The Globe and Mail

Over a broader swatch of inner Hogtown than it officially occupies, the University of Toronto sets the architectural tone: dignified and serious in style, mid-rise in height, red brick and grey stone in material palette. Try to put up a really tall glass condominium tower anywhere along the fringe of the St. George campus, and you invite the wrath of just about everybody, from local citizens and the university itself right down to city hall. Spirited defence of the university's built legacy is a good thing. Keeping the margins of the campus forever free from high-density development, on the other hand, is probably as undesirable as it is impossible. The U of T campus abuts some of the most valuable residential and commercial real estate in Canada. Instead of trying to prohibit development along this margin, we should be thinking about how best the architectural transition between our improbably rural university and the big city all around it can be managed for the benefit of all.