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David Gordon @ProfDavidGordon

Professor, School of Urban and Regional Planning, Queen's Univ. Urbanist, Teacher, Author, Cyclist. Research on suburbs, capital cities, planning histories.

Joined September 2012
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  • Followers 2,473
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David Gordon@ProfDavidGordon
22 Aug 2023
Canada is a suburban nation. The Canadian Suburbs Atlas provides new neighbourhood maps & data for all 41 Census Metropolitan Areas. Thanks @UofTCities @CanUrbanism Report available here: schoolofcities.utoronto.ca/r… Maps, data & Google Earth available here: canadiansuburbs.ca/
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It is sad that the USA is no longer Canada's friend or ally. Although I was a loyal @Dell customer for over 30 years, spending over $50K, I will no longer buy American tech & will recommend the same to @QueensU. My new desktop is from Taiwan. #ByeAmerica @MichaelDell
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As a former @FulbrightPrgrm Senior Scholar, it saddens me to see that the USA is no longer Canada's friend or ally. Although we enjoyed a lovely #Florida holiday last year, we will not return. We cancelled our American vacation and will visit the Caribbean instead. #ByeAmerica
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Calgary looks to prezoning to open up old shopping malls to housing /via @globeandmail theglobeandmail.com/real-est…

Calgary looks to prezoning to open up old shopping malls to housing

Redeveloping Glenmore Landing to include housing aligns with Calgary’s Municipal Development Plan, as well as the city’s climate and housing strategies

theglobeandmail.com
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See this Instagram post by @queensucareers instagram.com/p/DE5CCRnP3Mu/…
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How Canada became a suburban nation: our research on @CMHC_ca lead role in changing the design of post-war neighbourhoods. Free copies from Journal of Urban Design for the first 100 downloads: tinyurl.com/3ctykura
1948 Vancouver Fraserview veterans housing in a neighbourhood unit, surrounded by the pre-war street grid. LAC PA148474

ALT 1948 Vancouver Fraserview veterans housing in a neighbourhood unit, surrounded by the pre-war street grid. LAC PA148474

1948 CMHC Exhibit at the Pacific National Exhibition, featuring Fraserview as "Good Planning"

ALT 1948 CMHC Exhibit at the Pacific National Exhibition, featuring Fraserview as "Good Planning"

1950 design for Ajax ON by CMHC planner Kent Barker, featuring 4 new neighbourhood units. Note the small wavy grid of the original Wartime Housing subdivision at the top.

ALT 1950 design for Ajax ON by CMHC planner Kent Barker, featuring 4 new neighbourhood units. Note the small wavy grid of the original Wartime Housing subdivision at the top.

1956 new town design for Oromocto NB by CMHC planner Sam Gitterman and McGill Professor Harold Spence-Sales, featuring 6 neighbourhood units (green) and a town centre (red).

ALT 1956 new town design for Oromocto NB by CMHC planner Sam Gitterman and McGill Professor Harold Spence-Sales, featuring 6 neighbourhood units (green) and a town centre (red).
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The second article in Sunday’s @LP_LaPresse discussed the suburbs as the key to elections: 2/2 lapresse.ca/contexte/le-trio…
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Our team’s research on Canada as a suburban nation and Québec’s suburbs was extensively featured in a two-article portfolio in Sunday’s @LP_LaPresse : 1/2 lapresse.ca/contexte/le-trio… This article includes a link to our interactive map canadiansuburbs.ca/interacti…

Dossier | Le triomphe des banlieues (2 articles)

Les urbanistes s’inquiètent depuis des décennies de l’étalement urbain. Pourtant, la banlieue continue de croître à la vitesse grand V, beaucoup plus vite que le cœur des villes. Le Canada est une...

lapresse.ca
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Charming article by Nancy Dorrance in this weekend's @globeandmail about the Grenville Park Co-operative Housing Association, a Kingston neighbourhood designed by Stanley Lash along Garden Suburb lines. Read the on-line version for more pictures: theglobeandmail.com/opinion/…
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Thought-provoking article on development charges in today's @globeandmail , quoting Professor @asancton theglobeandmail.com/canada/a… For the research behind the article see x.com/CPP_APC/status/1599105…

Ottawa calls development fees a housing tax, but without them, who pays for new infrastructure?

Unless provincial and federal governments start committing large and regular contributions to new infrastructure, mayors say their only lever is significant tax increases for everyone

theglobeandmail.com
Canadian Planning & Policy (CPP-APC)@CPP_APC
3 Dec 2022
Latest article by @asancton explores the origins of #developmentcharges and critically assesses the claim that "growth should pay for growth" bit.ly/3P188P6
Screenshot of article info including title, author, abstract, keywords, and contact information.

ALT Screenshot of article info including title, author, abstract, keywords, and contact information.
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Excellent front page feature on the potential for affordable housing on under-utilized federal lands in @globeandmail Good research behind the story: theglobeandmail.com/canada/a… The on-line version is even better for case studies: theglobeandmail.com/canada/a…

How The Globe identified underutilized public land across Canada

The Globe and Mail offers the most authoritative news in Canada, featuring national and international news

theglobeandmail.com
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How to redevelop the suburbs: Promising options from @CanUrbanism Urbanizing Suburbia caucus in a Y magazine article co-authored with @alex_taranu and Miranda Brintnell
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Glad you enjoyed the book. More background and the original plans in the book's web site: townandcrown.ca/index.html

Stephen Hickson@613STEVE
14 Apr 2024
Just wrapped up reading @ProfDavidGordon’s Town and Crown. Learned so much about Ottawa-Gatineau’s planning history. Cannot recommend enough.
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Capstone refereed article on how Canada became a suburban nation so quickly after WW2, citing the influence of the 1944 Curtis Report and the post-war activism of @CMHC_ca and the Community Planning Association of Canada. doi.org/10.1080/02665433.202…
Abstract from Planning Perspectives Journal

ALT Abstract from Planning Perspectives Journal

Wartime Housing / CMHC small house design

ALT Wartime Housing / CMHC small house design

1948 aerial photo of Renfrew Heights community, Vancouver BC, designed and developed by CMHC. Note the central school and radically different street network from the Vancouver grid that surrounds it on three sides. (Source: Library and Archives Canada, image PA-148474)

ALT 1948 aerial photo of Renfrew Heights community, Vancouver BC, designed and developed by CMHC. Note the central school and radically different street network from the Vancouver grid that surrounds it on three sides. (Source: Library and Archives Canada, image PA-148474)

Analytic summary of why the 1944 Curtis Report was a critical juncture for major post-war changes in housing and community planning that set Canada on a different course than the UK or USA.

ALT Analytic summary of why the 1944 Curtis Report was a critical juncture for major post-war changes in housing and community planning that set Canada on a different course than the UK or USA.
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Our five years of archival research on how Canada became a suburban nation, cited in this article, can be accessed from the links in this op-ed: theconversation.com/canada-i…

Canada is a suburban nation because of post-Second World War government policy

Following the Second World War, the federal government led the country’s transformation from a rural to a suburban nation, despite lacking any constitutional jurisdiction in community planning.

theconversation.com
The Rundown
@therundowntvo
6 Mar 2024
Home front: Why housing became part of Canada’s war effort tvo.org/article/home-front-w… — by @Karen_L_Black
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This articles summarizes five years of archival and census research by our team, with links to the refereed journal articles.
The Conversation Canada@ConversationCA
20 Feb 2024
Canada is a suburban nation because of post-Second World War government policy theconversation.com/canada-i…
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Proposed co-op project featured by @shawnmicallef in @TorontoStar looks good & has long-term potential. Note that co-ops in St. Lawrence (1970s) and Bathurst Quay (1980s) are still affordable today, while subsidized private rentals of the era are not. thestar.com/opinion/contribu…

Shawn Micallef: Are we entering a new era of the co-op? Let’s hope so

A new, big project on Eglinton may usher in the return of the co-op in a big way, writes Shawn Micallef.

thestar.com
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Glad to hear that Planning Canadian Communities remains useful for your course. The book's website is available to everybody and contains many valuable resources planningcanadiancommunities.…
Brian Killin@Thepowerdresser
18 Jan 2024
Replying to @ProfDavidGordon @UofTCities @CanUrbanism
What an excellent resource! Best wishes for the new year from a guy who ordered many copies of your text on Community Planning over the years for my students…
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David Gordon retweeted
David Fleischer@Fleischmarket
29 Dec 2023
Replying to @alexbozikovic @ProfDavidGordon @CanUrbanism
I kind of wanted to pull out Professor Gordon, like the Marshall McLuhan bit from Annie Hal, to explain to @JohnIbbitson how his data was being mis-portrayed but really, the development in VMC between 2019 and 2023 undermines the article off the top. x.com/Fleischmarket/status/1…

David Fleischer@Fleischmarket
28 Dec 2023
Instead of arguing this article point by point, I'll just post October 2023 images you can compare to the article's 2019 picture (of VMC, an intensification node built around a subway station) and let you draw your own conclusions about it. youtu.be/YpeQqe4wuew?feature…
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2/2 Poorly planned suburbs are not the inevitable future of Canadian cities. The solutions page of our Atlas has many ideas for better infill and urbanizing suburbia. The research report is here: canadiansuburbs.ca/research-… An interactive map is here: canadiansuburbs.ca/interacti…
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Research from our Canadian Suburbs Atlas was cited in a provocative article in @globeandmail theglobeandmail.com/politics… The article reports suburban growth trends accurately, but I disagree with conclusions that building cities out in current forms is an inevitable future... 1/2

Politicians need to remember that this is a suburban, car-commuting nation

If Justin Trudeau wants to get re-elected, he needs to obsess on the aspirations of middle-class voters in car-commuting suburbs

theglobeandmail.com
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