{"id":23895,"date":"2011-11-22T10:00:02","date_gmt":"2011-11-22T15:00:02","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/spacingtoronto.ca\/?p=23895"},"modified":"2013-01-21T14:45:09","modified_gmt":"2013-01-21T19:45:09","slug":"fourth-wall-communicating-with-the-public","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/2011\/11\/22\/fourth-wall-communicating-with-the-public\/","title":{"rendered":"Fourth Wall: Communicating with the public"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

This series features highlights from the ongoing exhibit <\/em>The Fourth Wall: Transforming City Hall<\/em><\/a>. The exhibit, on now at the <\/em>Urbanspace Gallery<\/em><\/a>, considers possible avenues to break down the barriers to participation in civic life that exist at Toronto\u2019s City Hall.<\/em><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Planning application notices. They are so banal that you\u2019d be forgiven for not noticing them as you move about town or flip through The Sun*. But these dull documents hold an important key to engaging Toronto\u2019s citizens in helping to shape their communities.<\/p>\n

Under the Ontario Planning Act<\/a>, developments requiring an Official Plan Amendment, a Zoning By-law Amendment, a Draft Plan of Subdivision or a Draft Plan of Condominium require the posting of a sign. The notice is intended to let the public know what\u2019s happening and to make them aware of the avenues they have to provide their comments on the proposal.<\/p>\n

The Act stipulates a number of text and graphic requirements including the date\/time\/location of the required public meeting, the purpose of the amendment, prompts about how to access additional information and a key map. A lot of information for a tiny little notice!<\/p>\n

What\u2019s most unfortunate about all of these requirements is that in spite of their intention to ensure that the public is informed and engaged, they really do the opposite. Hidden in legalese, disguised by the drab design, the average citizen is likely to miss the fact that these notices are meant as an invitation to provide feedback on the proposed change.<\/p>\n

Toronto\u2019s not alone in this design disaster \u2013 we poured through notices from around the world and found nothing that seemed to be actively enticing citizens to speak up.<\/p>\n

While a recent re-design <\/a>has improved our local notice\u2019s aesthetic considerably, the current model still leaves a lot to be desired.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

In preparing The Fourth Wall<\/em>, we put the call out<\/a> to local designers to show us what\u2019s possible with a little creativity. The designs they come up with use images, colour, plain language and tight focus to propel the reader into action.<\/p>\n

Here’s a sample of the submissions:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Submitted by\u00a0Carolyn\u00a0Tripp<\/em><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Submitted by Sasha Plotnikova<\/em><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

<\/em>Submitted by I<\/em>va Jericevic<\/em><\/p>\n

<\/em>\"\"<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

Submitted by <\/em>Andrea Winkler, Anthony Greenberg, Ingrid Stromberg, Ian Malczewski\u00a0&\u00a0Elsa Fancello <\/em><\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Submitted by Jeff Robson<\/em><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

Submitted by <\/em>Andrea Yip<\/em><\/p>\n

Which do you like best? How would you design a public notice if you wanted people to participate in the conversation? How important is the design of a public notice to propel you into action?<\/p>\n

* – In 2010, the City awarded the contract for publication of its public notices to the Toronto Sun, despite the fact that its readership is half the size of the Toronto Star’s.<\/em><\/p>\n

The Fourth Wall: Transforming City Hall\u00a0is on at the Urbanspace Gallery (401 Richmond St. W.) until the end of the year. The building is open weekdays, 7am to 7pm, and Saturdays, 9am to 6pm.\u00a0Curated by Dave Meslin, Research by Hilary Best, Design by Adam Zinzan-Harris. <\/em>Notice Submissions by I<\/em>va Jericevic, Andrea Yip,\u00a0Carolyn\u00a0Tripp, Jeff Robson, Sasha Plotnikova, Caroline Schutrumpf,\u00a0Andrea Winkler, Anthony Greenberg, Ingrid Stromberg, Ian Malczewski\u00a0&\u00a0Elsa Fancello<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This series features highlights from the ongoing exhibit The Fourth Wall: Transforming City Hall. The exhibit, on now at the Urbanspace Gallery, considers possible avenues to break down the barriers to participation in civic life that exist at Toronto\u2019s City Hall. Planning application notices. They are so banal that you\u2019d be forgiven for not noticingContinue reading “Fourth Wall: Communicating with the public”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4081,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[157,21758,21759,20],"tags":[18832,14231,18892,18896,18895,3518,51,18890,216,14021,2599,18894,18893,404,12,18891,339,1084,19,341,1642,1576,18834,17588],"class_list":["post-23895","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-civic-engagement","category-community","category-features","category-urban-design","tag-adam-zinzan-harris","tag-andrea-winkler","tag-andrea-yip","tag-anthony-greenberg","tag-caroline-schutrumpf","tag-carolyn-tripp","tag-community-development","tag-elsa-fancello","tag-fourth-wall","tag-hilary-best","tag-ian-malczewski","tag-ingrid-stromberg","tag-jeff-robson","tag-official","tag-planning","tag-sasha-plotnikova","tag-the-toronto-star","tag-the-toronto-sun","tag-toronto","tag-toronto-star","tag-toronto-sun","tag-torontos-city-hall","tag-transforming-city-hall","tag-urbanspace-gallery"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nFourth Wall: Communicating with the public - Spacing Toronto<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/2011\/11\/22\/fourth-wall-communicating-with-the-public\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Fourth Wall: Communicating with the public - Spacing Toronto\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"This series features highlights from the ongoing exhibit The Fourth Wall: Transforming City Hall. 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