{"id":49189,"date":"2014-07-30T12:00:44","date_gmt":"2014-07-30T16:00:44","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/?p=49189"},"modified":"2014-08-06T14:47:52","modified_gmt":"2014-08-06T18:47:52","slug":"49189","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/2014\/07\/30\/49189\/","title":{"rendered":"NXT City Prize: Adil Dhalla creates happiness"},"content":{"rendered":"

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

The\u00a0NXT CITY PRIZE<\/a>\u00a0is all about vision to reimagine Toronto\u2019s public spaces and inject a sense of energy, dynamism and reflexivity. With a focus on ideas coming from the next generation of city builders, The\u00a0NXT CITY PRIZE<\/a>\u00a0is an open invitation for all young people connected to Toronto to improve on the design of our city’s open spaces. The\u00a0NXT CITY PRIZE<\/a>\u00a0will be announced in mid-August, and the deadline for submissions is July 31st.\u00a0Spacing<\/em>\u00a0has teamed up with the\u00a0NXT CITY PRIZE<\/a>\u00a0to provide our readers with a series of Q&As with local and national city builders in the lead up to the announcement of the winning design.<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"LINE-600-GREY\"<\/a><\/p>\n

TODAY: ADIL DHALLA,\u00a0Centre for Social Innovation’s director of culture<\/h3>\n

 <\/p>\n

What public space improvements have you contributed to that you\u2019re proud of?\u00a0<\/b><\/em><\/p>\n

I\u2019m most proud about Project Ukulele Gangsterism (PUG), which was inspired by the Emersonian notion that there are those who pursue happiness and those who create it. PUG was for the creators and what we did was amass as a ukulele \u201cgang\u201d of 50+ people that would go into places that we felt were the least happy (i.e. subways) and try and counter the usual negative energy by singing an ode to Toronto we called \u201cHave an Awesome Day\u201d.\u00a0 Our hope and why I\u2019m most proud about PUG, was that we could affect the entire mood of the city by \u201chacking\u201d heavily trafficked areas with happiness. PUG was internationally recognized and replicated in Michigan, Chicago and Korea.<\/p>\n

What public space improvements would you like to see in Toronto?<\/b><\/em><\/p>\n

I\u2019d love to see more intentionality being brought to animating public spaces in Toronto. It\u2019s been proven that a city\u2019s happiness is directly related to how many and how often we\u2019re able to make loose connections with our fellow citizens but these connections won\u2019t just happen! We need to bring intentionality to building social capital by way of\u00a0 programming and events that acts as magnetic attractors for people to come and meet others whom they have shared interests with. In other words and to play on the old adage – if you build it, they won\u2019t come. You need to give people a reason to be there.<\/p>\n

What do you consider to be great examples of public space in other global cities?<\/b><\/em><\/p>\n

CSI has a space in New York City so I get to spend a lot of time there and one of the coolest things about New York (and definitely part of my inspiration for PUG) is that you\u2019ll often encounter buskers on a subway itself performing in between stops. It\u2019s not just that I\u2019m entertained, but all of a sudden I\u2019m experiencing this random shared experience with a bunch of strangers and through eye contact, smiles and laughter, we are being connected to one another. Compared with Toronto, New York has looser laws on performances in the city\u2019s public transit spaces and I\u2019d love to see us adopt a similar approach here.<\/p>\n

What advice do you have for young people as it relates to public space?<\/b><\/em><\/p>\n

The domain of public space is the responsibility of government, business and the people to make great. We need to work together and truly believe that it\u2019s up to us to be a part of the solution! So to young people I would say – take agency and responsibility for creating the city that they want. No one needs to invite you – this is your city.<\/p>\n

\"Adil_headshot\"<\/a>Adil Dhalla is the Director of Culture of the Centre for Social Innovation (CSI) – a coworking space, community and launchpad for people who are changing the world. At CSI, much of Adil\u2019s work is focused on connecting and support supporting organizations in the acceleration of their work, including many in the area closest to his heart, city building. In 2014, Adil co-organized the much celebrated Turnout Toronto, a \u201ccivic engagement circus\u201d that has since been replicated across the city. Adil was also one of the co-founders of Project Ukulele Gangsterism, which was a ukulele flash mob that stormed Toronto\u2019s public spaces in 2013 with the purpose of bringing happiness to the citizens of Toronto. Previous to CSI, Adil co-founded My City Lives, which was a pioneering technology in the mobile video space that was focused on city storytelling and expanded to over 250 cities worldwide.\u00a0 Adil has travelled and lived in some of the greatest cities in the world but proudly calls Toronto home and can often be found on his bike, rocking a sweet bow tie.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Top photo by Todd Tyrtle, buskers in Finch Station<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The\u00a0NXT CITY PRIZE\u00a0is all about vision to reimagine Toronto\u2019s public spaces and inject a sense of energy, dynamism and reflexivity. With a focus on ideas coming from the next generation of city builders, The\u00a0NXT CITY PRIZE\u00a0is an open invitation for all young people connected to Toronto to improve on the design of our city’s openContinue reading “NXT City Prize: Adil Dhalla creates happiness”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8237,"featured_media":49191,"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":[4,20],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-49189","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-culture","category-urban-design"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nNXT City Prize: Adil Dhalla creates happiness - 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\/2014\/07\/30\/49189\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"NXT City Prize: Adil Dhalla creates happiness - Spacing Toronto\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The\u00a0NXT CITY PRIZE\u00a0is all about vision to reimagine Toronto\u2019s public spaces and inject a sense of energy, dynamism and reflexivity. 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