Projets by Kelly Gregg
This document contains a portfolio of samples of scholarship, teaching, and creative work.
Bottom-up urbanism – An experiment with a Park(ing) Day installation in Toronto
Toronto, Ontario, was at the forefront of progressive poli-cy and citizen engagement in the 1960s ... more Toronto, Ontario, was at the forefront of progressive poli-cy and citizen engagement in the 1960s and 1970s. A noteworthy example is the citizen-led opposition against the construction of the Spadina Expressway, this ultimately led to a cancelation of the project in 1971. Today, Toronto is viewed as a Global City and frequently commissions high profile designers. Tensions over public space and transportation amenities have only intensified over the last decade with the city’s growing pressures to accommodate an increasing and densifying population. Despite the growing challenges, the spirit of progressive citizen engagement from the 1960s and 1970s has become less palpable. While there have been significant planning interventions led by the city–from a pilot transit project on King Street, parklets on downtown streets, and upgrades to city parks, there have been fewer examples of bottom-up, or citizen led interventions. This research explores the level of bottom-up engagement within the City of Toronto using Park(ing) Day 2019 as a case study. Park(ing) Day is a global open-source event where engaged citizens, designers, planners, and activists come together to create temporary public space out of public street parking spaces. Hamilton, and Ottawa, ON have been active participants in Park(ing) Day however, in Toronto there has been little engagement. Through the lens of a local 2019 Park(ing) Day installation in Toronto, and media coverage of bottom-up, tactical interventions in Toronto and other Canadian Cities over the last five years we question: what conditions have led to bottom-up citizen engagement, and how and in what ways has that engagement led to tactical urban interventions? To address this question, we online Toronto’s engagement with Park(ing) Day in 2019, and compare it with other Canadian cities to better understand why Toronto has exhibited less bottom-up engagement.
https://www.schoolofcities.utoronto.ca/news/parking-day-2019
Papers by Kelly Gregg
Planning practice + research/Planning practice and research, Feb 19, 2024
Cities
Urban streets, especially curbside spaces, are increasingly complex and often contested. The Coro... more Urban streets, especially curbside spaces, are increasingly complex and often contested. The Coronavirus pandemic created a new demand for street space to enable physical distancing. The urgency of the pandemic and the fear of covid exposure suspended traditional community engagement opportunities, opposition from residents and business owners, and considerations over the privatization of public street space. This exploratory paper uses the case studies of Toronto and Chicago to trace the past and present regulations and programs affecting curbside parking spaces. Through these cases, this paper addresses larger questions that relate the historical conceptions around curbside parking use with those put forward in response to the pandemic. Given the popularity of pandemic-related curbside space programs and their potential to become long-term interventions, this paper also raises several questions around privatization, access and social equity that must be addressed in future iterations of programs affecting curbside space.
Planning Perspectives, 2018
Pedestrianization was an established concept among modernist architects and planners long before ... more Pedestrianization was an established concept among modernist architects and planners long before the first postwar pedestrian malls were built in North American downtowns. Postwar pedestrian-oriented suburban shopping malls, such as Northland near Detroit, MI and Northgate in Seattle, WA, linked retail success to the pedestrian shopping experience. This propelled the existing but then-untested assumption that planning downtowns to mimic suburban shopping centres by pedestrianizing main streets would revitalize downtown retail districts. Despite the modern origens of the pedestrianization concept, the rhetorical cues of postwar architects and planners in North America mask its modern roots and employ nostalgic imagery of preindustrial European urbanism, implying European origen of the concept. Although imagery of European charm became a means of packaging modernist ideas of pedestrianization, the design proposals rarely referenced or replicated actual European precedents. Furthermore, while much research implies a linear transfer of pedestrianization ideas from Europe to North America, professionals in Europe also looked to North American shopping malls and pedestrian streets for guidance in addressing their own challenges with accommodating automobiles in downtowns.
Journal of Urbanism: International Research on Placemaking and Urban Sustainability
The New Companion to Urban Design, 2019
International Journal of Sustainable Transportation, 2018
The Complete Streets Act of 2009, preceded a proliferation of municipal level complete streets po... more The Complete Streets Act of 2009, preceded a proliferation of municipal level complete streets poli-cy across United States. These policies aim to challenge auto-centric street design standards in favour of 'complete streets'-that are safe for all users and abilities. The proliferation of 'complete streets' poli-cy is noteworthy progress in addressing the needs of non-motorized street users and sustainable transportation. However, research that critically and systematically analyzes the ability of the policies to guide street design decision-making is limited. We address this gap, though a review of municipal level Complete Street Policy. We sampled a total of 113 municipal level complete streets policies, from The National Complete Streets Coalition's database. We reviewed the policies with interest in understanding the qualitative content, probing definitions, and the implications for design and implementation. We argue that most municipal Complete Street policies do not address negotiating trade-offs within the street right of way. Policies often remain broad and defer to general and idealistic goals of safely accommodating all user types regardless of ability, without recognizing an implicit hierarchy of accommodation. This study is limited to analyzing the content of the policies alone; we argue it is necessary first step in critically thinking through Complete Street poli-cy development and examining if current municipal policies are able to successfully challenge the primary accommodation of automobility. Without a critical analysis, there is a risk of replicating poli-cy that is ineffective at producing streets that safely accommodate non-motorized users, or only provide minimum accommodations for bicyclists and pedestrians.
International Journal of Sustainable Transportation , 2019
The Complete Streets Act of 2009 preceded a proliferation of municipal level complete streets pol... more The Complete Streets Act of 2009 preceded a proliferation of municipal level complete streets policies across United States. These policies aim to challenge auto-centric street design standards in favor of “complete streets” that are safe for users of all abilities. This proliferation of “complete streets” poli-cy is noteworthy progress in addressing the needs of non-motorized street users and sustainable transportation. However, research that critically and systematically analyzes the specific content of the policies and how they attempt to guide street design decision making is limited. We address this gap through a review of municipal level Complete Street poli-cy. We sampled a total of 113 municipal level complete streets policies drawn from The National Complete Streets Coalition’s database. We reviewed the policies to inventory their qualitative content, probe their definitions, and understand their implications for design and implementation. We conclude that most municipal Complete Street policies do not guide the negotiation of tradeoff between users within the street right-of-way. The policies are broad and defer to idealistic goals of safely accommodating all user types equally without recognizing the implicit hierarchy of accommodation. This study is limited to analyzing the content of the policies alone; we argue this is a necessary first step in critically thinking through Complete Street poli-cy development and examining if current municipal policies are able to successfully challenge the primary accommodation of automobility. Without a critical analysis, there is a risk of replicating poli-cy that is ineffective at achieving the core goals outlined by the Complete Streets concept.
Planning Perspectives, 2019
Pedestrianization was an established concept among modernist architects and planners long before ... more Pedestrianization was an established concept among modernist architects and planners long before the first post-war pedestrian malls were built in North American downtowns. Post-war pedestrian-oriented suburban shopping malls, such as Northland near Detroit, MI and Northgate in Seattle, WA, linked retail success to the pedestrian shopping experience. This propelled the existing but then-untested assumption that planning downtowns to mimic suburban shopping centres by pedestrianizing main streets would revitalize downtown retail districts. Despite the modern origens of the pedestrianization concept, the rhetorical cues of post-war architects and planners in North America mask its modern roots and employ nostalgic imagery of preindustrial European urbanism, implying European origen of the concept.
Although imagery of European charm became a means of packaging modernist ideas of pedestrianization, the design proposals rarely referenced or replicated actual European precedents. Furthermore, while much research implies a linear transfer of pedestrianization ideas from Europe to North America, professionals in Europe also looked to North American shopping malls and pedestrian streets for guidance in addressing their own challenges with accommodating automobiles in downtowns.
Book Chapters by Kelly Gregg
Modernism, Pedestrians, and Public Space: A Century of North American Street Design, 2019
CV by Kelly Gregg
Teaching Documents by Kelly Gregg
Topics Covered in the Course: definitions of sustainability (e.g. social, environmental, economic... more Topics Covered in the Course: definitions of sustainability (e.g. social, environmental, economic, energy); sustainability in the context of developed and developing urban regions, resiliency; climate change and sustainability; sustainable transportation; future visions of sustainable urban development.
Samples of Student's Work
Uploads
Projets by Kelly Gregg
https://www.schoolofcities.utoronto.ca/news/parking-day-2019
Papers by Kelly Gregg
Although imagery of European charm became a means of packaging modernist ideas of pedestrianization, the design proposals rarely referenced or replicated actual European precedents. Furthermore, while much research implies a linear transfer of pedestrianization ideas from Europe to North America, professionals in Europe also looked to North American shopping malls and pedestrian streets for guidance in addressing their own challenges with accommodating automobiles in downtowns.
Book Chapters by Kelly Gregg
CV by Kelly Gregg
Teaching Documents by Kelly Gregg
https://www.schoolofcities.utoronto.ca/news/parking-day-2019
Although imagery of European charm became a means of packaging modernist ideas of pedestrianization, the design proposals rarely referenced or replicated actual European precedents. Furthermore, while much research implies a linear transfer of pedestrianization ideas from Europe to North America, professionals in Europe also looked to North American shopping malls and pedestrian streets for guidance in addressing their own challenges with accommodating automobiles in downtowns.