tinacris_research

My goal is to compare sidewalks in suburban and urban areas, and to explore the difference in uses of these sidewalks and how urban planning may attribute to these differences.
 * Research Statement**

Suburban areas were built beginning around the 1950's in Toronto. Their urban planning included two things that created a detriment to sidewalk use: large areas of homogenous land use (eg. residential, retail, etc) and street connections between these uses that were necessarily facilitated by automobiles.
 * Background**

Urban areas have been growing from the centre of the city since the birth of Toronto's history. Over the years, various independent and official planning initiatives have shaped the urban landscape, created mixed land uses, and largely pedestrian street connections.

For the most part, suburban sidewalks used less and not as varied in their uses as urban sidewalks are. While urban walkways facilitate art, spontanaeity, and contact, suburban sidewalks rarely do so.
 * Critical Position**

I have come to the preceeding critical position from observation of walking on downtown streets, and from the experience of living and travelling in the dull 'burbs. I have also consulted a few spacing articles, as well as my bible: Jane Jacobs' Death and Life of Great American cities.
 * Data Collection**

In the future I hope to refine this connection between sidewalk use and urban planning, and to discover and analyze other dynamics that contribute to variety in sidewalk use.
 * Oppotunities**

__References__ Jacobs, Jane. //Death and Life of Great American Cities//. Random House, New York: 1992 Ed. Magazines Canada: //Spacing//. Winter/Spring 2007.
 * Resources**

//Slideshow foreign photo credits//: Kipling Heights Sprawl Photo: http://www.toronto.ca/archives/images/kiplingheights_sprawl.jpg U of T Plan Photo: [|http://www.urbanstrategies.com/index.php/campuses/university_of_toronto/] Union Square Plan Photo: http://www.urbanstrategies.com/index.php/land_development/residential/union_square/

Eaton's Centre Photo: http://www.flickr.com/photos/imran7567/244369494/

media type="custom" key="223419"**
 * Slideshow