Electric Cities

Enabling missing middle housing as an as-of-right housing type in low-rise residential neighbourhoods has become a hot topic in recent months as a possible solution to address the housing affordability crisis.  And it is has gained the support of provincial policy makers and industry representatives.  But not everyone is fully on board, particularly many local residential ratepayer associations.  For this episode, Jeremy spoke with Cathie MacDonald, co-chair of FONTRA, a prominent and well-organized not-for-profit organization that represents 35 ratepayer association from across midtown Toronto.  Cathie shares her views on missing middle, ‘nimbyism’, and her concerns with many of the recommendations proposed in the Province’s Housing Affordability Task Force report.

For this second episode on the housing affordability crisis, Jeremy spoke with Craig Ruttan, Policy Director for Energy, Environment and Land Use with the Toronto Region Board of Trade and author of their recent report urging the Province to eliminate exclusionary zoning on missing middle housing as a means to increase the housing supply.  Our interview was recorded on Feb 9th 2022, just one day after the Province released its Housing Affordability Task Force report.

In this first of a series of episodes on the housing affordability crisis, Jeremy spoke with Frank Magliocco, National Real Estate Leader at PWC Canada.  Frank provided an excellent overview of the key factors contributing to the crisis, along with suggested ideas and related challenges to address the problem.  The podcast was recorded in November 2021, shortly after ULI and PWC released their Emerging Trends in Real Estate report.  

“A day doesn’t go by without reading a news story about the soaring cost of housing, and the impact it’s having on the long-term composition and prosperity of our city region. Everyone knows this is a complex issue that neither governments nor community groups, nor the private sector can address overnight. But it has become a major topic on most peoples’ minds, and there’s a growing sense of urgency to come up with some much needed solutions, while trying to overcome so many big challenges that seem to stand in the way. Because of its complexity, I’ve decided I cannot cover this topic in just one episode, there's just too much to unpack. Instead, I’m going to cover it over several episodes, starting with an overview of the problem and possible solutions, then onto the hot topic of missing middle and exclusionary zoning, followed up with the perspective from a local residential ratepayer association. So stay tuned! There’s lots of interesting discussions coming your way. The first episode to be launched very

Each year, the prestigious ULI Hines Student Competition attracts graduate student teams from all over North America to tackle complex urban design and development challenges. This year’s competition was won by a team of 5 graduate students from 3 Toronto universities, the first time the annual competition has been won by a team outside the United States. Jeremy sat down with the 5 graduate students and their 2 academic supervisors to learn more about this demanding competition, their fabulous submission, and what it took to capture the grand prize of $50,000 USD. His 5 student guests were Frances Grout-Brown (Ryerson), Leorah Klein (Ryerson), Ruotian Tan (University of Toronto), Chenyi Xu (University of Toronto), and Yanlin Zhou (York University). Professors Steven Webber and Victor Perez-Amado, both from Ryerson University’s School of Urban and Regional Planning, also joined the discussion.

With close to 10,000 homeless in Toronto on any given night, this city continues to face a homelessness crisis that has only become worse during these pandemic times. And it's a crisis with no easy solution. On March 26th, 2021, Jeremy interviewed Cathy Crowe, one of Canada's first street nurses and a long-time activist advocating on behalf of the city's homeless.

With the necessity to avoid crowds and indoor gatherings of any kind due to the COVID-19 pandemic, arts and culture in Toronto has been hit particularly hard. Yet despite the challenges, this sector has found ways to quickly adapt and deliver programs that are innovative and inspiring, and in some cases even broadened its appeal to larger audiences. On January 7, 2021, Jeremy chatted with Celia Smith, the newly appointed CEO for Luminato Festival Toronto, to talk about the impacts of the pandemic on Toronto’s arts and culture scene and her optimistic outlook for the industry’s future.

The Province’s lockdown to non-essential retail services in Toronto and Peel Region has hit main street retailers particularly hard.  Some have found creative ways to survive, while others have had to close for good.  Neighbourhood BIAs have responded with campaigns urging shoppers to buy local, highlighting the important value of local retail to the success of our neighbourhoods and overall city region.On December 11th, 2020, Jeremy spoke with Mary Rowe, President and CEO of the Canadian Urban Institute, to talk about these issues and the recommendations from their recent report on bringing back main streets.

During these pandemic times the TTC is dealing with a dramatic drop in ridership, particularly along its once busy subway routes. This has imposed enormous fiscal strain and forced the TTC to quickly re-adjust to our new reality. On October 30th, 2020, Jeremy spoke with Stuart Green, the TTC’s chief spokesperson, to learn more about the pandemic’s impact on the TTC and what they are doing to respond.

Toronto’s chief medical officer of health recently urged Torontonians to focus on staying home following a sharp rise in COVID-19 cases across the region. But what about the under-privileged who struggle to find proper housing or are residing in cramped, unhealthy living conditions? For this October 5th UN World Habitat Day, Jeremy speaks with Ene Underwood, CEO of Habitat for Humanity GTA, to learn how it is now more important than ever for governments, private sector and not-for-profit agencies to collaborate and create opportunities for financially-challenged families, better access to home ownership and the prospect for a healthier quality of life.

The pandemic may have beaten our city down, but it has had the opposite effect on cycling. In recent months cyclists have surged onto Toronto bike routes and many urbanists are applauding the addition of new cycling infrastructure hastily being added across the city. Could this mark the beginning of an emboldened era for Toronto city cycling? On July 31st, 2020, Jeremy interviewed Barbara Gray, the City of Toronto’s General Manager of Transportation to find out and learn more about Toronto’s plans for its cycling infrastructure and the impacts experienced as a result of the pandemic.

Three and a half months into the pandemic, most Toronto office buildings are virtually empty as tenants, landlords and developers try to adapt to these changing times and plan for the new workplace environment. Jeremy interviews Lisa Fulford-Roy and Jon Ramscar, two senior executives with CBRE Canada, to talk about the significant impacts of the pandemic on the Toronto office market.

Before the pandemic hit, considerable shifts in the retail market were already taking place with the rapid rise of e-commerce and declining foot traffic to traditional brick and mortar retail. With the pandemic now upon us, those impacts have been accelerated as both large and small retail destinations struggle to survive and adapt to the new world of physical distancing. On May 29th, 2020, Jeremy interviewed Jamie Tate, founder and president of Tate Economic Research, to talk about the pandemic’s impacts on the retail market and the ways in which the industry is responding.

Over the past 30 years, Toronto’s condo market flourished with an almost unstoppable pace of growth. But ever since the pandemic forced a global shutdown in mid-March 2020, condo sales have plummeted, forcing developers to quickly adjust their business model and operations. On May 15th, 2020, Jeremy interviewed Mimi Ng, Senior Vice President of Sales and Marketing at Menkes Developments, to talk about the pandemic’s impacts on the condo market and what the industry is doing to respond.

Lisa Bate, a global sustainability lead and principal with Toronto’s B+H Architects, joins Jeremy to discuss B+H’s ability to adapt under the global impact of COVID-19. They also discuss the correlation between global health, resilience and the environment; Lisa’s perspectives on working abroad; notable sustainable building design projects; and some final thoughts on inspiring women in architecture.

Many of the world's top theme parks and entertainment destinations like Canada's Wonderland, Universal Studios, Legoland, Nickelodeon Universe, Everland Theme Park and Dollywood were designed by Toronto-based FORREC, one of the world's premier design firms of entertainment destinations. Jeremy sits down with Cale Heit, FORREC's President and CEO to learn more about the company and how it has evolved over the past 3 decades to take on new opportunities and challenges in an ever-evolving industry.

Toronto-based Brookfield Asset Management is a multi-billion dollar juggernaut, with global investments in real estate, infrastructure, renewable energy and private equity. Despite a portfolio of mega-sized investments across the globe, Brookfield is showing increasing interest in the Greater Toronto real estate market, including a new partnership with InterRent REIT and CLV Group to develop a huge multi-family, mixed-use development on the GO Transit Rail lands in Burlington, Ontario. Jeremy sits down with Ashley Lawrence, Managing Director and Head of the company’s Canadian real estate division to talk about Brookfield’s real estate activity both abroad and closer to home.

Headquartered in Toronto, IBI Group is one of the world’s largest architectural firms with 60 offices around the world. Their projects reach far and wide in Toronto, across Canada, and throughout the world. In this episode, Jeremy sits down with Mansoor Kazerouni, the company’s Global Director of Buildings, to talk about IBI’s Toronto roots and its success on the international stage.

As the real estate investment arm of OMERS, one of Canada’s largest pension plans, Oxford Properties Group is one of the world’s premier real estate investment, development and management companies. They manage over $60 billion worth of real estate assets, with a global portfolio spanning over 100 million square feet in Canada, Europe and the United States, including the recent opening of Hudson Yards in New York, the largest private real estate development in the United States. In this episode, Jeremy interviews Michael Turner about the company, its Toronto roots, and the phenomenal scale of projects it currently manages abroad and closer to home.

As the most international airport in North America with services to 163 international destinations, Toronto’s Pearson International Airport is the largest airport in Canada, handling just under 50 million passengers and 300 tons of cargo per year. It is arguably the most vital transportation hub in the country while significantly contributing to Toronto’s local and regional economy. With a rapid population growth projected for the Toronto region over the next number of decades, Pearson has developed an ambitious, long-term expansion plan, including a massive new multi-modal transit hub that would connect numerous local and regional transit lines right at the airport’s doorstep. Jeremy sat down with the airport’s CEO, Howard Eng in late 2019 to talk about Pearson’s importance in making Toronto a global city.