City Space

• The Parisian Calgary that could have been

  In 1977, a 100-page hand-painted plan for a white, stone, European-style Calgary was discovered in the walls of a garage. The illustrations show a totally different vision for the city, with wide, stone boulevards, artificial lagoons and grand, classical buildings. While the plan was expensive for a frontier town of 80,000 people and was swiftly shelved with the outbreak of the First World War, the beauty of those drawings captured Calgarians' imaginations when they were rediscovered. What if Calgary had been built like Paris, with beauty at its core? What even is “beautiful”? And who gets to decide? In this episode, we’re telling the story of the English gardener Thomas Mawson who wanted to make his colonialist mark on Calgary, and explore how power uses architecture to tell stories.

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• Is expropriation the solution to a housing crisis? The majority of Berliners think so

  Is expropriation, or forcing corporations to sell apartments to the government, a way to ease the housing crisis? Berlin seems to think so. In a landmark referendum back in 2021, the majority of Berliners voted ‘yes’ to forced sales, calling for the government to buy 240,000 apartments owned by some of Berlin’s mega landlords - whether they want to sell or not. Some call the strategy “radical” but needed. Others say it’s unconstitutional. But is it a viable solution to Berlin’s housing crisis, and could it work here in Canada? In this episode, we dive into the history behind Berlin’s expropriation campaign and try to figure out if a similar referendum on housing could succeed on this side of the Atlantic.

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• Pedal politics: How Toronto’s bike lanes became so divisive

  Study after study shows that bike lanes make roads safer for everyone and have a minimal effect on traffic congestion. Yet, in Canadian cities, they’re not always popular. In Toronto, they’re arguably the most divisive piece of road infrastructure, with the Ontario government introducing a plan to remove bike lanes on three major streets in the city and restrict new ones from being built. In this episode of City Space, we’re looking at Toronto’s complicated history with bike lanes and how they became so political.

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• Coming soon: Season 5 of City Space

  The decisions that cities make now - on housing, transit, and development - will shape how we live for decades to come. These aren't just policy issues: they reveal the fundamental debates driving how we live in cities. In the new season of City Space, join host Irene Galea as she examines the divides that shape our urban landscapes, tells the stories behind shifting policies, and speaks with the people who are changing their cities. Up this season: the battle over bike lanes, what we can learn from Berlin’s historic referendum on housing, Canada’s largest Indigenous-led development and more.

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• A conversation with Justin Trudeau on Canada’s housing crisis

  Earlier this month, the City Space team met Prime Minister Trudeau for a sit-down interview to get his thoughts on the biggest challenges facing our cities: housing affordability, a labour shortage, population growth and the need for densification. Trudeau and the Federal Liberals unveiled a new housing policy in April of this year, a plan that they say will help solve the housing affordability crisis in Canada. As the prime minister says, the plan is certainly ambitious. It marks a significant departure in the federal government’s approach to housing, one that will require them to be much more direct and hands-on. But what took so long? We’re asking why his government has struggled to make a meaningful difference on housing affordability and availability in this country.

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