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UrbanToronto returned to The Buildings Show<\/a> last week at the Metro Toronto Convention Centre, with a booth at the Toronto Real Estate Forum<\/a> on Wednesday and Thursday where we were happy to meet many of you, while also renewing acquaintances and catching up. On Friday we hosted a panel for the third consecutive year, giving an overview of UrbanToronto’s data offerings before bringing together municipal planning, development industry, and main street business perspectives for a look at Toronto’s avenues as the city transforms with ever more density replacing our traditional, independent retail-fronted, two-storey buildings.<\/p>\n UrbanToronto President Edward Skira opened with an introduction to UTPro<\/a>, outlining how its development data and mapping tools track applications across the dozens of municipalities of the Greater Golden Horseshoe area.<\/p>\n Following Skira’s presentation, UrbanToronto’s Managing Editor Craig White welcomed Emilia Floro, the City of Toronto\u2019s Director of Urban Design, John Kiru, CEO of the Toronto Association of Business Improvement Areas (BIAs), and Chris van de Water, Vice President of Development at\u00a0Fitzrovia Real Estate Inc. Floro spoke on the City of Toronto\u2019s urban design strategies to foster liveable and bustling districts of all type across the metropolis, especially as new regulations allow for taller, denser, and more diverse neighbourhoods of all types. Kiru, representing 85 BIAs and more than 90,000 main street businesses and property owners across the city, explained the role of Business Improvement Areas in keeping our main street shopping areas vital, and the challenges they face when new development disrupts established patterns. Van de Water expounded upon Fitzrovia’s work to foster opportunities for real communities to form and flourish within and around their developments.<\/p>\n The panelists then took questions from White and an enthusiastic audience, with a particular focus on what we can do to bring more affordable housing to the region. As the Greater Golden Horseshoe closes out one year and anticipates a new year of demand pressures and opportunities amongst changing economic conditions, the panel highlighted the value of clear data, strong design direction, and coordinated support for main streets and housing.<\/p>\n * * *<\/em><\/p>\n UrbanToronto’s research and data service,\u00a0<\/em>UTPro<\/em><\/a>, provides comprehensive data on construction projects in the Greater Golden Horseshoe\u2014from proposal through to completion. Other services include\u00a0<\/em>Instant Reports<\/em><\/a>, downloadable snapshots based on location, and a daily subscription newsletter,\u00a0<\/em>New Development Insider<\/em><\/a>, that tracks projects from initial application.\u200b<\/em><\/p>\n <\/imgx><\/imgx><\/imgx><\/div>\n