City Space
City Space is an urban living podcast from The Globe and Mail that explores how to make cities more livable, affordable, and walkable in a tech-powered society. Host Irene Galea speaks with global experts and local voices to discuss topics like accessibility, housing, and transit. The show examines what cities are doing right and what could be improved, drawing lessons from around the world.
Episodes
Solving mini city mysteries
This week on City Space, our team attempts to unravel a few puzzling urban enigmas. Can anything be a street name? Does a patch of grass qualify as a park? What does this unique house reveal about the development of the area? Irene and our producers guide you through different neighborhoods as they try to solve the mini-mysteries that define a city - in this case, Toronto. The hows and whys (or wh
How Frederick G. Gardiner shaped modern Toronto, for better or worse
If you drive in Toronto you know the name “Gardiner”. The waterfront expressway was named after the man who dominated Toronto politics at a crucial point in its history: Frederick Goldwyn Gardiner, or “Big Daddy” as he was known. In 1953 Gardiner became the first chair of Metropolitan Toronto, a trailblazing experiment in two-tier municipal governance that brought Toronto and 15 surrounding towns
How an Indigenous-led development is forcing Vancouver to face tough questions on reconciliation
Across Canada, more and more First Nations are turning to real estate and housing development as money makers, shaping the future of Canadian cities. This is especially visible in Vancouver with projects like Sen̓áḵw, a development by the Squamish Nation that is set to become one of Canada’s densest neighbourhoods. It’s a project that carries a lot of promise, specifically as a symbol of Indigenou
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, th
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
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
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
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 cr
Will the cost of hosting the FIFA World Cup pay off for Toronto?
The men’s 2026 FIFA World Cup is coming to Canada. Out of 106 games, Toronto will host just six. The city is facing a bill of $380 million or more for things like security and a stadium expansion. Huge sporting events like this are sold as being good for the hosts, boosting tourism and local business while also leaving a legacy of better transit. So does hosting a successful sporting event mean ac
Can Chinatown, Vancouver, survive the neighbourhood's revitalization?
Canada’s largest Chinatown has been under siege for over a century: first by race riots, then by poverty and most recently by the threat of development. We’re telling the story of why Chinatown, Vancouver, is one of Canada’s most resilient neighbourhoods, forced to evolve and adapt in the face of horrific racism. The future of Chinatowns everywhere should be in the hands of the people who live, wo
Prohibition's 100-year hangover in a Toronto neighbourhood
At the turn of the 20th century, a murder, a bar brawl and a sermon led to a 100-year ban on booze in Toronto’s Junction neighbourhood. The Junction was Toronto’s last “dry” neighbourhood — meaning no alcohol was allowed to be sold — until 2000. While other nearby areas saw business booming as bars and restaurants opened, The Junction declined and became known as “The Junkie Junction.” We’re telli
Halifax is allowing homeless encampments in its parks. Should other cities do the same?
On August 18, 2021, downtown Halifax made international news when the city erupted in a sprawling protest against the removal of illegal homeless shelters from a park. Compared to other Canadian cities, Halifax’s homeless population has tripled in the last three years. Emergency shelters aren’t doing enough. Building new housing takes time. It takes policy changes — and money. Until that’s in plac
Does heritage preservation stand in the way of housing?
The Van Horne Mansion was a classic greystone house in Montreal’s Golden Square Mile. It was the home of Sir William Cornelius Van Horne, the man who built the Canadian Pacific Railway. Despite public outcry, the mansion was demolished in 1973. This lit a fire amongst conservationists, thus initiating the heritage conservation movement in Canada. Today, heritage conservation is an important part o
Was the Spadina Expressway a crisis averted or a missed opportunity?
The Spadina Expressway was one of five urban highways that were nearly built in Toronto in the 70s. The plan would have bulldozed neighbourhoods so that suburban commuters had a direct route to drive downtown. But campaigners like Bobbi Speck and Jane Jacobs stopped it, saving iconic neighbourhoods like The Annex. Today, Toronto is one of the worst cities in the world for traffic. Should the expre
Coming soon: Season 4 of City Space
Who decides what progress means to a city? In the new season of City Space, join host Irene Galea as she delves into the stories of changing cities and how they're holding on to their identities in the face of 21st century problems. Season 4 will tell stories of progress and preservation — and look for common ground in city spaces across Canada.
Who are city festivals for?
Festivals can transform cities by making space for overlooked people and cultures. Cities all over the world are facing major crises — from mounting inequalities to climate emergencies. And arts and culture have a surprisingly critical role in tackling these urban challenges. How do we make sure festivals remain authentic and true to their communities? In this episode, we hear from Mischka Creight
Tell us what you think about our show!
City Space is now in its third season and we’d really love to hear how you feel about our show and what we can do to make it better. Visit cityspace-survey.ca and fill out the brief survey to give us more info. As a token of our thanks, you’ll be entered into a draw to win one of three online retailer gift cards worth $100.
Will Canada be able to house all the immigrants it hopes to welcome by 2025?
Last year, the federal government set an ambitious new immigration target — to bring in half a million permanent residents a year by 2025. While the country is already dealing with a pretty profound housing crisis, it’s likely everyone will feel the housing crunch even more as a record number of immigrants move to Canadian cities in the near future. Where will all these newcomers live and whose jo
Urban wildlife: How humans and animals can better coexist in cities
Whether we really think about it or not, cities are habitats for animals. Beyond a flock of pigeons or dogs on a leash, cities are home to all manner of wildlife - depending where you are, you might have bats, coyotes or even bobcats roaming around. How can cities better accommodate the land we share with our beastie brethren and what might be some potential benefits if we get better at it? This e
How can cities prepare for a rapidly aging population?
We’re now in our third season and we’d really love to hear how you feel about our show and what we can do to make it better. Visit cityspace-survey.ca and fill out the brief survey to give us more info. As a token of our thanks, you’ll be entered into a draw to win one of three online retailer gift cards worth $100.
Why are ER wait times so bad in Canadian cities?
Burning hours in an ER waiting room has long been a fact of Canada’s public health care system, but that wait time is starting to spike. Now, in Ontario it hovers at around 20 hours on average. And our cities, home to more people and more various determinants of health than anywhere else in the country, bear the brunt of it. In this episode, we’re looking at some issues that impact the growing hos
Are smart cities really such a smart idea?
The smart city movement — driven by the idea that we can leverage data and technology to optimize life in our cities — is attractive for many reasons. But critics say that smart cities may not be so wise, and in some cases, they’ve proven to be dangerous for democracy. In the first episode of season three, we’re doing a deep dive into this very concept: What are smart cities, and who are they for?
Coming soon: Season three of City Space
Canadian cities are evolving – and quickly. City Space, The Globe and Mail’s future of cities podcast, is back for another season to make sense of it all. Join host Adrian Lee over the course of six episodes as he speaks with global experts and those close to home as we learn what our cities are doing right and what can be improved. Up this season: the pros and cons of a smart city, what we can do
Supply alone won’t fix our housing crisis. Here are three other factors
If we want great cities, people from all walks of life need to be able to live in them. But even with experts predicting that rising interest rates will drive national housing prices down by as much as 23 per cent by the end of this year, most of us would still consider those adjusted prices totally unaffordable. While most of the housing crisis conversation has centered on supply — just build bu
How online shopping is changing our city streets – and what comes next
With e-commerce largely replacing brick-and-mortar stores, how we shop is having real, physical effects on how our cities work. So in this episode, we’re looking at all things retail: As consumers, have we become addicted to convenience? How are businesses able to offer us even quicker delivery times than ever before, sometimes within even 15 minutes – and what is that doing to our main streets? W
Hybrid work is here to stay. What will that mean for our downtown cores?
If you’re a white-collar worker, chances are your office setup looks different than it did before the pandemic. After our two-year-long global experiment with remote work, many employees say there’s lots to like about it, with a number of companies now offering hybrid workplaces. All that empty office space is going to have an effect on the rest of our cities. In this episode, Jennifer Barrett,
From tipping to farming: How we should change the way we think about food
Cities are filled with seemingly endless options when it comes to food. But we’re also increasingly disconnected from what we eat and how it makes its way to our plate. In this episode, we’re taking a look at how the pandemic has given us the opportunity to rethink our relationship with food, both in terms of the restaurant industry and farmed food that fills our fridge. Adrian speaks to Corey Min
How can cities prepare for climate change?
Climate change isn’t just coming, it’s here. And cities are uniquely susceptible to its effects because of their population density and infrastructure. So how can they better prepare for the increasingly devastating impacts of the climate crisis? In this episode, we explore the concept of climate resilience — how prepared are cities to anticipate, prepare for and respond to natural disasters? We
How protests put Ottawa’s capital-city flaws on display
From late January, when the first protesters’ trucks and cars piled into downtown Ottawa, to mid-February, when the Canadian government enacted emergency laws to remove them from the streets, Canada’s capital city of Ottawa was locked down. But it turns out, the reasons why the protests proved uniquely disruptive to the people who actually lived there were actually baked into the city’s very desig
Coming soon: Season two of City Space
The Globe’s podcast about how to make our cities better is back for another season. Join host Adrian Lee over the course of six episodes as he speaks with global experts and those close to home as we learn what our cities are doing right and what can be improved. Up this season: the real purpose of a capital city, the future of our downtown cores and how a city can prepare for looming climate-chan
How do we build better public transit?
Public transit is essential to the well-being and growth of a city, but as we all know, it’s hard to get it right. Enrique Peñalosa , a former mayor of Bogota, Colombia once said that “a developed country is not a place where the poor have cars. It’s where the rich use public transportation.” And while that’s definitely something to strive for, how achievable is it, really?
On the last episode
How unaffordable rent is pushing out the people our cities need
Soaring rent costs is a global phenomenon — and the problem is officially in Canadian cities. In 2020, the average price of rental housing in Toronto was more expensive than it was in San Francisco, London and New York. How did we get here? In this episode of City Space, we explore how the crisis in rental housing happened, how it’s affecting the people we really need in our cities, and what we ca
Who are public spaces – like parks or transit systems – designed for?
Public spaces are often the best parts of a city. But during the pandemic, many of us started to realize how our public spaces, like parks, weren’t quite working for us. In this episode, we hear from three experts: Adri Stark, project manager at Park People and one of the authors of the 2021 Canadian City Parks Report; Leslie Kern, the author of Feminist City: Claiming Space in a Man-Made World an
Cars vs. bikes: What do cities actually need to be safe and accessible?
The battle for road space between bikes and cars is a well-known one in many cities. But conversations about being a “bike person” or a “car person” tend to skew more towards identity politics than what the data tells us about how to make a city safe and most efficient for all citizens - no matter how they choose to get around. So why can't we get past our emotional response?
Peter Norton, an ass
Can we break the middle class of their addiction to sprawl?
A generation ago, a middle-class income could buy you a detached home in a big city. Now? Folks are finding they need to set their sights further and further away from any downtown centre if they want to hold fast to that dream. But as populations and climate emergencies rise, experts tell us that urban densification is the necessary path forward. So what do cities have to do to retain the middle-
Should all Canadian cities be 15-minute cities?
The 15-minute city is an urban planning concept that would see neighbourhoods designed so that day-to-day amenities are always just a short walk or bike ride away. And after living 18+ months of pandemic life, where most of us were forced to stay in our own neighbourhoods, it seems like implementing this idea in as many cities as possible will pay nothing but dividends. But while it’s popular in o
Coming soon: City Space
A new podcast from The Globe and Mail about how to make our cities better. Join host Adrian Lee over the course of six episodes as he speaks with global experts and those close to home as we learn what our cities are doing right and what we’re missing.
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