Dispatch from Toronto, ON. Walking Bloor Street from Ossington to Bathurst - historically home to Portuguese and Korean communities - weaving through subway stations, dog parks, supermarkets, and coworking spaces to reveal the ongoing change and increasing complexity of the neighbourhood.

City Builder Book Club - Toronto Soundwalk by the Centre for City Ecology

Arriving at the Enoch Pratt Free Library central location to the sound of the bell from the Baltimore Basilica just across Cathedral Street. In the library patrons are discussing the availability of sough after materials, are busy using the computers mostly in what you would expect in the library—silence except to an occasional cough or page turning. The liveliest sounds of the recording come from Baltimore Penn Station on an evening where all outbound trains were delayed, without further information. I arrived to Baltimore via Penn Station as many likely do, the library is one of the first things I visit in a new city—often packed with maps, local information and countless other resources (free computer use, language classes, student help, free income tax filing for low income earners). 

Lindsay Donnellon
Baltimore, MD USA

City Builder Book Club - Baltimore Soundwalk by Lindsay Donnellon

This is the sound of the transfer zone inside the Estação da Luz, metro and train station, in downtown São Paulo (that actually also presents the Portuguese Language Museum on the upper floors). You can hear the sound of the metro company warnings, the different flow of each lane along the way, and how people are worried about just walking and not doing anything else. Enjoy this organized chaos!

City Builder Book Club - São Paulo Soundwalk by Beatriz Vicino

The Centre for City Ecology (CCE) generates constructive conversations on architecture, planning and development. By creating opportunities for meaningful civic dialogue and action, the CCE strengthens participation in Toronto’s city building processes.

The CCE provides platforms for discussion on complex urban issues through lectures, exhibitions and reading groups that bring together city builders to exchange knowledge and ideas.

Through training and workshops, the CCE facilitates greater public understanding of Toronto’s planning and development processes. The CCE encourages knowledge sharing and skills building by bringing together residents, professionals and government staff in collaborative relationships.

By connecting community members with planners, architects, urban designers and other practitioners, the CCE equips communities with the tools necessary to develop, articulate and advance shared visions for the future of their neighbourhoods.