Has Toronto lost its way? That's been the word on the street, and pretty much everywhere else, since Mayor Ford took office a little less than a year ago.
But as colourful as his first 11 months have been, it's a bit disingenuous to lay all the city's woes at his feet. In this month's issue of The Walrus, John Lorinc has written
a detailed piece on the roots of T-dot's troubles. Beginning in the early 1970s, Lorinc tells a story of dysfunctional municipal/provincial relationships and “race-to-the-bottom” competitions between municipalities in the GTA. Above all, he argues, Toronto suffers from a culture of cheapness that has prevailed over municipal decisions for decades holding back necessary investments in transit, parks, urban design, and the public realm more generally.
Cities are more than a patchwork of private property held together by some roads and sewer pipes. Neglect the common infrastructure of public services and spaces, and they begin to come apart at the seams. That, Lorinc argues, is the case for Toronto. It is an interesting article, and has some powerful lessons for anyone interested how we can build and sustain greener and more equitable cities. After reading it, I pulled together a few of my own thoughts about the city's trajectory.
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