Daniel Gordon
@danielgordon94
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Management Consultant in Healthcare / Passionate about healthy, beautiful, sustainable, and equitable cities - with a lot more housing! / opinions my own
Toronto
Joined March 2011
I am obsessed with Mexico City's messy urbanism, incredibly diverse architecture, and its embrace of all forms of density - which all contribute to the vibrancy and vitality of this city. Urban planners have lots of lessons to learn at all scales of development 🧵
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I recently spent time in London and visited some new mixed-use developments. I was blown away by what I saw – and there is so much that we can learn in the Toronto context, including the need for better but fewer materials, more colour, less roads and more varied site plans. 🧵
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The type of urbanism that CDMX excels at is not the result of planning studies, design guidelines, or community consultation. It's the result of a messy system that embraces experimentation + creativity - sometimes with bad outcomes, but more often with great ones. Some lessons:
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(1) Apartment buildings belong EVERYWHERE. In CDMX, there are apartment buildings literally everywhere: on main streets, on side streets, sandwiched between single-family homes and multiplexes, on small lots and large lots, in central neighbourhoods, and in the suburbs.
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This is what Toronto’s busiest streetcar corridor looks like on a Thursday evening (watch till the end). As a city, we need to decide whether we want our downtown to have a functional transit system, or free and unrestricted access for cars. We can’t have both. @cityoftoronto
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@SolovinoE I’m actually from CDMX originally so I’ve been to many neighbourhoods outside of the most touristed ones :) saying that planners have a lot to learn from Mexico City is not the same as saying it is a perfect utopia with no problems or challenges….
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(3) Simpler buildings are almost always more beautiful. Buildings in CDMX are often chunky, boxy, use a small number of materials, and don't feature many breaks in massing. And they very often look great. (end)
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(2) We can't be so prescriptive about built form + transitions between building scales. Most mid-rise + tall buildings in CDMX go straight up, with no podiums, front or side yard setbacks, stepbacks, or height transitions. 16+ storey buildings coexist in peace with 2-storey ones.
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MORE COLOUR 🟥🟪🟨🟦.- There is lots more colour in new developments, both as the primary façade and in accents, from glazed green or blue brick, to warm terracotta, to pink aluminum paneling.
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BETTER + FEWER MATERIALS: 🧱.- New buildings in London tend to use high-quality façade materials, including lots of brick. - There is a greater variety of materials than in Toronto, BUT each building tends to use a limited palette of materials.
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IRREGULAR SITE PLANS.- Master plans in TO often seem to have grid-based internal streets with buildings spread apart in a grid. - In London, I saw buildings arranged more organically + closer together, framing more intimate-feeling public spaces and interesting sightlines.
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A 🧵 on the 3 intersections where drivers hit 3 pedestrians in the span of 3 hours yesterday morning (2 suffered serious injuries). We won't be able to improve pedestrian and cyclist safety unless we radically overhaul dangerous road designs across the city. (1/5).
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It's an exciting time to bike in Toronto - the bike network is expanding, Bike Share is thriving, and high-quality cycle infrastructure is being built, including on parts of College and Bloor. As the network expands, there also needs to be a focus on filling in critical gaps. 🧵.
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On one traffic light pole on King Street: 6 sets of lights, 6 signs with varying sizes of text, and 2 graphic signs. There must be a better way!!
They activated the lights and added signage! Drivers just aren't gonna read it!
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FEWER ROADS🚗.- There is less space devoted to roads, and roads are narrower than in TO with less parking.- Eg. there are buildings in TO's Canary District 'hood that are surrounded by roads on all 4 sides. OTOH there are buildings in London’s King's Cross with no street frontage
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It’s a really vital city-building objective that we avoid any shadows or overlook onto Terroni!!!
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- Punched windows are common, and I saw very little spandrel panels compared to Toronto. - Solid materials generally extend down to grade – unlike in Toronto, where ground floors are often dominated by windows and spandrel.
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If you too have a love/hate relationship with Toronto, it's nice to sometimes stop and acknowledge some of the great things happening in our city🧵.
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Multiplexes could be allowed as-of-right city-wide in Toronto in the not-too-distance future; something that housing advocates have long fought for. However, this is only a start - we need to build support for low-rise (3-4 storey) apartment buildings city-wide. Thread (1/4).
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The middle is not missing in Mexico City! There are multiplexes, low rise apartments and walk-ups across many neighbourhoods, and some of the new ones are beautiful…
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It often feels like Toronto only cares about heritage when it’s Victorian homes or (ugly) old Main Street commercial buildings.
At Toronto city council, what looks like a deal to ~destroy Raymond Moriyama's Japanese Canadian Cultural Centre. A huge mistake - and a missed community facilty for an area getting 10,000 homes.
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Mayor Chow’s choice for Chief Planner will be one of her most important decisions. Will she choose someone committed to the status quo of incremental but insufficient change, or a real reformer who wants to fundamentally remake our planning policies and solve the housing crisis?.
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Beyond frustrating to see the CoA reject the absolute mildest form of gentle density (10 units/ three storeys) within 500 m of two subway stations in an area that has been losing population. We are not going to solve our housing crisis without allowing these types of projects.
ANNNNND REFUSED.
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Urban planning is about prioritizing. For decades, the priority was "protecting" low-density residential 'hoods, limiting building height and mass, and shadows. at the expense of far more important things like main street experience, quality of materials, and housing abundance.
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Every multiplex that can’t get built in Toronto is another house that gets built in farmland-destroying sprawl suburbs. Every apartment unit that can’t get built in Toronto pushes up the cost of housing for a Toronto family. (1/2).
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What King Street Transit Corridor?! . 7 cars driving through/ turning left on one traffic light cycle at King and Church @TTChelps @TPSOperations
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Today, Ontario’s Premier said that he’s “not going to go into communities and build 4-storey or 6-storey buildings beside [single-family] residences.” Well, these communities are missing out! Here in midtown Toronto, single-family homes side-by-side with 8-storey buildings.
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🔷~8:00am, University + Elm .☹️ Long crossing distances for peds, classic TO bollards are easy for cars to drive over, drivers run red lights on Elm. 💡 Fund and implement University Park vision to turn northbound lanes into a linear park, add speed cameras. (3/5)
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Redesigning roads for safety is a core component of Vision Zero. Unless the city commits significantly more funding and resources to rapidly transforming our streets, the types of collisions we saw yesterday morning will continue to happen with devastating consequences. (5/5).
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🔷~7:30am, St. Clair + Dufferin.☹️ Problems: Drivers routinely speed on Dufferin, narrow sidewalks and long crossing distances for peds. 💡 Some solutions: Implement RapidTO bus lanes on Dufferin to reduce car volumes, ban right turns on red, add bikes lanes on St. Clair. (2/5)
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Peak Toronto:.Install a light and a sign that says it’s a school safety zone? ✅.Install an actual sidewalk? 🤷♂️
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@Cesar_Daniel_AD That’s very fair! In most big Canadian cities we have the opposite problem, with over-regulation stifling creativity and artificially constraining the supply of housing.
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Example 143 of a new social/affordable housing project in a European city with better architecture, materials (and likely build quality) than 95% of the market-rate housing being built in Canada.
178 social housing apartments in Utrecht. Striking details and build quality. By Zecc Architects
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The Well (Front+Spadina) and Mirvish Village (Bloor+Bathurst), will collectively add 2,600 new homes, and tons of office, retail and public space - with great architecture too. ~40% of units at Mirvish Village will be affordable thanks to investments by the feds and the City.
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tldr: There is (rightly) a lot of hype around multiplexes. But low-rise apartments can be even better, get you more units on the same amount of land, and they look great too! We need all of these housing types in our neighbourhoods to meet our housing and climate goals. (4/4)
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One of these buildings is listed on Toronto's Heritage Register and is meant to be conserved. The other has no heritage protection and is currently being demolished. Guess which is which :)
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🔷~10:00am, Steeles + Martin Grove .☹️ Dangerous suburban intersection: unsafe speed limits of 60km(!!) on Steeles and 50 on MG, wide turning radii. 💡 Reduce speed limits, add speed cameras, reduce turning radii, add pedestrian safety islands to reduce crossing distances. (4/5)
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The summertime pedestrianization of Market Street beside St. Lawrence Market showcases the magic that can happen when streets are opened up for people. When I was there this morning, the street was bustling and there was even a piano recital.
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So many opportunities for summer pedestrianization in Toronto if our political leaders want to be ambitious!.Some ideas:.- Kensington Market.- Baldwin St between McCaul | Beverley.- St. George St btwn Bloor | College.- Yorkville Ave btwn Bay | Yonge.- Front St btwn Yonge | Jarvis.
👇🏼I would love to see Church St pedestrianized, along with Market St in St.Lawrence Market, Augusta and Baldwin St in Kensington Market as well as King St (between Spadina and University and Victoria and York). Toronto needs to prioritize the safe movement of people.
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The new Love Park at York and Queens Quay adds a beautiful public space along the waterfront designed by the best landscape architects working in Toronto, CCxA. It is just one example of the great work being done by @WaterfrontTO
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V disappointed re @MayorOliviaChow's response to @SeanFraserMP on the Housing Accelerator Fund. The response is wholly inadequate to the significant housing crisis facing the City, shows a lack of ambition and does not address the Minister's suggestions. The City must be bolder.
Today, City Council will consider a motion from @MayorOliviaChow on the federal Housing Accelerator Fund. Unfortunately, given the lack of commitment to systemic reform, we are calling on @SeanFraserMP to reject Toronto's application unless substantial changes are made. 🧵(1/12)
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I bike by this great building at Dundas + Carlaw on my way to work: up to 11 storeys high (taller than the street right of way width), high streetwall and minimal stepbacks, simple massing and good materials. This should be a template for adding density along our arterial roads.
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Very excited by the many inspiring, forward-looking candidates running for TO council who are eager to tackle the housing + climate crises and build a better city, including:.@normsworld @AmberMorley__ @EvanSambasivam @VoteSheenaSharp @Jamaal4ScarbTO @KevinRupasinghe.
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For eg., 245 Howland Ave is a 3-storey apartment with 24 units. How many units could you fit on the same site without an apartment? Let's say you split the lot, and built a fourplex and garden suite on each lot. That would generate 10 units, or 14 fewer than the apartment (3/4).
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@g_meslin Yeah the intensification is great, but it really seems like the city/ developers haven’t found away to retain small businesses or at least help them find space nearby during construction. Not sure how that issue can be resolved though?.
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But the most glaring gap is the lack of north-south protected bike infrastructure between University and Sherbourne - a 1.5 kilometre gap in one of the densest swaths of downtown Toronto. (Bay Street does have a small stretch of unprotected bike lane and some sharrows).
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Exciting to see a progressive, forward-looking and ambitious candidate for mayor of Toronto - someone who will challenge the status quo and focus on building a better city for everyone.
I have decided to run for Mayor of Toronto. I want a city for EVERYONE. I’ll register today at City Hall at 10:30, and launch on Monday morning. We can / must have an affordable, equitable, sustainable Toronto for EVERYONE. I’ll walk the city, listening, as together we can do it.
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Low-rise apartments were historically built in neighbourhoods across the city, including Rosedale + Forest Hill, amongst single-family homes and semis. While multiplexes are great and needed, low-rise apartments can usually fit more units and still "fit in" with neighbours. (2/4).
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For example, there's a gap between the end of the Gerrard bike lane and the start of the Dundas bike lane. This gap makes it less safe to bike east-west along this important route, or to safely access local destinations in Regent Park and Cabbagetown.
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Thanks to decades of advocacy by cycling leaders like @CycleToronto, the work of staff at @TO_Cycling, and the vocal support of some city councillors, Toronto is (slowly) making progress on building a cycling network. But we can’t lose focus on the quality of cycling infra 🧵.
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Another example - the Gerrard bike lane abruptly ends just one block before University Avenue. This could be easily remedied by removing parking on only one side of Gerrard, which would make it safer for people biking to local hospitals and institutions.
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This type of simple, boxy, six-storey apartment building should be permitted citywide - this is the kind of development we need to allow if we want to add meaningful density to our residential neighbourhoods. @soca_arch.
This design by SOCA represents what the missing middle should be in a central big-city neighbourhood.
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Very grateful that LCBO is helping us achieve our climate targets by no longer giving out recyclable paper bags. I’m relieved to see, however, that you can still park your hummer right in front of the store. @LCBO.
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Okay I'll bite! In so many parts of Colombia, we saw a wide variety of small-scale businesses: from tiny convenience stores in the front of people's houses, to bookstores at the base of mid-rise apartments, to cafes tucked into quiet neighbourhood streets. (1/2)
Me in Bogotá with @danielgordon94 trying to get featured in one of his urbanism tweets. So far no luck so I’m posting myself.
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@Penalosa_G @alexbozikovic @shawnmicallef @Janet_Davis @iamdavidmiller Any new stand-alone TDSB school built without housing on top is a policy failure.
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There is ample room for safe biking infra to be added. ActiveTO bike lanes on Midtown Yonge should be quickly extended south to the lake, and bike lanes on five-lane Jarvis Street restored. Church and Bay should be remade as traffic-calmed boulevards with protected bike lanes.
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Heritage planning in the City of Toronto is fundamentally broken.
Toronto heritage planning is still doing this kind of thing, and will until city council tells them to stop .
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Filling in these gaps is vital and requires political will by leaders like @MayorOliviaChow and @DianneSaxe, more resources for @TO_Cycling_Ped, the work of advocates like @CycleToronto, and the critical mass of thousands of Torontonians taking up biking to get around. /End.
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Great to see opposition parties in Ontario putting out bold housing policy… First @OntarioGreens and now @OntLiberal . These are potentially transformative policies, which the current government should quickly pursue.
Whoa! . @ShamjiAdil and @BonnieCrombie have put out a release endorsing bold but common sense housing reforms at the provincial level!. Fantastic to see @OntLiberal championing growth policies to end the housing crisis and improve the LTB!.
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Every rowhouse that can’t get built in Toronto is one more new immigrant that can’t find a suitable home. Every condo that can’t get built in Toronto is one more person driving in from the exurbs instead of biking and taking transit in our city. (2/2).
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Can't think of a good reason why the TOC proposal at the future Pape interchange station shouldn't include at least two 50+ storey towers.
Despite being on an interchange of two subway lines, the height and density of this site is much less than other TOC proposals. Transitions to low rise neighbourhoods (which are artificially kept low density) are being prioritized over housing and funds for transit.
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@TO_Cycling Appreciate the great work that Toronto Cycling does in a challenging political environment. To meet City goals, we need to ramp up and build significantly more protected cycle tracks per year + ensure that all cycle tracks are well protected, esp at intersections and bus stops.
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🧵 I used the midtown and downtown bike lanes today after the winter storm - the snow clearing is relatively decent but still quite a few trouble spots in University-Rosedale .@311Toronto @TO_Cycling @DianneSaxe.
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@TransitJakeTO @RM_Transit It’s not like the bush shed is even particularly nice/ architecturally significant.
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Are there any fire safety experts on this website who could explain why on earth apartments in Ontario need to do monthly fire alarm testing, as well as an annual test (which in my building has now been going on for three days…)?.
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Very excited to join the great team at @SajeckiPlanning !.
Sajecki Planning Inc. is pleased to welcome Daniel Gordon as a Planner. Daniel holds a Bachelor of Commerce from Queen’s University, as well as a Master of Planning from Toronto Metropolitan University. Please join us in welcoming Daniel. Read more
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Still hoping to see a true progressive YIMBY in the Toronto mayoral race who will:.- Quickly and dramatically reform zoning and increase the ambition of EHON.- End austerity + be honest about the need for way more revenue: higher prop taxes, parking levies, congestion fees, etc.
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Instead of fiddling with definitions to boost housing numbers, the government could consider actually making it easier to build new housing.
NEW: First LTC beds and now student housing. While the CMHC doesn’t count them as new homes, the Ford government will start counting student housing towards its home building targets. #onpoli.
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TO needs to add big density in Neighbourhood-designated lands, and this kind of site is perfect for it. City-owned, 1,500 sqm parking lot at 201 Claremont - steps from the Dundas streetcar. I don't see a good reason why there shouldn't be a 10-storey building here. @HousingNowTO
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And the architecture in general is incredible. I’m going to start a petition to bring more Mexican architects to Toronto…
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V disappointed by some @TorontoStar endorsements for council, including:.- a midtown incumbent who loudly opposes bike lanes on Yonge and voted against the gentlest forms of housing density.- a candidate who was involved in planning the violent park encampment evictions.
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Planning can + should be a force for positive change. I wish our planning policies didn't require city planners to waste time micromanaging great projects + making them worse to meet arbitrary design principles. What if planners could focus on big-picture city building instead?.
Toronto planning at work - a builder puts forward a v modest and thoughtful proposal from a talented architect. What happens next? Almost a year later they must resubmit the application but with a whack of arbitrary and unnecessary setbacks due to "concerns" from planning staff.
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@MayorOliviaChow @gordperks @BradMBradford I also hope that @SeanFraserMP takes this type of result into consideration when considering funding for new Line 2 subway trains. Status quo planning policies around Line 2 can not be acceptable.
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The bike lanes on Davenport are a perfect example of the challenges we still face. These lanes were officially upgraded to cycle tracks just last year… but in many parts of the street, the lanes are unprotected, currently unplowed and completely unsafe.
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@RM_Transit This is what we should have gotten in place of the surface section on the Eglinton Crosstown :(.
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@GraphicMatt During the construction period, the city could convert one driving lane on Richmond into a temporary eastbound cycle track? That would still leave two vehicular travel lanes on most of Richmond @BeckyKatz96 @TO_Cycling @CycleToronto.
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Very disappointing to see the plans laid out in the budget for the TTC: higher fares, less frequent service, and more crowded buses. All this at a time when the TTC has continually become less reliable for riders. This is not a recipe for a green or equitable recovery. @JohnTory.
As @ttcriders note in a news release just now, subway wait times could extend to 10 minutes this year. This from the TTC budget released yesterday:
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As advocates for more housing in Toronto, it's (sometimes) comforting to realize that things aren't as bad here as in other places. NIMBYism is so much more destructive and powerful in other cities - and no one does NIMBYism quite like San Francisco! @sfgov.
SF is in such a rough place. Aaron Peskin, long-time NIMBY, just led an 8-3 vote to impose density limits in multiple districts. Peskin was opposed to many projects, incl. two proposed towers that would've replaced a 3-story office building and parking garage. 226 homes gone.
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@the_transit_guy is this for the I-45 expansion? isn't it being held up by the Federal Highway Administration? how much hope is there that this doesn't end up getting built?.
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I sincerely hope that @MayorOliviaChow, @gordperks, @BradMBradford and all of Council use this as an opportunity to make it significantly easier to build low-rise apartment buildings in our neighbourhoods as of right. Our housing crisis demands it.
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Great to see Council support new revenue tools. Some additional revenue tools that could provide significant funds while also helping reduce car dominance in the city:.- reinstate the vehicle registration tax.- toll the Gardiner + DVP.- implement congestion pricing downtown.(1/2).
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Excited to vote for a new mayor who will end 13 years of austerity and small-mindedness and create a more fair, fun and equitable city. Hopeful that our new mayor will fight against exclusionary zoning, including by making apartments and larger multiplexes legal everywhere.
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The city also knows how to do mid-rises super well… no angular planes to be found
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And as usual, lots of car drivers stopped in the bike lane, esp. on Bloor and on Bay! Downtown is getting better and better bicycle infra, but keeping it clear of snow and cars is crucial to getting people to feel safe actually biking @TO_Cycling @DianneSaxe @311Toronto / End.
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Maybe they’ll have a joint opening celebration for Finch West and Eglinton!.
BREAKING: The Eglinton Crosstown LRT will be delayed by about a year, a source with knowledge of the project has told CBC Toronto.
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V grateful for Elizabeth May letting me know that I no longer have to complain about housing prices and that everything is okay 💃.
Memo to Pierre Poilievre - you need to re-do your housing hell video in light of Economist magazine finding that the most livable and cheapest cities in North America are in Canada! #factsMatter #cdnpoli @CanadianGreens.
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@augustAP12 St. George really needs to get pedestrianized, or at least turned into a one-way street with alternating traffic directions and have one of the driving lanes converted to wider cycle tracks and/or pedestrian space.
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@aupetitcoquin @AprilEngelberg The Spadina streetcar is actually even slower than the Bathurst car…
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It was great to present the work our team has done so far on potential affordable housing development concepts for a Housing Now site in Humber Bay Shores.
Project 3: Affordable Housing: Christie Lands. Redefine 'affordability' based on @HousingNowTO unit mix to propose new development concepts. @BlairScorgie @TMUsurp @theMPGSA @XPAA_TO
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@JShamess also important to note that, due to NIMBYism, the original proposal for 2 towers was reduced to 1 tower, with a loss of 480 units (or almost 1/3rd of the original unit count) @HousingNowTO.
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If we are serious about solving the housing crisis, then this type of (quite gentle) development (no setbacks, 4/5 storeys, 10+ units) should be allowed on every single residential lot in Toronto.
It's amazing how much density we could allow with medium sized apartment buildings (this one has a FAR of 1.99) if they don't need to include parking:. Single family house into 10 condos (Bed-Stuy, Brooklyn)
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