• Spacing.ca
  • Magazine
  • Podcast
  • Store
  • Books
  • Customer Help Centre
  • About Us

Spacing Toronto

Canadian Urbanism Uncovered

Menu

Skip to content
  • Canada
  • Toronto
  • Vancouver
  • Montreal
  • Ottawa
  • Atlantic
  • Edmonton
  • Politics
  • Civic Engagement
  • Parks
  • Green Space
  • Architecture
  • History
  • Infrastructure
  • Walking
  • Urban Design
  • Services
  • Streetscape
  • Traffic
  • Culture
  • Transit
  • Community
  • Housing
  • Neighbourhoods
  • Film & Video
  • Podcast
  • Photos
  • Waterfront
  • Bikes
  • Pandemic
  • Food
  • Curiosities
  • Communication
  • Maps
  • Media
  • Cities For People
  • 10th Anniversary
More Topics
All Topics
  • 10th Anniversary
  • Architecture
  • Bikes
  • Cities For People
  • Civic Engagement
  • Communication
  • Community
  • Culture
  • Curiosities
  • Events
  • Features
  • Film & Video
  • Food
  • Green Space
  • Headlines
  • History
  • Housing
  • Infrastructure
  • Maps
  • Media
  • Neighbourhoods
  • Pandemic
  • Parks
  • Photos
  • Podcast
  • Politics
  • Services
  • Spacing
  • Streetscape
  • Traffic
  • Transit
  • Urban Design
  • Walking
  • Waterfront
Region:
Topic:
Civic Engagement
Comments0

Getting inspired by public space

November 17, 2015 | By Dylan Reid

Dylan Reid

It was great to see 200 talented young people in their twenties and thirties gathered together to talk about public space. Earlier this month, I was invited to attend Civic Action‘s Emerging Leaders Network (ELN) annual studio. Civic Action had polled their network about what subject they’d like to focus on, and the overwhelming answer had been public space.

Before breaking out into working groups to discuss specific topics, the group listened to a panel discussion that brought together local leaders on public space issues from different constituencies. Moderator Hamutal Dotan (formerly editor of Torontoist and now editor of the Globe and Mail‘s Focus section) at one point did a lightning round, asking each panelist to answer in 20 seconds how to make public space better.

  • Zahra Ebrahim (founder of Architext and now with Doblin Canada) noted the importance of feeling empathy for everyone involved in the discussion.
  • Dave Meslin (founder of many advocacy organizations) said to start small and local, and make something happen. It’s easy to get distracted by talking about large ideas that never come to fruition.
  • Denise Pinto (Executive Director of Jane’s Walk) advised people to spend time in a place, walk through and around it, before doing anything.
  • Ken Tannenbaum (Vice-chairman of Kilmer Group developers) talked about raising consciousness about the opportunities we have as a city, such as ravines
  • Jason Thorne (General Manager, Planning and Economic Development, City of Hamilton) said, use the spaces. Great public spaces, he noted, have rituals of use.

During the discussion, Jason Thorne, as a city manager, talked about the need to rethink how city staff approach public space issues. The question staff should ask when presented with a proposal is, “does this make the city better?” If it does, they should find a way to make it happen. He gave the example of urban agriculture, which Hamilton formerly banned but has now moved to allow. It’s an attitude that contrasts with, for example, City of Toronto’s staff resistance to allowing painting on local streets.

Dave Meslin talked about how citizen “apathy” can be induced by institutions themselves. He noted that, if one talks to people outside the “activist bubble,” while they may seem cynical and disconnected at first, if you dig down they will often care deeply and have a lot of ideas about civic issues, they just don’t see a path to how they can get involved. Jason Thorne added that, while cities do have consultations, they are on the institution’s terms, not the community’s. Denise Pinto noted that Jane’s Walk can work as a kind of gateway drug to getting involved, and that understanding one has the power to make change is a big leap of faith. What’s vital, added Meslin, is a sense of collective ownership, because people invest in what they feel belongs to them. For public space to thrive, we need to find ways for citizens to think of it as their space, not somebody else’s problem.

Photograph by Justice Achampong

  • Subscribe to Mag
    Subscribe to Spacing
  • Share Post
    Subscribe to Spacing
  • Tweet Post
    Subscribe to Spacing
  • Buy Merchandise
    Subscribe to Spacing

Related Posts

  • This weekend: Jane’s Walk Festival + Provocation Ideas Festival
  • PODCAST: Spacing Radio 060, Alberta’s municipal power vacuum
Tweet

More posts by Dylan Reid

Advertisement

Newsletter Sign-Up

Spacing Magazine: Current Issue 59

Issue Cover Order issue | Subscribe | In these stores

Popular Posts

  • REID: The Toronto vote in the 2022 Ontario provincial election
  • The emergence of the "Toronto Special" Modernist walk-up apartments
  • LORINC: This fall's election shouldn't be a victory lap
  • NO MEAN CITY: A killing, “the projects,” and the new Regent Park
  • What's that smell, Toronto? It's the Tree of Heaven, the Ailanthus Altissima, or, uh, the other name

From the Spacing Store

  • $22Buy yourself a subscription

  • $22Buy a renewal subscription

  • $22Buy a gift subscription

  • $5Back Issues

  • $2Toronto Subway Buttons: All Stations

  • $3Toronto Subway Magnets: All Stations

  • $18Metro Magnets

  • Spacing.ca
  • Toronto
  • Montreal
  • Vancouver
  • Ottawa
  • Atlantic
  • Edmonton
  • Magazine
  • Issues
  • Subscribe
  • Order Issues
  • In These Stores
  • Jane Jacobs Prize
  • Store
  • Magazine
  • Buttons
  • Magnets
  • T-Shirts
  • Stuff
  • About Spacing
  • Advertise with Us
  • Contribute
  • Comment Policy
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms of Use
  • Contact Us
  • Spacing on Twitter
  • Spacing on Facebook
  • Spacing Feeds