Toronto: Are we just a bunch of Bobos and Fauxhemians?
Mark Kingwell is harsh, and brutally so. If you're a "bobo" (i.e. bourgeoisie bohemian), or of the ilk, his latest essay in the Walrus may make you choke on that non-fat, no-water, tazo chai latté of yours.
Toronto: Justice Denied is an important read for any Torontonian, bobo or not. In his biting essay, Kingwell dismantles the "creative class" logic endorsed by Richard Florida.
Many may be familiar with Florida by now, the bobo-loving Cultural Economist whose best-selling books have found their way into our social consciousness, and more importantly, have given us the green light to pat ourselves on the backs for contributing to our cities urban transformation.
If Florida is saying, more creative types in a city = more economic growth = successful city. Then Kingwell is saying, more creative types in a city = more economic growth = so what?
What Kingwell is interested in is not debating whether Toronto is a creative city, but rather, how our idea-based economy will affect our ability to be a just city. A just city, according to Kingwell, is a city that has a radical openness to the other; has the ability to help the less fortunate; a city where a person can pass by someone in the street without averting ones eyes (apparently we're notorious for this).
I recommend you read the essay. Yes, the man may be mean. Sure, he unfairly boils us down to walking-creative-nodes and has an obvious discrimination issue with people younger and hipper than him. But despite all this, Kingwell only wants what we all want: a compassionate city to call home.
(Mark Kingwell is an author, cultural theorist and Professor of Philosophy at the University of Toronto.)
Photo: "yonge street, toronto" by blogTO Flickr pooler decks_and_drums_and_ rock_and_roll (in Innsbruck)
Comments (8)
Ah, Professor Kingwell, how I loved thee as a first year. And -- oh -- how my hopes were dashed when I realized almost everyone in my class also loved you.
the article is a good read - thanks for posting it laura. the language in it is really fun. though I do think he could have just condensed the whole thing down to a quick 'go bake some cookies, walk yourself over to your next door neighbor and introduce yourself. A City that plays together, stays together.' or something along those lines.
He has some good points. When you look at most revamps and revitalizations, they are anything but. They often result in restricted access and presumed privilege that doesn't account for the previous occupants.
However, isn't this the nature of a city... Something becomes desirable, people get into it, someone buys it up and it's slapped with a "sold-out" label?
Maybe we should just like what we like? Maybe we can start evaluating culture and its environments on the basis of whether they're worthwhile or not instead of how cool they are.
Have the recent revamps of institutions like OCAD and the ROM (as well as alternative hotspots like the Gladstone and the Drake) widened access to culture or codified it even more, creating seemingly-complex rituals that comprise an unspoken set of rules that you understand if you want to belong? (I'd ask if people even care but that's another tangent.)
I haven't been to the ROM yet but the other three have consistently left me with bad tastes in my mouth. I remember how they use to be and I do mourn it but I've moved on; I go to different places now. This, I think, is where I stand on this argument and it's something Kingwell mentions in passing.
Like the rest of the city, I simply don't care. Redevelopment is the nature of the beast and there will always be a lineup of cool, cultural scenes, ready to be transmogrified into the latest condo or tourist attraction. There will also be a new spot, created by some newcomer to the city or some displaced, older resident and it will thrive on its own merits.
It's a cycle and anyone who spends any length of time living in one city should understand this.
So forget the hype, forget any idea of a unified city, full of "ideas" and enjoy what you truly appreciate. Move amongst Toronto's neighborhoods and join in whatever activities suit you.
Let these idiots devour themselves in their debate.
Kingwell clearly has issues with the younger "bobo class" of citizens, and tries to convey himself as somebody that is profoundly interested in the less developed, poorer parts of the city. But I don't buy his 'I'm for a just city' nonsense. No even close. He is not and never will be "just" if he's constantly putting down his fellow citizens because of how and what they contribute to their city. Perhaps he should be less critical of others and look in the mirror...
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