COMMENTARY
Among all of our rights and privileges in a democratic society, freedom of speech is of paramount importance. And in educational institutions, academic freedom and freedom of expression are the cornerstones upon which their societal missions are founded.
The University of Toronto’s Statement of Institutional Purpose and Statement on Freedom of Expression are the foundation of U of T’s world-class excellence in research and education. They affirm that the rights of freedom of speech, academic freedom, and freedom of research that are otherwise “meaningless unless they entail the right to raise deeply disturbing questions and provocative challenges to the cherished beliefs of society at large and of the university itself.”
It is within the spirit of constructive criticism that I have authored a number of commentaries over the years, some aimed at society at large and others at my own academic community. This is much needed criticism at a time when there is so much fear and loathing in the free world. There is part of a disturbing trend towards the concentration of wealth, power and decision making in our society that runs contrary to participatory democracy. Sadly, so many citizens have become disenfranchised they prefer to cocoon in digitally connected tribes on the fringe of society rather than engaging in the difficult discussions that are needed to maintain our rights and freedoms, and promote inclusivity and social equity. In what is a Kafkaesque blend of George Orwell’s 1984 and Aldous Huxley’s Brave New World, institutions like the University of Toronto are perched at the edge of a slippery slope that is driving them to behave more like corporations rather than stewards of civilization.
Click on the titles below to download the commentary pieces – enjoy.
Popular Building Science?
Building science has never really gained in popularity among the architecture profession and for this reason the quality and performance of our building stock has not significantly improved for over half a century. There is no other sector of the economy that can boast of such negligible progress and the absence of innovation as the development industry. This commentary focuses on the sad situation here in Ontario where glass condo towers continue to grace our urban skylines and design professionals continue to ignore the fundamentals of building science.
The Great Undoing
This essay was written in 2009 as a contribution to a publication that was being planned by Professor Pierre Bélanger of Harvard University. As colleagues at the University of Toronto prior to his move to Harvard, Pierre Bélanger and I had exchanged ideas about the nomenclature that was emerging in the landscape architecture field. My civil engineering background attracted me to terms like de-engineering and landscape infrastructure, and so I undertook a critical examination of the terminology and its related issues and implications.
In developing this essay, I came to realize it had parallels in architecture and urban planning. The notion of transdisciplinarity as a necessary construct to enable sustainable development continues to gain traction as single and multi-disciplinary fields fail to grapple successfully with phenomena like urbanization and the post-carbon economy.
The most important realization stemming from this essay was the importance of cultural constructs and how these were embodied in design education and professional practice. The lens of intergenerational equity reveals the heavy handedness of the Industrial Revolution and the deployment of powerful technologies to impose economic, social and environmental infrastructures that greatly restrict freedom of choice among succeeding generations. What makes “The Great Undoing” so difficult is not only obsolete physical infrastructure, but completely outmoded intellectual processes. Unwittingly, we have created a built environment that has enslaved our way of thinking, in turn punishing those who seek to question its fundamental premises and break free of its grip.
New Math for Architecture Schools
Canada’s oldest school of architecture at the University of Toronto has undergone significant changes, mostly to its own detriment. At a time when other technology sectors have churned out so much innovation, architecture, remains rooted in its Beaux Arts past, unable to make the same kinds of contributions to society as disciplines like medicine, the applied sciences and engineering. The quality and affordability of housing is in serious decline across Canada at a time when other divisions of our universities are improving the quality of life for their constituencies. This commentary from 2015 coincided with the imminent move of the Daniels Faculty from 230 College to 1 Spadina, and it has proven a failed attempt to have the Administration face emerging 21st century realities.
Condo Conundrum
The glass condo towers of Toronto are a building science nightmare that is slowly unfolding. In a city where there is an insufficient supply of housing, this inferior housing stock continues to sell like hotcakes even though it is so shabbily constructed and poorly managed. Despite recent changes to the condominium legislation in Ontario, the condo development industry mantra reigns supreme – design dumb, build cheap, operate and maintain expensive. This commentary from 2011 was an attempt to explain the dynamics of how we arrived at this sorry state, and sadly nothing has really changed ever since.
Gardiner Versus Towers
2019 marks the 10th anniversary of the founding of the now defunct Mayor’s Tower Renewal program under then mayor David Miller. It was also a decade ago that colleagues and I published the Tower Renewal Guidelines. Tower renewal has not gained any significant traction over the past ten years because it remains an underfunded tokenism. This commentary was intended to contrast the investment in tower renewal versus yet another study of the Gardiner Expressway. If a fraction of the time and resources devoted to the Gardiner had been invested in tower renewal, we would by now have witnessed dozens of exemplary revitalization projects and Toronto would have the experience and capacity needed to advance the tower renewal agenda.