Robert WJ
@robertwalterj.bsky.social
Urban planner. Toronto.
Housing, history, and community — always on my mind.
Walking places, writing lots.
Housing, history, and community — always on my mind.
Walking places, writing lots.
Working on my laptop and sat in front of the TV this aft watching the Canadian budget announcement. Hopeful for something that signals a clear way forward for affordable housing in Canada.. Happy to have seen the feds step forward into a federal role in housing but oh boy there's a lot to be done...
November 4, 2025 at 8:46 PM
Working on my laptop and sat in front of the TV this aft watching the Canadian budget announcement. Hopeful for something that signals a clear way forward for affordable housing in Canada.. Happy to have seen the feds step forward into a federal role in housing but oh boy there's a lot to be done...
Game 4 of the World Series + Public Meeting. This community has got its priorities in order. Go Jays! ⚾️
October 29, 2025 at 3:40 AM
Game 4 of the World Series + Public Meeting. This community has got its priorities in order. Go Jays! ⚾️
Regent Park has evolved beyond the plan. It’s what Richard Sennett calls an open form: something that is intended to change through use and care, shaped by the people who live there. That is the lesson, plan to build frameworks that let residents keep making the place their own.
October 26, 2025 at 12:37 AM
Regent Park has evolved beyond the plan. It’s what Richard Sennett calls an open form: something that is intended to change through use and care, shaped by the people who live there. That is the lesson, plan to build frameworks that let residents keep making the place their own.
That early work evolved into a collaborative process of imagining a community involving residents, community ambassadors and kitchen table conversations, the attentive ear of a great local councillor Pam Mcconnell, the patient and persistent leadership of Derek Ballentyne and Mitchell Cohen.
October 26, 2025 at 12:37 AM
That early work evolved into a collaborative process of imagining a community involving residents, community ambassadors and kitchen table conversations, the attentive ear of a great local councillor Pam Mcconnell, the patient and persistent leadership of Derek Ballentyne and Mitchell Cohen.
His team produced the initial study that validated feasibility and mapped the opportunity, showing how to repair and re-imagine a Regent Park connected to the city when the new Toronto Community Housing Corporation little resources.
October 26, 2025 at 12:37 AM
His team produced the initial study that validated feasibility and mapped the opportunity, showing how to repair and re-imagine a Regent Park connected to the city when the new Toronto Community Housing Corporation little resources.
John was part of the team that answered the RFP for Regent Park’s renewal after the City took over housing from the Province in the late 1990s, when repair backlogs were massive and both provincial and federal support had disappeared.
October 26, 2025 at 12:37 AM
John was part of the team that answered the RFP for Regent Park’s renewal after the City took over housing from the Province in the late 1990s, when repair backlogs were massive and both provincial and federal support had disappeared.
Our team took a walking tour of Regent Park with our founder John Gladki, who helped shape its revitalization in the early 2000s. The walk became a reflection on our firm’s history and one of the city’s most important projects since St. Lawrence.
October 26, 2025 at 12:37 AM
Our team took a walking tour of Regent Park with our founder John Gladki, who helped shape its revitalization in the early 2000s. The walk became a reflection on our firm’s history and one of the city’s most important projects since St. Lawrence.
October 14, 2025 at 9:39 AM
Navigating the suburban expanse.
October 10, 2025 at 3:24 AM
Navigating the suburban expanse.
Have you ever read one of those development application signs?
I wrote a quick guide to help you decode the jargon, understand the process, and participate in shaping your community.
Hope it's a useful resource.
open.substack.com/pub/citystep...
#Toronto #CommunityEngagement #ReadingTheCity
I wrote a quick guide to help you decode the jargon, understand the process, and participate in shaping your community.
Hope it's a useful resource.
open.substack.com/pub/citystep...
#Toronto #CommunityEngagement #ReadingTheCity
October 9, 2025 at 5:38 PM
Have you ever read one of those development application signs?
I wrote a quick guide to help you decode the jargon, understand the process, and participate in shaping your community.
Hope it's a useful resource.
open.substack.com/pub/citystep...
#Toronto #CommunityEngagement #ReadingTheCity
I wrote a quick guide to help you decode the jargon, understand the process, and participate in shaping your community.
Hope it's a useful resource.
open.substack.com/pub/citystep...
#Toronto #CommunityEngagement #ReadingTheCity
Walking past the pool at High Park today reminded me a little of Vesturbæjarlaug.
October 6, 2025 at 7:24 PM
Walking past the pool at High Park today reminded me a little of Vesturbæjarlaug.
That feeling carries across the city, and the same thing applies in neighbourhoods. From the quality of public space around the historic pond at City Hall to the beauty of Harpa and Olafur Eliasson's design. Many things are simply beautiful and accessible on both a grand and a neighbourhood scale.
October 6, 2025 at 7:24 PM
That feeling carries across the city, and the same thing applies in neighbourhoods. From the quality of public space around the historic pond at City Hall to the beauty of Harpa and Olafur Eliasson's design. Many things are simply beautiful and accessible on both a grand and a neighbourhood scale.
When I visited Reykjavik a friend gave me the grand tour of the city region and we stopped at the public pool at Vesturbæjarlaug. Since then I have been taken, and forever admiring of Iceland’s public works, their simplicity, their attention to detail, and the universal accessibility of good design.
October 6, 2025 at 7:16 PM
When I visited Reykjavik a friend gave me the grand tour of the city region and we stopped at the public pool at Vesturbæjarlaug. Since then I have been taken, and forever admiring of Iceland’s public works, their simplicity, their attention to detail, and the universal accessibility of good design.
This podium-tower thing is a very Toronto approach to a curve but I was happy to see it back when it was under construction in 2023.
There's a lot to invite you in and give the sense that there is life off of upper Cherry Street.
There's a lot to invite you in and give the sense that there is life off of upper Cherry Street.
October 5, 2025 at 2:29 AM
This podium-tower thing is a very Toronto approach to a curve but I was happy to see it back when it was under construction in 2023.
There's a lot to invite you in and give the sense that there is life off of upper Cherry Street.
There's a lot to invite you in and give the sense that there is life off of upper Cherry Street.
I’ve been thinking a lot about how buildings approach corners and I’ve been going through my photo roll. This shot from Smithfield in Dublin shows a curved gateway, a little motion and progression in the city’s order, leading into a redevelopment.
October 5, 2025 at 2:15 AM
I’ve been thinking a lot about how buildings approach corners and I’ve been going through my photo roll. This shot from Smithfield in Dublin shows a curved gateway, a little motion and progression in the city’s order, leading into a redevelopment.
Looking up Dalhousie from Queen, I’m reminded how Toronto designs for the main frontage while side streets lose vitality. 88 Queen turns the corner well. Do our active “Avenues” and designated “Neighbourhood” side streets end up sterilizing the side facades? Do most building flankages feel vacant?
October 5, 2025 at 12:51 AM
Looking up Dalhousie from Queen, I’m reminded how Toronto designs for the main frontage while side streets lose vitality. 88 Queen turns the corner well. Do our active “Avenues” and designated “Neighbourhood” side streets end up sterilizing the side facades? Do most building flankages feel vacant?
I got into a convo with a friend from planning school, and it sparked a thought…
What if we looked at suburbs not as a single typology but as a reflection of the diverse ways people choose to live?
There’s many ways of living in the suburbs.
citysteps.substack.com/p/your-subur...
What if we looked at suburbs not as a single typology but as a reflection of the diverse ways people choose to live?
There’s many ways of living in the suburbs.
citysteps.substack.com/p/your-subur...
March 17, 2025 at 6:02 PM
I got into a convo with a friend from planning school, and it sparked a thought…
What if we looked at suburbs not as a single typology but as a reflection of the diverse ways people choose to live?
There’s many ways of living in the suburbs.
citysteps.substack.com/p/your-subur...
What if we looked at suburbs not as a single typology but as a reflection of the diverse ways people choose to live?
There’s many ways of living in the suburbs.
citysteps.substack.com/p/your-subur...