It’s hard to live in the city

When I’m not moonlighting as a millionaire-playboy transit enthusiast, I have a day job as a mild-mannered policy analyst.  Sometimes, however, my alter egos overlap and I find some pretty cool stuff.

I came across this research from the Institute for Clinical Evaluative Services when I attended a presentation by one of the authors, Dr. Richard Glazier.  The study utilizes a whole whack of data, ranging from Stats Can to City of Toronto GIS data.  It looks at diabetes prevalence across Toronto, and adds a whole bunch of fun map layers.

Most interesting is the links that are drawn between diabetes prevalence and how the urban form contributes to it.  The authors developed a measure termed the “Activity Friendly Index (AFI).”  Basically it combines a number of indicators (crime rates, income levels, car dependency, land use) which can be used to rate an area on how easy it is to be healthy.

The result? The lower the AFI score, the worse health problems an area will have.  Check out some of these maps.

[NOTE: All images from Glazier RH, Booth GL, Gozdyra P, Creatore MI, Tynan, M, editors. Neighbourhood Environments and Resources for Healthy Living—A Focus on Diabetes in Toronto: ICES Atlas. Toronto: Institute for Clinical Evaluative Sciences; 2007]

Here is what the diabetes rates in Toronto look like (click for larger version of all images):

Compare this to the socioeconomic status of neighbourhoods.  Notice any trends yet?

Note that dark = rich

Next let’s look at how people in these areas get around, first by TTC trips per person:

Daily TTC trips per person

And by walking or biking:

Trips by walking or bicycling

So if we are talking active transportation, it is clearly concentrated in the core of city and along subway lines.

And how hard is it for people with the highest rates of diabetes to access a park or get healthy food?  There’s a map for that:

Modeled walking time to a park

Modeled TTC commute time to healthy food

The urban form also plays an important role in maintaining health.  Check out this comparison of year of construction to auto dependency.  As development patterns shift towards car dependency post 1940’s, it’s fascinating (and scary) to tie it back to the previous maps:

Year of Construction

Average number of vehicles per household

And finally, the compiled AFI for Toronto:

Activity Friendly Index

So what’s the point of all these maps?  There are very clear correlations between the level of activity a person engages in and their rates of diabetes.  More importantly, there are a host of factors that contribute to how active a person can be, including the built environment, availability of mass transit, walkable neighbourhoods and access to affordable, healthy food.

Each one of these factors on their own is enough to cause significant changes in health; taken together you can see how they can change the health of hundreds of thousands of people.

A Weekend of Canadian Music

I had a full plate of Canadian music this weekend in Toronto.  Friday night I was lucky enough to check out my second Rural Alberta Advantage show, and Saturday I was able to see Gordon Lightfoot in concert for the first time.

It was nice seeing both bands within 24 hours of each other.  Despite over 50 years of seperation between RAA and Gordie, the common themes of Canadian place and identity were present in both concerts:  “Alberta Bound” and  “Canadian Railroad Trilogy” for Gordie and “The Ballad of the RAA” and “Frank, AB” for RAA.

I’m no music critic, but I can tell you that I enjoyed both shows.  The RAA show Friday was at Lee’s Palace and was jammed.  The band seemed a little surprised at the crowd and people were lining up out the door to listen.  It was a hot, sweaty mess and I enjoyed it all.  But the best part of the evening came after the show.  As you can see below, I totally scored a photo op with Amy Cole (vocals, keys, percussion).  However, if it was up to me I would have just stared wistfully as she walked by.  Luckily, my good friend RB chased her down and forced her to stand next to a overly geeked and sweaty me.

The single greatest moment in my life (next to meeting my wife)

Sorry for the crappy crop, there was a cowboy hat in every freakin' shot

Saturday night brought me, my wife and family to Massey Hall.  This was the first time I’d been there.  Knee breaking small seats notwithstanding, it’s a beautiful venue and a perfect space to check a Canadian music legend.  I’d been warned that his voice was really starting to show its age, and in a couple spots I could tell, especially during “If You Could Read My Mind.”  That said, it IS Gordon Lightfoot, after all, so he still brought it.  “Sundown” was especially strong and my personal favourite from the night.  Well, that and his kick-ass red velvet jacket he wore for the first set.  I would totally rock that if I could.

I need that jacket.

2nd act and still going strong.

So a terrific weekend for music, and just one more reason I love living where I do.  Now if I could just get Amy Cole and my wife onto polygamy…

Toronto has design lessons to teach?

Don’t you just love when you come up with a timely post that is validated by someone else?

Benjamin Forgey (all the smart people are named Ben) had a nice piece in the Washington Business Journal recounting his recent visit to Toronto and his impressions of the AGO, ROM and OCAD, and what lessons Washington D.C. planners can take.

His take on the AGO is especially nice, and sums up what I tried to express in my previous post by saying the AGO makes me “happy”.  He just does it a bit more elegantly.

Check out the article here, it’s worth a read.

Thanks go to Urban Toronto contributor yyzer for the tip.

Architecture and Anger

Interesting piece from Christopher Hume yesterday examining Alain de Botton’s new book The Architecture of Happiness.  The basic idea is that architecture has the power to influence our emotions positively or negatively (or in Toronto’s case, not at all).  De Botton points to the shift towards modernism in the 20th century, the advent of the automobile, and the decline of female influences in architecture as examples of where missteps occurred.

The result? Architects who engage in “endless ‘professional posturing’ and the absence of beauty as a goal of architecture.”  We are left with architecture that rarely makes our spirits soar, often angers us and typically leaves us unimpressed.  Think of your typical reaction to this scenario: a mid-rise historical skyscraper is slated for demolition; the replacement, a towering glass cube bereft of character, architectural details and, yes, emotion.  I tend to experience equal amounts of despair and resignation when this scene plays out, as it does many times in a city such as Toronto.

MyTTC does what theirTTC can’t

Transit users in Toronto have been lamenting for years over the lack of a coherent trip planner on the TTCs God awful website.  A recent beta release of the TTCs new and improved website only hinted at a trip planner in the works, and even that reference appears to have been removed (oh, and FYI, TTC website guys, the new site looks better than the old site – which is akin to saying dirt tastes great compared to feces.)

So, what is a poor, confused transit rider to do?  Why, go to MyTTC and get your route mapped for you there.  MyTTC was developed by a couple of transitphiles who were, like most transit riders, tired of waiting around for the TTC to get their act together.  So, after hours spent organizing the mess of transit data into something coherent, the developers produced a little gem of a trip planner.

As the developers note, this is a work in progress and they stress that they need users to help them make it better.  When I mapped a route yesterday from my house to one of my favorite bars I noticed that it had you walking a little further and taking a bus you didn’t really need to take when leaving my place.  So, like a good user I sent some feedback and lo and behold, Kieran, one of the developers, had gotten back to me last night and said that they were still adjusting the weight given to walking and that it might be a bit high.  Now that’s service.

So, for those of you in the GTA, use MyTTC, provide feedback, support great homegrown work!

Much delayed Toronto subway extension a go

It appears that the federal government has finally gotten their house in order and is getting much needed funding to the Province of Ontario after 2 years of stalling by the Harper government. The feds are chipping in their $697-million share of the $2-billion dollar Spadina subway extension, according to the Toronto Star.

Any subway extension is good news in my book (even the poorly conceived and pointless Sheppard line, but barely), but this stretch is especially important to Toronto. Take a look at the proposed extension below (for the full view, check out my subway map here):

Image courtesy of Spadina Subway Extension Project

Oh baby!

You know what really tweaks my nipples?  Babies…more specifically, babies with parents who feel that somehow their decision to reproduce makes them entitled to special treatment anywhere they go.

I have saved a special space in my to-be-built-dungeon for these uber-lazy parents.  You know, the ones who push little Mercedes or Trevor around in one of those enormous tanks disguised as a stroller.  I see them on the subway during rush hour, taking up the space of 5 people, I see them in narrow groceries stores, I see them forcing people off the side walk…and the worst part of the deal, there’s always a baby inside them, pooping and peeing and generally carrying on.  It seems lazy to me…not only are you forcing your spawn upon everyone, but you’re taking up precious urban space while doing it and making sure your kids starts out life in a fat promoting position, preparing it for a life of obesity.

From the “Dumbshit” File

Just a little absurdity to lighten your day. It seems some residents of Toronto’s Parkdale neighbourhood are up in arms because a city work crew began tearing up grass yesterday at a local park to build…

Here are some options to choose from. Which are the protesters upset over?

A) A nuclear waste storage facility

B) Cap’n ‘Splosion’s Terrorist Training Camp

C) A Wal Mart

D) Krazy Bob’s Handgun n’ Rocket Launcher Emporium

E) A swing set

So, clearly, A – D are worth raising a stink over, but if you guessed E you’d be correct!

A handful of residents organized a flash protest when a city crew peeled back some grass to begin installing a swing set at the park. A SWING SET. According to local residents Robert Arnold and Peter Manek, swing sets equal crime magnets:

The swings would take up the last bit of open green space, said Arnold and Manek, who argued it would offer criminals an excuse to hang around the area and engage in drug deals.

Yes, I can see it now:

Thug 1: “Hey, can you give me a push on this swing before I go sling my crack?”

Thug 2: “Okay, but be careful, I don’t want you going too high!”

What do you do with something like this but mock? Anyway, check out the full story here.