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Michèle Champagne @michhham.bsky.social · 10h

Vélo Québec knows what it’s doing.

Montreal has new approach to help make busy intersections safer

YouTube video by CBC News Quebec

www.youtube.com

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Michèle Champagne @michhham.bsky.social · 11h

This thoughtful documentary by @artefr.bsky.social documents the first wave from the first term:

Spain: Fleeing Trump's America | ARTE.tv Documentary

YouTube video by ARTE.tv Documentary

www.youtube.com

Michèle Champagne @michhham.bsky.social · 11h

Media criticism is valid. But my queries are for the “smartest people” on immigration who didn’t see this coming. I expected this in the first term. And I’m not alone. I know families and couples who left the States—for Canada, for Holland, for Spain—because they saw this coming too.

Jacob T. Levy @jacobtlevy.bsky.social · 15h

One of the favorite Bluesky games is bashing the framing offered in NY headlines, but this one is admirably direct.

www.nytimes.com/2025/10/15/u...

Trump Considers Overhaul of Refugee System That Would Favor White People

www.nytimes.com

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Michèle Champagne @michhham.bsky.social · 15h

L’exposition «Le livre photographique au Québec» est présentée à Artexte jusqu'au 13 décembre.

artexte.ca/exposition/l...

Michèle Champagne @michhham.bsky.social · 15h

And from Designlines this summer, in July 2025:

Two Projects Transform Overlooked Laneways into Design-Forward Housing

Lanescape Architecture uses a precise typology to transform overlooked laneways in the city to design-forward housing.

www.designlinesmagazine.com

Michèle Champagne @michhham.bsky.social · 15h

Some garden suites and laneway homes are gorgeous, and I wouldn’t be against living in one. But regardless, suites are bizarrely overly-celebrated as solutions to urban density and the affordable housing crisis when: They are not.

Also from Azure in December 2022:

A Toronto Laneway House Perfectly Fits a Family of Five

Fit for a family of five, this red-brick gem of a laneway house by Williamson Williamson in Toronto boldly reimagines the typology.

www.azuremagazine.com

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Michèle Champagne @michhham.bsky.social · 15h

Design and architecture magazines played a part in overly-celebrating garden suites. Naama Blonder is right: Suites are interesting private family builds or garage reuse. But they’re not “fresh approaches to urban density”, don’t take a “bite out of our affordability housing needs”.

Azure in 2022:

Cultivating a New Housing Typology in Toronto Backyards

Craig Race, François Abbott, Naama Blonder and David Driedger discuss how Toronto's new garden suite bylaw could help the housing market.

www.azuremagazine.com

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Michèle Champagne @michhham.bsky.social · 15h

Garden suites are bizarrely overly-celebrated in Canada. We hear about Ana Bailão, Build Canada Homes’ new chief executive, as being “progressive” because—some claim—she got garden suites and laneway homes approved in Toronto. In Montreal, participants of a design workshop I’m in also love suites.

Cara Stern @carastern.bsky.social · 20h

Toronto's garden suite reforms have only produced 143 units since 2022. It's mind-blowing, considering the city's housing crisis, and it's time to fight back. @meredithmartin.bsky.social would like to see some housing advocates attend the council meeting on Oct. 22 to fight for progress.

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Reposted by Michèle Champagne

Alex Bozikovic @alexbozikovic.bsky.social · 16h

Endless obfuscation and moving of goalposts. Credit to @mikepmoffatt.bsky.social and co for keeping an eye on this.

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Reposted by Michèle Champagne

Alex Bozikovic @alexbozikovic.bsky.social · 16h

1) Toronto was going to use development charges to fund a project that was critical for existing residents
2) Now the feds are putting in money as a reward for Toronto reducing DCs, which they didn't actually do

Dr. Mike P. Moffatt @mikepmoffatt.bsky.social · 1d

Yesterday, the announcement was this: "Upgrading Toronto’s Black Creek sewer infrastructure to catalyse the construction of 63,000 new homes. Through [CHIF], the federal government will provide up to $283 million to expand capacity in Toronto’s Black Creek sewer system."

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Reposted by Michèle Champagne

Alex Bozikovic @alexbozikovic.bsky.social · 16h

After Google, Toronto moves ahead with a bold new neighbourhood. My column: www.theglobeandmail.com/culture/art-...

Waterfront Toronto goes big on housing and urban design with new development

Toronto City Council approved a plan that will deliver 1,100 market-rental apartments and 550 affordable units

www.theglobeandmail.com

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Michèle Champagne @michhham.bsky.social · 16h

As a graphic art and comms consultant for colleagues in policy circles, art galleries, and architecture firms, my reco is to: Stop investing in Meta properties. If they insist because “that’s where people are”, I recommend they go “Meta light” and invest as little as possible.

Yet another reason:

Noah Shachtman @noahshachtman.bsky.social · 17h

Interesting from @kylewilsontharp.bsky.social: neither the Zohran Mamdani nor the Andrew Cuomo campaign has "spent a single dollar on Facebook or Instagram advertising in the past three months."

chaoticera.news/p/youtube-is-eating-cable-news

Youtube is eating cable news

The video platform’s biggest political voices are increasingly appearing on TV as cable bookers look to reach younger audiences

chaoticera.news

Reposted by Michèle Champagne

Ron Deibert @rondeibert.bsky.social · 19h

All gas, no brakes

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Michèle Champagne @michhham.bsky.social · 20h

No surprise: the so-called pivot from “give us all your data” because app-based learning and mental health are important to “give us all your data” because, well, we need to maintain an investor bubble so here is TikTok with deepfakes (Sora) and bot porn (ChatGPT).

OpenAI has five years to turn $13 billion into $1 trillion | TechCrunch

Some of America's most valuable companies are now leaning on OpenAI to fulfill major contracts, notes the FT.

techcrunch.com

Michèle Champagne @michhham.bsky.social · 21h

J'ai supprimé l'appli de @ledevoir.com de mon portable. Il y a une publicité qui bloque son lancement, le nouveau corps du texte est illisible – la police Lyon a été abandonnée – et il n'y a pas de fonction de recherche.

Quel dommage !

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Michèle Champagne @michhham.bsky.social · 1d

Les œuvres à surveiller.

Sur les planches

À surveiller à L’Illusion, au théâtre Outremont, au Centaur, au Périscope et à La Risée.

www.ledevoir.com

Michèle Champagne @michhham.bsky.social · 1d

À la Fondation Grantham.

Une exposition entre microcosme et macrocosme

Catherine Bédard présente une exposition où le monde se révèle un labyrinthe de liens entre des milieux en apparence lointains.

www.ledevoir.com

Reposted by Michèle Champagne

☠️mawls slaughter☠️ @oddletters.bsky.social · 1d

i published this in the post-sidewalk period that might be relevant as well reallifemag.com/seeing-witho...

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Michèle Champagne @michhham.bsky.social · 1d

For example, @oddletters.bsky.social's writing and talk at the @ccaconversations.bsky.social are already on our list.

What Can You Do With The "Smart" City? With Molly Sauter

YouTube video by CCAchannel

www.youtube.com

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Michèle Champagne @michhham.bsky.social · 1d

I’m working to fix this with @sarahkmoser.bsky.social at @mcgill.ca. An academic paper is in the works.

If you’ve written an essay, paper, or spoken publicly about the coalition, write to: [email protected]. You may already be on our reading list, but you never know.

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Michèle Champagne @michhham.bsky.social · 1d

The Block Sidewalk coalition played a key part the cancellation of Sidewalk’s “smart” city in Toronto, along with other vectors like bad public procurement, whack policy, wild PR, and the pandemic.

Since then, the coalition has received minor mention in academic journals, books, and theatre plays.

Michèle Champagne @michhham.bsky.social · 1d

I’m re-reading this from 2019:

#BlockSidewalk’s War Against Google in Canada

The tech company wants to rebuild a Toronto neighborhood—but residents aren’t having it.

www.thenation.com

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Michèle Champagne @michhham.bsky.social · 1d

I’m re-reading this from 2019:

#BlockSidewalk’s War Against Google in Canada

The tech company wants to rebuild a Toronto neighborhood—but residents aren’t having it.

www.thenation.com

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Michèle Champagne @michhham.bsky.social · 1d

Toronto’s Quayside after Sidewalk Labs. From The Globe’s architecture critic, @alexbozikovic.bsky.social:

Waterfront Toronto goes big on housing and urban design with new development

Toronto City Council approved a plan that will deliver 1,100 market-rental apartments and 550 affordable units

www.theglobeandmail.com

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Michèle Champagne @michhham.bsky.social · 2d

Something to remember in the framing of “urban innovation” tales. Political choices matter:

Brian F. Kelcey @stateofthecity.bsky.social · 3d

24/ And stop pretending tech is a magic wand. Bixi had good bikes & tech, but they only became great with the right service model. Given relative risks v benefits, the City decided it was its job to *spawn* a bikeshare rather than to 'own' it. Given the limits of local govt, this choice mattered.

Michèle Champagne @michhham.bsky.social · 2d

I’m thankful for Bixi in @villedemontreal.montreal.ca and for rapid backgrounds like these:

Brian F. Kelcey @stateofthecity.bsky.social · 3d

Praise for Montreal's bike-share system, from TIME. Worth a holiday thread on a couple of operational + political aspects of Bixi's history that are intriguingly left unsaid.

Cult MTL @cultmtl.com · 3d

“Montreal revolutionized the bicycle-sharing trend. The tech behind BIXI became the backbone for bike-sharing programs in London, New York, Chicago and dozens of other places, turning two wheels into a genuine option for navigating cities.”

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