When Toronto City Councilor Kristyn Wong-Tam wanted to raise money for a street redesign project, she went directly to the private sector. They raised the money and recently released the master plan for their proposed street project.
"'I said, ‘Before you leave, I'm going to need some cash,'' she recalled this week. 'I know if I want to get something done in the current administration, I'm going to have to get it done myself.'
On Wednesday, she unveiled the result of her efforts: a bold Yonge Street master plan created by urban planner Ken Greenberg and the architecture firm KPMB, which was paid for entirely by the private sector.
In a time when the city's mayor has made his distaste for spending public money abundantly clear, she has also demonstrated a new model for Toronto urban planning, one that takes City Hall almost entirely out of the equation. And she may be playing right into Rob Ford's hands."
Others are following her lead and trying to go beyond the public sector to raise money for public projects.
FULL STORY: For city builders, there’s a new model in town
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Balancing Bombs and Butterflies: How the National Guard Protects a Rare Species
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Urban Design for Planners 1: Software Tools
This six-course series explores essential urban design concepts using open source software and equips planners with the tools they need to participate fully in the urban design process.
Planning for Universal Design
Learn the tools for implementing Universal Design in planning regulations.
EMC Planning Group, Inc.
Planetizen
Planetizen
Mpact (formerly Rail~Volution)
Great Falls Development Authority, Inc.
HUDs Office of Policy Development and Research
NYU Wagner Graduate School of Public Service