Tempo Toronto » Earth Tones

Our Precious Public Spaces

admin — Sun, 28 Nov 2010 17:07:49 +0000

Franchising of the GTA

by Chris Caldwell

Where there was once plenty of public space used avidly by friends, families and children to meet, commune and chat about anything under the sun, we have lost that to privatized copycat cafes. I grew up on the outskirts of Toronto. I remember, in the early 70s, walking regularly with my grandparents to the corner store and sitting in a parkette to enjoy a sandwich or a drink. It was an event.

These days that privilege costs some kind of usage fee – you have to buy something. You get an over-priced drink and a view of a parking lot or traffic-clogged arterial roadways through franchised windows.

Community character

Public spaces help define the character of a neighborhood. But now we meet in privatized space all the time, unaware that communications are constrained by the locale and potentially – as cameras are now being installed everywhere – under surveillance. The social aspects of meeting change as our public space diminishes.

Soon everything will be owned and we will have to buy something, anything, just to meet somewhere. Regardless, we won’t be able to chat with anyone as they are either all Wi-Fi connected to the Internet or on a cell phone.

Urban planning

Modern urban planning and design facilitates community social dynamics by ensuring there is enough public space. Libraries, parks, transit and sidewalks all qualify as public. How much is enough? Can there be too much?

If everything is given over to the developers and franchisees, only sidewalks will remain in public domain. Even then we have to compete with skateboarders and in-line skaters (because they have nowhere else to go), while we avoid tripping on coffee cups, plastic drinking bottles and other trash carelessly discarded by those that do not value our public spaces.

Historically, public spaces have been generators of great change. Revolution, protests and decision-making have found their roots in public space gatherings. Some of the most memorable moments occur where the population stands together to fight for what they believe. Take Tiananmen Square in China: the time a lone man stood in front of a tank and a vision that inspired the world. What about Central Park in New York, the best thing that could happen in a city?

Coffee houses on the 17th century in England that gave birth to The Times newspaper were one thing, but somehow I just don’t see public dealings happening inside a franchise. Granted, they make a good Cafe Americano, but they are too chic for passionate radicalism to develop (or perhaps it’s general apathy that prevents actionism).

Use it or lose it. Value your public spaces and use them for more than just relieving your dog. We can sustain these special places if we can get our cans off the comfy chairs at the franchise.

Chris Caldwell has a Masters degree in Environmental Studies, Sustainable and Strategic Urban Planning with a Graduate Diploma in Business and the Environment, from York University. He is passionate about community and sustainability. www.systain.ca

Toronto: vision to create a ‘delightful’ city

admin — Wed, 15 Sep 2010 15:35:19 +0000

by Chris Caldwell

Urban planning and public health are inter-related. As a planner, I strive to balance societal goals with that of the individual, however, there are some that are common to everyone.

A movement defined as ‘Active Living’ simply asks ‘how can I make my neighbourhood an enjoyable place to be?’. We must reflect and ask whether or not we are happy with our lives and the direction of our communities, if not, we must understand how to plan better to create a more enjoyable place to live and spend time.

Although we spend our lives trying to be happy, we overlook the importance that planning policy and transportation has on our daily outlook in life and on our basic psychology. This leaves two important questions:

1) What are we doing now in planning that is perpetuating negativity or unhappiness in our communities?

2) How can we improve planning for communities to be sustainably happy and healthy?

To understand recent modernist planning, we need to revisit the last few decades since the post-war boom.

Modern Planning

After the war, we entered the age of mass production and consumption

After the war, we turned the industrialized power of making mass weaponry into making mass consumer goods. Scale of costs went down and suddenly everyone was able to afford a home, a tv and a car – this was the rise of suburbia. The sense of empowerment and entitlement that came with consumerism allowed everyone to individualize, customize and change who they were by buying new clothes, a new car or whatever symbol may have been important to their status at that time. We became the brand that we bought into.

The ‘consumer’ ethic took greater hold when mass media took arms with the corporations to increase consumerism as a lifestyle and commercials and advertising appealed to our need to be popular and safe. We still see this today as it works quite well. However, we need to understand that consumerism as a mode of being in society affects how we build cities to accommodate. We wanted more things and more cars, well then, we also needed more roads, more highways and more shopping malls. So our modern cities grew with the desire of society to consume.

Age of Consumption

Media influence designed by corporations

Ed Bernays, author of Engineering Consent, drove the propaganda model that influenced a nation. He maintained that entire populations, which were undisciplined or lacking in intellectual or definite moral principles, were vulnerable to unconscious influence and thus susceptible to want things that they do not need. This was achieved by linking those products and ideas to their unconscious desires. This is how women smoking was made to be socially acceptable.

The combination of social influence and the ability to generate great wealth by using advertising created an economy that was now based on produce, consume and throw away.

Shortly after the end of the war, retailing analyst Victor Lebow expressed the solution: “Our enormously productive economy … demands that we make consumption our way of life, that we convert the buying and use of goods into rituals, that we seek our spiritual satisfaction, our ego satisfaction, in consumption…. we need things consumed, burned up, replaced, and discarded at an ever-accelerating rate.”.

So here we are today, an economy and now a society based on digging, cutting, burning, using and discarding resources in an extremely wasteful manner. We have replaced the social needs and life satisfaction provided for by family, friends and nature with the temporary satisfaction of shopping. It’s not so much that consumption is the problem , but the amount and type of harmful waste we produce in the process. But things are changing.

From Globalization back to Community

In recent years, the destructive qualities of the global capital economy have been closely monitored. Fisheries are on the verge of collapse. Humanity is now consuming more natural resources and producing more waste than the forests, fields and fisheries of the world can replace and absorb. The climate is changing. Business as usual is not an option.

Globalisation has brought many products and innovations to our communities but at a cost. The costs of pollution, air and water quality degradation, loss of biodiversity, industrial agriculture, all are externalized or ‘left out’ of the accounting process. Labour and production move at the whim of corporations to the cheapest and least regulated areas of the world (see China) to avoid social welfare or environmental protection to create cheaper goods. Global policy creates a ‘sameness’ in cities and communities (see Walmart).

With growing awareness for preserving culture and community identity, a new urbanism is sweeping the western nations. Great examples now flourish in various cities (Curitiba and rapid buses, Bogata and bike lanes, mixed usage development around North America). We recognize that physical solutions by themselves will not solve social and economic problems, but neither can economic vitality, community stability, and environmental health be sustained without a coherent and supportive physical framework.

Encouraging a new urbanism also means reforming planning to give neighbourhoods more ability to determine the shape of their communities, powers to help communities save local facilities and services, training a new generation of community organisers and supporting the creation of neighbourhood groups, supporting the creation and expansion of co-operatives and social enterprises, and using funds to establish a bank or credit union, which will provide new finance for neighbourhood groups, charities, social enterprises and other nongovernmental bodies.

Happiness Planning for Toronto

A new age for Toronto can begin with a change in political and social foresight. People know what they want but we need to have that expressed in our built environment and in how we approach planning for the future. We need to ask will the government be a partner in this and demand a say or will this be specifically a grassroots deliberative and democratic movement co-created by citizens themselves?

Development in Toronto has not been the result of community decisions – but commercial.

Communities have had to fight to have unfair planning decisions rescinded at great cost and effort and provoking NIMBYism (Not in my back yard). Now we have a chance to move forward with all the education and knowledge on how to build great communities based on how people want to live.

In a 2006 survey performed by Catherine O’Brian PhD. , respondents were asked to check a list of descriptors that apply to their delightful place. See if you recognize these in your own desires. The top ten were:
1) a pleasure to walk through, 2) peaceful, 3) beautiful, 4) appealing for children, 5) lots of visible green space, 6) appealing for youth, 7) appealing for seniors, welcoming, 9) natural, and 10) a pleasure to ride a bicycle through/in.

Some comments from the study:

“Create a walkable city (like Vancouver), and limit cars inside the perimeter. Include wide sidewalks, good transportation options, plant trees and flowers, good lighting for nighttime accessibility, create lots of little neighbourhood areas with all services needed within the neighbourhood. Create multiple-use buildings.”

“Provide more cycling/walking trails in other natural areas close to cities.”

“Governments would have to share this vision and listen to key stakeholders who want cities to be planned to incorporate bike paths, parks and wonderful meeting places along already existing waterways, etc.”

“It is a nature preserve and to re-create it, we must protect natural areas from
development.”

“A delightful place is an area/place you return to over and over and always leave with a smile and a sense of connecting with something bigger than you.”

“A place that makes you feel energized, calm, in tune with life and people.”

“A place where I can’t stop smiling.”

“An ability to return to this place in one’s mind and find an inner peace, even when one is many, many miles away.”

By employing the community in the planning and development process we can create complete neighbourhoods, walkable, bikable, clean, built to human scale with enough density and social behaviour to create a vibrant local economic centre to thrive.

Chris Caldwell has his Masters in Environmental Studies, Sustainable and Strategic Urban Planning from York University and a Graduate Diploma in Business and the Environment, from Schulich Business School. He is Ward 29 candidate for Toronto City Council in the 2010 Municipal Elections, and he is passionate about community and sustainability. www.caldwellforcouncil.ca

Ward 29 Community Rallies Over TTC

admin — Wed, 21 Jul 2010 13:54:01 +0000

Community Bonds Mean Everything

by Chris Caldwell

This is not about the questionable behaviour of the TTC suddenly dropping off notes to Toronto Ward 29 residents, telling them of plans to expropriate their houses. That has been covered adequately in the media in the past few weeks. This is about community, strong bonds, and being democratic.

In an age of transition, a settled family is a rarity and a valuable anchor for a community. Taking this iconic structure away from Toronto communities is like ripping a plant out by the roots – it will die.

The taking of one’s house by force, even with compensation, would be an emotional and trying ordeal for anyone. The taking of one’s home is another story. The years of emotional and social investment, the raising of children, the experiences that have become stories over time and the eyes and ears that have seen a community evolve over 50 years, become monetized in the purview of bureaucracy and expropriated in the name of ‘the code’.

There has been a positive to the ordeal. The community has rallied and come together to spread a message, one that screams “We live here and this is our neighbourhood!”. Someone who is not familiar with the community could see NIMBYism – ‘we don’t want blight in our backyard!’ (and who does?). But, in Toronto communities if something is for the greater good, we all consider compromise.

The devil is not in the TTC plans but in the approach and ethic, or lack thereof, that seems to plague an ever-centralizing government. This abrupt and inconsiderate letter delivery is a denouement for this Council which will hopefully write its final chapter this fall.

We clearly have a community that has risen to gather its intellectual and social capacity to produce an outstanding rebuttal that makes more sense than anything the TTC has put together in recent times. They should be very proud, and continue to draw on the energy to create a permanent change in a planning process to everyone’s benefit. In the spirit of Jane Jacobs, this community has shown us that antiquated policies will tear down our communities, if we let them.

Thank you Ward 29, and particularly Strathmore residents!

Chris Caldwell has his Masters in Environmental Studies, Sustainable and Strategic Urban Planning with a Graduate Diploma in Business and the Environment, from York University. He is Ward 29 candidate for Toronto City Council in the 2010 Municipal Elections, and he is passionate about community and sustainability. www.caldwellforcouncil.ca

Toronto Farmers’ Markets

admin — Mon, 28 Jun 2010 16:20:45 +0000

Farmers feed cities

by Chris Caldwell

Canada is as healthy as its food supply. If a city cannot produce enough food to feed itself, it has to rely on imports – it becomes a food security issue. Higher gas prices and processing costs force imported food to become more expensive. We could see less food on shelves, lower quality, or likely both.

Farmers markets have sprung up everywhere in North America. Here in Toronto we are among the most fortunate – there is a farmers market somewhere in Toronto and the GTA just about every day of the week during the warmer months – usually until October, anyway.

In North America, there is a revival of support for good food to the tune of $2 billion dollars a year. America is riddled with diabetes and obesity because of the fast food craze which has crept its way into Canada, but with the results of eating poorly becoming so apparent, the popularity of local farm fresh goods is on the rise. Even Ontario youth are getting involved.

The revival in good food has sparked interest in the revival of the rural way of life, which translates to a simpler and more environmentally-friendly method of living. It is encouraging to see our relationship with food, which has formerly been characterized by lack of known origin or clandestine handling techniques, getting back to a ‘from the field to your table’ culture. This is especially important for children who now grow up thinking food is plentiful and comes from a can or fancy packages. Check out the Junior Farmers web site at www.jfao.on.ca for more information.

Food miles also impact the planet. Studies have shown that to get food items to your table takes an average of 1,500 km of travel per item, which includes the packaging. Clearly this creates more pollution and increased requirements for food preservatives and complex packaging.

I trust good farmers with my life. I do not trust a food industry that treats our most valuable resource as a commodity, bar-codes it, sprays it, and packages it as if they are doing us a favour.

For more information on farmers markets in Ontario, visit www.farmersmarketsontario.com or support your nearest group for the best Ontario has to offer. To your health, and that of your children!

Earth Tones: ‘Glocalization’

admin — Sat, 15 May 2010 17:55:24 +0000

Close to home

by Chris Caldwell

For decades Canadians – like most Western nations – have been focused on economic growth and progress, whatever that may mean. For baby boomers especially, economic growth and progress are rogues, or perhaps phantoms, that prosper with the few. What I mean is progress is a matter of perspective.

The melding and homogeneity that globalization causes in local communities is almost complete in suburban areas, at least from my viewpoint. ‘Glocalization’ has replaced the distinction and values of separate communities. It offers the hollow shell of an efficient, homogenized yet monotonous lifestyle. It encourages consumerism to go unfettered.

When I lived in the suburbs for three years – in Vaughan – most of what I saw was rows of housing with blandly uninteresting streets that begged to be by-passed. I had no urge to walk around these so-called communities. As you approach the suburbs, on every main corner resides a chain drug store or equivalent as if to remind us that this type of development really does make us sick. Think on it a little, and you will realize that the locations of major grocery stores – at least those north of Eglinton - force us to drive great distances for every little amenity.

Our parents and grandparents used to walk to local stores, in the heart of their communities. Strip malls keep their distance from the sidewalk to beckon the multitude of over-sized vehicles with single drivers. We drive everywhere. We walk nowhere.

Born and raised in Toronto, I remember the joy of browsing family-owned shops by walking to them, by spending time chatting with the proprietor. Local store owners would know people’s names. It would be commonplace to drop in to say hello to the local butcher and ask about the best cut of meat to consider today. It is the fabric of relationships that binds a community together. It is in the knowing nods and smiles of the shopkeeps, and how they positively effect on our lives.

With all local distinction being eroded for this artificial promise of progress, everything franchised and all looking similar, there is no impetus to visit other towns or communities because they all look the same. Unless we mold progress for ourselves, it will be dictated to us in the form of modern economics with as little creativity and care as a balance sheet.

We strive to create a sense of identity within our own homes. We admire a distinct and cultural ambiance that surrounds us and our families with warmth and comfort, and yet we show little of this outside our front doors, on our suburban streets. We do not demand the same of the planners and developers who fail to seek enough of our input. I contest that we are losing our sense of place and with it, ourselves.