{"id":65633,"date":"2022-06-29T08:30:11","date_gmt":"2022-06-29T12:30:11","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/?p=65633"},"modified":"2022-06-29T08:43:24","modified_gmt":"2022-06-29T12:43:24","slug":"the-bentway-kicks-off-a-packed-summer","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/2022\/06\/29\/the-bentway-kicks-off-a-packed-summer\/","title":{"rendered":"The Bentway kicks off a packed summer"},"content":{"rendered":"

Tucked under The Bentway by the Strachan Gate, the Bentway hosted its STREET series summit kick-off weekend on May 27-28.<\/p>\n

The Bentway is an organization \u201cdedicated to the creation of shared and inclusive spaces.\u201d One of its roles is to animate the Bentway, the public space under the Gardiner Expressway that stretches almost two kilometres from Liberty Village to Spadina Ave.<\/p>\n

The summit will be a summer-long affair with various performances, discussions, and workshops on redefining Toronto.<\/p>\n

Walking into the kick-off weekend, visitors were greeted by the friendly, smiling faces of volunteers. Vendors welcome them with the smells of vegan Caribbean food and a fancy frank stand.<\/p>\n

Right in the middle of the festivities was a stage only a few feet off the ground for open discussions, as the organization puts it, \u201cof the city; about the city; for the city.\u201d<\/p>\n

Between talks and workshops, summit-goers were welcome to engage by putting a pin on a map of their favourite places in Toronto or answering fun questions such as: do you smile at a passerby or avoid eye contact?<\/p>\n

The \u201cDream Streets Panel\u201d on May 27 was a visionary discussion about how to create a better Toronto. The panel discussed how to add more green spaces, how to build better bike culture, and how to develop public ownership of the city.<\/p>\n

Dane Gardener-Williams from Black Urbanism TO,<\/a> Adam Nicklin from Public Work,<\/a> Brian porter from Two Row Architect<\/a>, and Alison Stewart from Cycle Toronto<\/a> joined moderator Sam Carter-Shamai from The Bentway to reimagine the streets of Toronto in the future.<\/p>\n

The city needs to change its way of thinking, said Nicklin. \u201cPracticality is seen as a limiting proposition. There’s a reason all the streets look the same because practically has made it so. If we do it the way we always do it, the results will be the same.\u201d<\/p>\n

He reminded the audience about the location where they stood; the Bentway project didn\u2019t happen overnight, Nicklin said \u2013 it is a helpful reminder of what good can be done in the city.<\/p>\n

\u201cSmall incremental steps can make a big change,\u201d Stewart said. \u201cThinking big but starting small.\u201d<\/p>\n

We can do better and build a city that works for everyone, said Porter.<\/p>\n

\u201cStart with values, sustainability stewardship, and community ownership to make those values part of the core decision-making,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cNobody called me to invest in the 407 when they built it; I don\u2019t understand why we don\u2019t get the opportunity to invest in our own infrastructure and reap the benefits locally,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

Williams-Gardner said that community shared ownership is the only way to get true community involvement and democracy.<\/p>\n

\u201cIs the consultation with the community in the initial conversation existing to understand the neighbourhood’s needs?\u201d asked Gardner-Williams, referring to transit infrastructure projects. \u201cExisting communities need to be seen by developers as a key cog [for] existing business owners to be able to receive the fruits of the labour that transit is going to bring.\u201d<\/p>\n

Community investment and ownership would be a gamechanger for the overall sense and dignity of the community.<\/p>\n

A successful weekend of learning and getting to know the city was capped off by international keynote speaker Michael Ford on hip-hop architecture and the Toronto Society of Architects’ talk on closing the gap between the city we have and the city we desire.<\/p>\n

Watch out for future summit series events along The Bentway<\/a> this summer.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Tucked under The Bentway by the Strachan Gate, the Bentway hosted its STREET series summit kick-off weekend on May 27-28. The Bentway is an organization \u201cdedicated to the creation of shared and inclusive spaces.\u201d One of its roles is to animate the Bentway, the public space under the Gardiner Expressway that stretches almost two kilometresContinue reading “The Bentway kicks off a packed summer”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8514,"featured_media":65644,"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":[157,3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-65633","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-civic-engagement","category-events"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nThe Bentway kicks off a packed summer - 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\/2022\/06\/29\/the-bentway-kicks-off-a-packed-summer\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The Bentway kicks off a packed summer - Spacing Toronto\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Tucked under The Bentway by the Strachan Gate, the Bentway hosted its STREET series summit kick-off weekend on May 27-28. 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