With the change of the seasons, we talk about different kinds of renewal. First, Senior Editor John Lorinc talks about the special Spacing investigation into the cyber attack on the Toronto Public Library that shut the service down for months. How did it happen, and how do we make sure our public institutions are hacker-proof? And, the latest Spacing Magazine issue is on shelves now. As a preview, we share the full conversation with Toronto Public Space Committee organizer Cara Chellew (available in the issue as a Q&A) about the need for new Toronto street furniture: garbage bins that work, bus shelters that actually provide shelter, and places for people to sit.

We all know access to clean water is vital. We also know that water quality and access is jeopardized by things like pollution and drought. On the other hand, the growing frequency of powerful downpours causes stormwater issues. All that to say, the state of the water we rely on for so many thing is in constant flux. What we need is good, local data, about the bodies of water that sustain us. That's where Mary Kruk, water data specialist with DataStream, and Steph Neufeld, watershed manager with Edmonton's water utility EPCOR, can help. With DataStream, Kruk helps compile water data from all over the country, and make it available and easily accessible to everyone who needs it. In Edmonton, Neufeld is using that data to inform the City about it's many important watersheds.

Dans cet épisode, nous sommes allés dans les coulisses de la planification urbaine de Victoriaville. Nous nous sommes intéressés à la manière dont les municipalités comme Victoriaville s’y prennent pour mettre en branle des projets urbanistiques en tenant compte à la fois des paramètres environnementaux, économiques et sociaux.  Les entretiens avec Jean-François Morissette, Directeur des Services de la gestion du territoire et du développement durable, et Valérie Ebacher, urbaniste chez Vivre en Ville, soulignent l'importance des collaborations interdisciplinaires. Grâce à ces échanges, nous comprenons mieux la nécessité croissante d’inclure dans les projets urbains une diversité de compétences afin de relever les défis municipaux complexes auxquels les villes sont confrontées, notamment dans le contexte pressant des changements climatiques.

In 2005, Ontario passed the Accessibility of Ontarians with Disabilities Act (AODA), which made accessibility for all public establishments a legal requirement by 2025. That goal won't be met, unfortunately. To tell us about the progress that was made because of the legislation, and what still needs to happen, we speak to AODA Alliance Chair David Lepofsky. And, as part of our 20th anniversary celebrations, we talk to Jeremy Hopkin, who has colourized a panoramic photo series of Toronto in the mid 1800s. We ask him about the project, and what these photos tell us about early Toronto life.

With the Toronto budget about to be voted on shortly, we talk to crisis worker and homelessness advocate Diana Chan McNally about what the City needs to invest to help refugees and other unhoused people, whey the federal government needs to step up, and why the police don't need another big budget increase. And, as part of the Spacing 20th Anniversary celebration, we talk to historian and author Adam Bunch, who recently won the 2023 Governor General's History Award for Popular Media, and who wrote our blog's most-read story, which he treats us to.

Spacing is celebrating it's 20th Anniversary. To celebrate, we talk to publisher Matthew Blackett and senior editor Dylan Reid about how the magazine came together, the latest issue and anniversary book The Big Book of Spacing, and our special exhibit at the Urbanspace Gallery. And, at the same time the magazine began, David Miller had just become mayor of Toronto on a platform of change and urbanist principles. We ask him about Spacing's impact at City Hall, and how urban thinking has changed in the city in two decades.

With climate change leading to more frequent and more extreme climate events, predicting the next disaster and planning for it is essential. In many areas of the country, that means using data to anticipate extreme heat events, and give communities time to prepare. Dr. Ryan Reynolds is the researcher behind Resilience Mapping Canada. Reynolds uses data and other tools to help communities prepare for climate events, extreme heat, flooding, and more. In determining who is most vulnerable in extreme heat, Reynolds says: "This includes the elderly (in B.C. we decided that was about 60 plus) that were most vulnerable... Another one is adults who live alone. They're not necessarily being checked in on on a regular basis, so if they are having problems they might not be able to get assistance with that particular issue... Small children, particularly if they're accidentally left in vehicles... Health factors: there are particular health and mental health conditions that are exacerbated by extreme heat."  Barbara Roden is mayor Village of Ashcroft, British Columbia. Ashcroft is actually a designated desert, so the community must be especially prepared for extreme heat events. To that end, they developed the Heat Alert Response Plan. For a small town, this presents challenges, but the village is embracing it. As Roden says: "People like the fact that we're taking these steps, we are prepared. They just like to see their local government anticipating these things and being proactive, rather than reactive." Listen to the episode to hear more about planning for extreme heat.

Many people across the country struggle to make ends meet. In many cases, that means they experience energy poverty: they can't afford to use energy when they need to, if at all. At the same time, we are trying to address climate change and become more resilient. What if we could address both concerns at the same time? Energize Bridgewater was the winner of the 2019 Smart Cities Challenge. The program aims to identify where energy inefficiencies are in homes and find solutions to improve that efficiency, making the Town of Bridgewater, Nova Scotia, better prepared for our changing climate, and helping vulnerable residents who experience energy poverty and struggle to afford power. We talk to Bridgewater's Senior Energy Manager Asad Hussein and planner Meghan Doucette about the success of the program, and its future goals.

Women and children experiencing violence need housing options to be able to start a new life free of abuse, survive, and support themselves. But housing options that suit their particular situation and needs are often limited, due to the housing crisis, as well as a lack of appropriate services. For these reasons, Tanyss Knowles, director of programs at the BC Society of Supportive Houses, says there is a connection between women and children fleeing violence and homelessness: We know affordability is a growing issue across Canada and has been in B.C. for a long time. So women who come into temporary emergency services after leaving a violent home often can't move on to permanent housing because of the lack of affordable housing. And this has created a bottleneck in services, as more and more women and children are being denied access to services when they're seeking to leave a violent situation. Sometimes, the barrier to housing for women and children fleeing abuse is baked into the standards set by government. Alina McKay, research coordinator at the Housing Research Collaborative, and University of British Columbia grad student Victoria Barclay have been researching how the National Occupancy Standards can actually impede access to housing. Victoria explains: Because of the National Occupancy Standards, women who are fleeing violence with children are often actually denied housing because the family does not fit what that unit looks like. So if they need, according to their gender and the age of their children, four bedrooms when only two bedrooms are available, they're denied housing. Often that can mean they end up homeless. How do we ensure women and children fleeing violence have a place to flee to?

Dans cet épisode, on découvre comment la ville de Lac-Mégantic, après avoir vécu le pire, s’est reconstruite pour devenir une meilleure version d’elle-même. En juillet 2013, un train de cargaison qui transportait du pétrole a pris feu, déraillé et explosé en plein milieu de la ville de Lac-Mégantic. Six millions de litres de pétrole brut ont été déversés et la majeure partie du centre-ville a été détruite par l’incendie après que. Cette tragédie a laissé beaucoup de marques et de traumatismes chez les gens de Lac-Mégantic, mais elle a aussi permis à cette ville de se reconstruire de façon inouïe. Non seulement, les résidents et résidentes de Lac-Mégantic ont fait preuve de résilience, mais ils ont également réussi, avec les efforts des fonctionnaires et des acteurs communautaires, à repenser leur ville - qu’il fallait presque rebâtir à zéro - de façon à ce qu’une tragédie comme celle-ci ne puisse plus jamais se reproduire. Comment ont-ils fait? Comment le principe de résilience a-t-il pris forme dans la communauté de Lac-Mégantic? C’est ce que Danielle Maltais, professeure titulaire à l’Université du Québec à Chicoutimi et directrice de la Chaire de recherche Événements traumatiques, santé mentale et résilience, nous a expliqué dans cet épisode de Face au Futur. Et, après avoir mis sur papier les grandes lignes de ce à quoi la ville devrait ressembler à l’avenir, Lac-Mégantic s’est rebâti en harmonie avec la nature. Alors que le pétrole a été responsable de la pire des catastrophes, c’est désormais des modèles énergétiques écoresponsables qui font avancer la région. Mathieu Pepin, chargé de projet en transition énergétique pour la Ville de Lac-Mégantic, nous a notamment parlé de la manière dont le projet de micro-réseau, unique en son genre, a pris forme et comment il continue, jusqu’à aujourd’hui, à inspirer d’autres communautés.

We meet Globe & Mail architecture critic Alex Bozikovic in the new Love Park on Toronto's waterfront, to talk about good public space design, bad maintenance practices, and the legacy of legendary landscape architect Claude Cormier. We talk to playwright Michael Healey about "The Master Plan," a play about the doomed futuristic neighbourhood Google and Waterfront Toronto tried to build on the lakeshore. And, as a preview of our latest Spacing issue "Once Upon a Time in Toronto," we talk to author/playwright/screenwriter Catherine Hernandez about why she writes about Scarborough, and the pain of having to leave the neighbourhood that inspires you.