The Rob Ford Mayoralty: Architecture/Design/Heritage/Planning discussion thread

[adma]

The building in the Portlands won't be built, in the proposed 4-layer form. I think you can count on that.

I'm not necessarily lamenting that per se. Ultimately, it's where Fordism and "bread not circuses" share common ground...

 

[Urban Shocker]

Only slightly tangential, I believe: Under the supposedly design and arts-friendly Miller administration, Toronto continued to have one of the lowest levels of municipal arts funding of any major city on this continent, so it will be interesting - in a "how low can we go?" sort of way - to see what happens next. However, I don't share the automatic mood of doom and gloom that says we're heading into a creative and cultural tailspin as a result of this election; given the unenthusiastic attitude of all levels of government ( the present Feds, for instance ) towards Toronto's art scene we're nevertheless living in an energized and creative community that seems resourceful and resilient. Government seed money may have got our recent cultural building boom going, but it was overwhelmingly financed by private and corporate donors - and by the public who've been bitten by the arts bug and who go to these venues. Sometimes ( Britain under Thatcher comes to mind ) adversity encourages a creative and critical stance.

According to a recent media quote from his new arts adviser - Jeff Melanson, executive director of the National Ballet School - Ford is happy with the meagre level of arts funding inherited from Miller: "Arts grants aren't going to be cut - or raised".

 

[Observer Walt]

That is entirely expected, and reflective of the times in which we live, with governments at all levels trying to get back to having budgets in balance. Expecting increased arts funding at any level of government for the next three or four years is clearly unrealistic. Artsies will have to seek private sources or ways to convert their efforts to a level of profit. Some will certainly be able to do so. Shocker rightly points out that certain sectors of the general public have become energized. I wouldn't think there is a need to fall into a deep malaise.

 

[Rowe]

^ I personally think that the money for that will be redirected to suburban arenas. Or just completely canceled.

Ford will do a lot more for the suburbs, so do not expect 'many' big public developments in the downtown area.

 

[TrickyRicky]

I don't really think arts is on Ford's radar either. He has already been elected so there is no real value in bashing it. I suspect he just won't touch that file with respect to visual or performance art. Besides these issues are rounding errors in the fiscal considerations that will dominate his first term. If anything I would see arts budgets trimmed equitably with the operating budgets of other city divisions.

I can see some impact with regards to civic buildings and projects but lets face it other than those in the pipe I suspect not much will be built in the next decade. In a way this speaks to the issue of Ford as the man versus Ford as the product of the times. The fact is that there would have to have been a high degree of restraint anyway. The next decade will be lean times for most municipal governments with respect to civic buildings and projects throughout the western world.

It would not surprise me if a City like Barcelona will soon be forced to look with envy at our ugly MasterCard arenas and dismal arts budgets.

 

[JasonParis]

...Besides these issues are rounding errors in the fiscal considerations that will dominate his first term.

I suspect you are right about Ford and the arts, but it should be remembered that this is a politician famous for making a big deal of what the rest of us would call "rounding errors."

 

[Urban Shocker]

Good ... and rather surprising ... news - the meagre level of arts funding inherited from the Miller years will be significantly increased, apparently. Last week, city council approved a report that recommended increasing the per-capita funding for arts and culture from the present $18 to $25 by 2013.

 

[GraphicMatt]

They approved a broad cultural framework but that doesn't mean anything will necessarily happen. Good that it passed without dissent, though.

 

[Urban Shocker]

Nominees for the Toronto Urban Design Awards on display in the rotunda at City Hall. They range from the sublime to the ridiculous, as usual.

 

[canmark]

Slightly off topic, but TIFF will be screening Urbanized, Gary Hustwit's documentary about urbanization and urban planning, with the director himself in attendance for the initial screening (Friday January 13, 2012). TIFF will also be showing the first and second parts of his design trilogy, Helvetica and Objectified. (I've seen those first two, but not Urbanized yet.)

Torontoist: Better by Design: Urbanized Looks at the Craft of City-Building

Thanks to our intractable transit development dilemmas, Toronto viewers are likely to experience a mixture of admiration and intense jealously upon witnessing the projects implemented by individuals like Enrique Peñalosa, former mayor of Bogotá, Colombia. Peñalosa was a key figure in the introduction of TransMilenio, a bus rapid transit (BRT) system that has served Colombia’s capital since 2000. Through the use of dedicated bus lanes, BRTs provide a frequency of service that rivals subway systems at a fraction of the cost, allowing for a considerably broader range of operation. That dedicated bus lanes reduce the amount of road available to motorists was never a concern for Peñalosa, who cites BRTs as an example of public good prevailing over private interests, and as a manifestation of democracy in action. If all citizens are equal before the law, he asserts, then “a bus with a 100 passengers has a right to 100 times more road space than a car with one.”

If it’s difficult to imagine our incumbent mayor sharing that sentiment, then Peñalosa’s efforts to establish a network of high-quality, protected bicycle paths sadly seem entirely at odds with City Hall’s apparent antipathy towards Toronto’s cyclists. Likewise the efforts of Copenhagen’s municipal authorities, who actively incentivize cycling via some of the world’s most robust cycling infrastructure. Noting that over one-third of Copenhagen’s work force commutes via bicycle, Danish architect Jan Gehl explains: “It keeps people fit, it doesn’t pollute, and it doesn’t take up much space. It’s a really smart way of getting around.” When Hustwit’s subjects express the advantages of cycling and the need to protect cyclists with such simplicity, the deplorable lack of adequate measures to safeguard Toronto’s cyclists is all the more galling.

 

[AlvinofDiaspar]

canmark:

Urbanized is coming out in blu-ray next month in any case:
http://www.blu-ray.com/movies/Urbanized-Blu-ray/35537/

AoD

 

[adHominem]

It's also available to rent on iTunes right now. I watched it a couple weeks ago; beautifully shot, like Hustwit's other two, but like Objectified, it lacks the focus that made Helvetica so good. (Necessarily so, it's a big topic.) Worth watching, certainly.