping-hous...

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Reposted by Stefan Novakovic

Alex Bozikovic @alexbozikovic.bsky.social · 2d

“The iPhone, which has flattened our lives, is the essence of minimal modernism. But the social equity somehow did not follow.”

Edwin Heathcote @edwinheathcote.bsky.social · 4d

on.ft.com/46M9mXI Why designers abandoned their dreams of changing the world. Free to Read.

Why designers abandoned their dreams of changing the world

Design was once seen as a tool to improve lives — but as modernism has become marketing, that sense of social purpose has drifted away

on.ft.com

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Reposted by Stefan Novakovic

Stephen Jacob Smith @stephenjacobsmith.com · 4d

Reading Impossible Toronto, on how Toronto’s side streets can be redeveloped with a denser, more European form. Applicable really to almost anywhere in North America though. Free here: impossibletoronto.ca

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Stefan Novakovic @novakovicto.bsky.social · 5d

A) Someone had to pay her healthcare costs and America doesn’t have a public system, and B) There was not regulatory agency to advocate on her behalf (as would be the case in some countries), leaving a lawsuit as the only form of redress. 2/2

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Stefan Novakovic @novakovicto.bsky.social · 5d

Anyway I am absolutely not an authority of this (literally just some guy posting) but it makes me think about the “woman who burned herself with hot McDonalds coffee” episode of @yourewrongabout.bsky.social from a few years back. In that case, she sued because 1/2

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Stefan Novakovic @novakovicto.bsky.social · 5d

I may just have too many friends in NYC/Toronto biglaw.

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Stefan Novakovic @novakovicto.bsky.social · 5d

Good point!

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Stefan Novakovic @novakovicto.bsky.social · 5d

Yes, to clarify what I mean by “religious” is less scriptural than publicly sacred. As in — we’re always worried about a creeping privatization of the public realm and would interpret restaurants tables as such. Perhaps I should have used a different word though!

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Stefan Novakovic @novakovicto.bsky.social · 5d

Very good to know, thank you!

Stefan Novakovic @novakovicto.bsky.social · 5d

As an example, when my brother had a bike accident, our Canadian and American friends all asked if he’d sue. None of our European friends/relatives had this frame of mind. How? Why? Why is “suing the bastards” our default mode of conflict resolution here but not elsewhere? Or am I totally off base?

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Stefan Novakovic @novakovicto.bsky.social · 5d

I’m out beyond my skies on this issue, but I’m really curious about how litigious culture — liability and fear of getting sued — shapes North American society, both conceptually and physically. These seem like deeply North American concerns. What should I read?

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Stefan Novakovic @novakovicto.bsky.social · 5d

Like many cities, Madrid comfortably integrates restaurants/cafes into public space. Why not in North America? I could be wrong but 2 ideas. 1) good public spaces are scarce so we treat them kind of religiously. 2) how would duty of care and liability be divided between the city and the restaurant?

Public plaza in Madrid featuring cafe and restaurant seating alongside public benches

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Stefan Novakovic @novakovicto.bsky.social · 8d

An @azuremagazine.bsky.social tribute to one of my heroes, Kongjian Yu, who I was lucky to spend a couple of hours with last year.

Sponge Planet: A Tribute to Kongjian Yu

From a farming village in rural China, Turenscape founder Kongjian Yu charted an inspiring path to the summit of global design.

www.azuremagazine.com

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Reposted by Stefan Novakovic

Adam Serwer @adamserwer.bsky.social · 16d

The Great Resegregation in housing www.nytimes.com/2025/09/22/r...

Trump Appointees Roll Back Enforcement of Fair Housing Laws

www.nytimes.com

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Reposted by Stefan Novakovic

Josh Linden @joshlinden.bsky.social · 24d

Many of our land use / building codes are rooted in exclusion + prejudice, even if they are facially anodyne and widely accepted as common sense today

Case in point: early 1900 fire safety reforms were primarily designed to ⬆️ the cost of tenements / MF apts (old and new) to reduce immigration

From Stuck: "If we require multiple dwellings to be fireproof, and thus increase the cost of construction; if we require stairs to be fireproofed, even when there are only three families; if we require fire-escapes and a host of other things," then, he continued, each of the rules could stand up in court, "and at the same time we have made it difficult to build apartment homes."

From Stuck: But although some champions of tenement reform were earnest in their efforts, no one who had paid the slightest attention to the movement could have any doubt as to the actual aims of many reformers. The influx of immigrants to New York City was the problem; eliminating affordable housing was the solution.

From Stuck: Veiller, instead, did everything in his power to make housing more expensive. Immigrants continued to pour into the city in the years immediately after the passage of the Tenement Act, but newly constructed tenements became increasingly unaffordable. The cost of making the improvements to old-law tenements mandated by the law, and increasing competition for the remaining affordable units, combined to drive up prices, setting off rent strikes in 1904 and 1907. "The fact is that the new-law tenements ... are beyond the reach of unskilled wage earners," one reformer complained in 1919.

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Michèle Champagne @michhham.bsky.social · 24d

Dense apartment buildings were a key ingredient of Toronto urban *and* suburban affordability.

Today, 1 million people live in more than 2,000 mid-century towers throughout the Greater Toronto Area, more than any other city in North America.

Toronto is unique for this reason.

Alex Bozikovic @alexbozikovic.bsky.social · 24d

The massive construction of apartments in postwar urban Canada – principally Toronto – produced homes for the middle class and the working class. Millions of people to date.

Density isn’t a magic wand, but: It made a difference, in the real world, in living memory.

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Reposted by Stefan Novakovic

Michèle Champagne @michhham.bsky.social · 24d

For better or worse, architecture media (like housing photography) shape our understanding of shelter—of who gets it and who doesn’t, how space and aesthetics figure, and why wealth and power matter.

Toon Dreessen @toondreessen.bsky.social · 24d

I really wish media orgs would stop using pictures of detached/row townhouses and start showing pics of mid rise, missing middle and other forms of housing.

Carolyn Whitzman @cwhitzman.bsky.social · 24d

Gonna be a big day for housing announcements here in Canada. www.theglobeandmail.com/politics/art...

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Reposted by Stefan Novakovic

More Neighbours Toronto @moreneighboursto.bsky.social · 27d

Assembled in 17 days using panelized mass timber, sourced from Ontario. Shaped around the church to create a courtyard at the back. Twenty-five new homes.

Stefan Novakovic @novakovicto.bsky.social · 27d

"Although the homes are configured as compact micro-units, the lack of double-loaded interior corridors allows every suite to be a dual aspect unit — a rarity, unfortunately, for North American apartments — with natural light coming in from two sides."

Supportive Housing Graces an Adapted Toronto Church

A newly minted Toronto Urban Design Award winner, 1120 Ossington proves that a simple, boxy building can be beautiful — and deeply humane.

www.azuremagazine.com

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Stefan Novakovic @novakovicto.bsky.social · 27d

"Although the homes are configured as compact micro-units, the lack of double-loaded interior corridors allows every suite to be a dual aspect unit — a rarity, unfortunately, for North American apartments — with natural light coming in from two sides."

Supportive Housing Graces an Adapted Toronto Church

A newly minted Toronto Urban Design Award winner, 1120 Ossington proves that a simple, boxy building can be beautiful — and deeply humane.

www.azuremagazine.com

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Reposted by Stefan Novakovic

Jeff Allen @jamaps.bsky.social · 28d

check out our recent project mapping street space allocation in Toronto

we find that more than 80% of transportation infrastructure in Toronto is designed for cars, far more than how people actually travel

w/ @lanrickbennett.bsky.social & Mia Wang

schoolofcities.github.io/who-are-stre...

Who are streets for?

81% of street space in Toronto is inequitably dedicated to motor vehicles. How can this be fairly re-designed?

schoolofcities.github.io

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Reposted by Stefan Novakovic

Alex Bozikovic @alexbozikovic.bsky.social · 28d

Forget the puns: public toilets matter. Toronto is getting them wrong.

The city could miss a huge opportunity to boost its own design culture.

www.theglobeandmail.com/canada/artic...

Is Toronto’s public design in the toilet?

The city’s plan to repair and replace 125 public washrooms is a rushed, one-size-fits-all approach that misses an opportunity to showcase design

www.theglobeandmail.com

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Reposted by Stefan Novakovic

Alex Bozikovic @alexbozikovic.bsky.social · 29d

. @novakovicto.bsky.social rounds up the Aga Khan Awards: www.azuremagazine.com/article/the-...

The Aga Khan Award Celebrates Architecture as a Global Force for Good

Diverse in scale, setting and typology, the seven Aga Khan Award winners are a testament to community service and architectural empathy.

www.azuremagazine.com

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Reposted by Stefan Novakovic

Lindsay Dubs @lindsayedubs.bsky.social · Sep 7

Dally in the Alley in #Detroit was awesome! A sea of people of all ages, colors, genders. So much diversity and creativity! Loved it. Detroit is wonderful. Don’t let ANYONE tell you any different.

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Reposted by Stefan Novakovic

Alex Bozikovic @alexbozikovic.bsky.social · Sep 6

This is possible.

Also Rail Deck, in retrospect, was vaporware and a distraction from the actual public works that the city should’ve been building in boom times.

John Michael McGrath @jm-mcgrath.bsky.social · Sep 6

"Tory feels he has unfinished business at city hall"

My longstanding (unprovable) theory is that if Raildeck had survived as a public project Tory doesn't run in 2022, anoints Bailao his successor.

He wants something big his name can go on.
www.thestar.com/news/gta/if-...

‘If he runs again, it will be a very difficult ride’: John Tory critics ramp up attacks as former mayor holds talks on possible mayoral campaign

Three sources told the Star the former mayor is more likely than not to run in next year’s municipal election, and has been holding talks with key backers over a potential campaign.

www.thestar.com

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