One block from Yonge-Dundas Square, in the heart of downtown Toronto, Ryerson University’s Ted Rogers School of Management campus sits over a big-box Canadian Tire store. Hailed as a success story at the time for combining the public realm and retail, the corner looks drab and feels uninspiring by today’s standards.“It leaves a lot to be desired on what is a pretty prominent intersection,” said Coun. Brad Bradford.In fact, too much of the growth and development taking place in Toronto is unremarkable, says the former city planner, who was elected to office in 2018.“I think we all need to hold ourselves to a higher standard when it comes to architecture, when it comes to urban design, when it comes to public realm.”The Ward 19 Beaches—East York councillor was behind a recent motion, approved by council, that would see the city adopt practices aimed at producing a better-looking city and a more functional one. The motion includes ideas that will no doubt prove contentious — including a plan for a public design competition to solicit ideas for increasing density in neighbourhoods now zoned for single-family homes. Council voted to ask staff to include the plan in an upcoming report to the planning and housing committee.The motion also asks CreateTO, the agency in charge of managing Toronto’s real estate portfolio, to look at using open international design competitions for major and transformational projects in which CreateTO is the lead developer, including public housing. That means that instead of issuing a prescriptive requests-for-proposal, the city would be putting the onus on applicants to come up with inspiring new ideas.The motion was adopted by council and has the support of Mayor John Tory.“Toronto is a global centre for architectural, planning and design talent. However, the city hasn’t always tapped into these vast resources as effectively as we could,” according to the description ...
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