LISTEN TO TODAY'S SPACING RADIO PODCAST Sometimes exploring a city means just shutting your eyes and listening. In this soundscape, Spacing producer Mieke Anderson takes you underground into the Glasgow subway system. Affectionately known as "the Clockwork Orange" because of its orange subway cars and circular route, Glasgow's underground dates back to 1896 making it the third oldest in the world. Recently, the city was considering ...

In this episode of Spacing Radio — the last of season 3 — our cast of contributors explore the theme of how we get around cities. First up are a handful of clips from Jane's Walk, the yearly festival of walking tours in Toronto and over 60 other cities across North America. Then Spacing magazine's senior editor Shawn Micallef takes listeners to Yorkville to discuss the ethos behind his new book Stroll. Our new reporter Katie Harris examines the impact the ...

Spacing is happy to announce that the summer-fall 2009 issue of the magazine was nominated for Best Single Issue by the National Magazine Awards. This is the second year in a row that we've been nominated in this category. Many thanks to our cast of contributors who made this one of the 10 best issues in Canadian magazines in 2009. We'll find out June 4th just how good of an issue it was.

On this episode of Spacing Radio producer Mieke Anderson takes you on a walk with Cindy Rozeboom through the east end of Toronto, along the Danforth, to explore the potential of empty storefronts. In other cities, street food is a major component of public life, but in Toronto food vendors don't seem to get any respect from city hall, BIAs, and urban designers — reporter Pattie Phillips talks to Marianne Moroney of Toronto's Street Food Vendors Association. The release of ...

Spacing Saturday highlights posts from across Spacing’s blog network in Toronto, Montreal, Ottawa, and the Atlantic region. Spacing's Sean Marshall follows up a piece in the latest edition of the magazine, talking about Toronto's ubiquitous "12-8-8" yellow traffic lights and their negative aesthetic affects on the city's urban landscape.  Pointing to examples of how lights are designed in other cities and even in some special areas throughout the GTA, Marshall discusses how to improve the aesthetic value of traffic signal while working with safety requirements and the Ontario Traffic Manual. As part of the ongoing building stories exhibit at the Gladstone Hotel, David Wencer uses the old Canada Linseed Oil Mills building, abandoned since the late sixties, as a window into exploring the industrial history of the area along the CPR lines and into how the area has regenerated. While the site beside the building has been turned into a Park, the building itself remains fenced off, despite having been purchased by the city in 2000. Local residents hope to tap the building's potential to become a dynamic community space. Alanah Heffez provides some background on the work of contributer Andrew Emond who along with Michael Cook was arrested this week while exploring the Garrison Creek sewer in Toronto. Emond has been featured on Spacing, amongst other media outlets, for his fascinating work on mapping and photographing some of the spectacular, yet unsung infrastructure at work beneath Montreal. Inspired by thinking about other people view the same area of a city guest contributer Daniel Rotszain recalls the experience of walking through the Mile End neighbourhood with his father. To his surprise his father saw the neighbourhood not as the height of urbanity many consider today but as the inadequate slum it was to a generation of immigrants yearning for something better that it was during his father's childhood. Ottawa is getting a potentially exciting new public space with the ongoing renovations of the popular pedestrian gardens outside the World Exchange Plaza. The plaza redesign and the new amphitheatre it will include are profiled. Ian Capstick discusses the need to reclaim the term 'common sense' from hits Harris era connotations, for the upcoming municipal election. Talking about a variety of problems plaguing the city, and the mood of the people, common sense and realistic plans will be something the electorate is seeking.

The new episode of Spacing Radio continues with our look at the Rules of the city (to complement the release of our new magazine issue) as producer Mieke Anderson examines the arcane permit process in Toronto. Reporter Sarah Bridge sits down with internationally renown architect Jack Diamond to discuss the success and failures of renovating Toronto's Union Station. And Montreal correspondent Adam Bemma explores the Berri Square (see series of posts on SpacingMontreal.ca), one of the city's most socially ...

Spacing Radio 017 is on the air. It's budget-time in Toronto and while City Hall is busy at work approving the final numbers, host David Michael Lamb sits down with Spacing contributing editor John Lorinc to talk about the pitfalls of having to pay the bills. Producer Mieke Anderson stows away with the crew of the Toronto Island Ferry Ongiara to discuss the realities of operating the ferry throughout the winter months and, in the process, discovers one of the city's best-kept secrets. Meanwhile, nearly 3,500 km away in Vancouver, reporter Pattie ...

Spacing is happy to announce the launch of Season Three of our biweekly podcast Spacing Radio. You can listen to the episode on the Spacing Radio web site or subscribe to the podcast (free!) through iTunes. Episode 014 kicks things off with Marc Glassman (the owner of the now-defunct Pages Books) interviewing critically acclaimed filmmaker Atom Egoyan, who discusses his decision to cast the oft-overlooked Toronto as itself in his latest film, Chloe. Will Alsop, the renowned British architect whose work (including the Ontario College of Art ...