Reverse Block Mall - Collectivization as Strategy Against Spatial Monopolization in Toronto
Bibliographic record
Abstract
Amidst an unprecedented pace of high-rise developments along Toronto’s main streets, the issue of homogenization of the urban environment has been approached mainly from the perspective of architectural design. Accordingly, various efforts to preserve and reinvigorate the streetscape have focused on aesthetical features such as attention to human-scale details, retention of historic facades, and variating of building massing to recreate a sense of diversity. Despite this effort, the ubiquity of run-of-the-mill glass towers and generic chain stores that inevitably occupy the ‘renewed’ streetscape attests to the ineffectiveness of this approach. \n \nThis thesis argues that the reliance on design-based solutions as a fix for homogenization is ineffective because it overlooks the underlying monopolization of ownership that occurs as part of the development process. The displacement of existing tenant and owner bodies, and the consolidation of properties homogenizes the range of self-expression and spatial platforms that provides the basis for design authenticity. Therefore, any effort to preserve and reinvigorate the streetscape must begin with an alternative strategy of development that is grounded on the preservation of existing range of buildings, lots, and establishments, and enhancement of economic viability of small-scale ownership as its pre-condition. \n \nThe proposed intervention begins by identifying restrictions embodied in urban form, design policy, and development process that degrade the economic and spatial performance of small-scale properties. To mitigate their impact, the collectivization of existing properties on a block of historic Yonge Street is proposed as a central strategy with several corollary outcomes: air-right development, activation of laneway space, and facilitation of internal spatial transactions. The sale of collective air-right enables a parallel process of densification to occur while creating synergies with the existing base-level properties. The earnings from the sale provide the basis for the activation of the rear- laneway and the commercial utilization of the building rear-faces, providing an extension of the public domain and increased autonomy for the tenants and owners. Finally, facilitation of self-guided spatial transactions between the tenants establishes iterative optimization and diversification of space which improves commercial performance and the range of self-expression. The culminating effect of these processes attempts to define a new development typology that not only precludes displacement, but forms an urban ‘place’ that is architecturally distinct, culturally rich, and economically viable.
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How this classification was reachedexpand
Full frame machine prediction
Teacher imitationNot calibrated prevalence, not ground truth. Human validation pending. The Gemma side is a direct model label for every work in the frame, read from the title-only record. The Codex side is a classifier learned from the 10,348 direct Codex labels and calibrated to design-weighted sample rates; fields without enough sample support carry no Codex call. Candidate is the union of the two sides; consensus is their intersection. These outputs are machine_predicted_unvalidated and are not human labels.
Distilled classifier scores by category (both heads)
| Category | Codex | Gemma |
|---|---|---|
| Metaresearch | 0.002 | 0.002 |
| Meta-epidemiology (narrow) | 0.000 | 0.000 |
| Meta-epidemiology (broad) | 0.000 | 0.000 |
| Bibliometrics | 0.001 | 0.001 |
| Science and technology studies | 0.013 | 0.016 |
| Scholarly communication | 0.005 | 0.002 |
| Open science | 0.001 | 0.006 |
| Research integrity | 0.001 | 0.001 |
| Insufficient payload (model declined to judge) | 0.006 | 0.000 |
Machine scores (provisional)
The two teacher heads of the student model, read on this work. A score orders the frame for review; it never asserts a category, and the validation status ships verbatim with every row.
Baseline scores from an immature model (maturity gate not passed, 7 training rounds). Scores rank; they never assert a category.
score_only:v0-immature-baseline · verbatim from the scoring run: score_only means the number may rank works, and no category label ships from itClassification
machine, unvalidatedMachine predicted; a candidate call from one source (direct Gemma or distilled Codex), not a consensus.
How this classification was reached, model by model and score by score, is at the end of the page under "How this classification was reached".