City Building : Featured Stories

What is Toronto's great idea? According to author Edward Keenan, it's diversity. The former innovation and jobs editor at Yonge Street sat down with Bert Archer to discuss his new book Some Great Idea, YSM's influence, and why Toronto's "messiness" makes it strong. 

Joshna Maharaj says hospital food doesn't have to taste bad. She advocates using local ingredients to enhance not only the nutritional value and patient experience, but also to support local agriculture and sustain Ontario's economy. 

Public policy enthusiast Vasiliki (Vass) Bednar just wrapped up a prestigious fellowship with Action Canada. In this interview, she tells Yonge Street about the "invisible" issue of Young Carers: young people who provide significant care to sick or disabled family members.

Condos are turning into canvases as property developers look to local and international artists to create original art and public installations in an effort to attract new condo buyers. As a result, properties are becoming art galleries, attracting known artists and creative-minded residents alike. 

Roncesvalles has seen many changes in recent years, but the charming west-end locale remains alive and bustling. From doggie boutiques to hip new eateries, its diversity makes it a model for how Toronto neighbourhoods can integrate various communities. 

At the Yonge Street Speaker Series talk on the power of play, panelists explored ways to strengthen communities through play and games. As it turns out, our city's current efforts harken back to the social movement that created playgrounds, according to a social historian who attended the event.

At tomorrow's Yonge Talks panel, Rosalyn Morrison will discuss how Toronto's Playing For Keeps initiative is building communities and creating neighbourhood leaders through play and games. Here, she answers some of our early questions.

Wheels are turning: Celebrating this week's theme on the power of play, Yonge Street follows-up with Charlie's FreeWheels to discover how the not-for-profit continues to help neighbourhood kids develop leadership and community-building skills through bike building initiatives. Now, the teenagers are ready to debut their first curated photography exhibit at UrbanSpace Gallery.  

With a history going back to the early 1900s, PATH has made life easier for downtown workers. But with more residential buildings tapping in, could it be turning into a real neighbhourhood?

At our January 17 Yonge Talks panel, Ajooni Sethi will share some of the secret ingredients that made a giant hopscotch course click with Detroit residents.

When Gabrielle Scrimshaw decided to create a networking group for her Aboriginal peers, she started working the "Moccasin Telegraph." She found her organization grew almost as fast as Canada's Aboriginal population is growing.

The abundance of private development projects in the core has captured our imagination. But it’s the public spaces—where the big buildings aren't—that create the urban fabric that makes a city great. Yonge Street's Development Editor Bert Archer picks his five favourite public spaces.

The Junction has always been one of Toronto's most distinctive areas. But the recent influx of entrepreneurs has given its retro main street a much more fashionable vibe.

Our Yonge Talks panel exploring the Toronto Community Foundation's new Vital Signs report led attendees to ideas about what could make our city a better place to live.

The Toronto Community Foundation's annual survey takes the city's pulse in areas ranging from health and the environment to culture and transportation. They're complex, intersecting issues. But following the money is as good a way as any to determine our civic health.