City
Branding T.O.
In today's Toronto Star, John Spears takes a look at Invest Toronto and Build Toronto, sister agencies designed to increase investment and development in the city. One of the most interesting ideas comes from Greg Clark, a "London-based economic development guru who advises cities around the globe."
Clark argues that Toronto needs a core identity, one that everyone can easily understand. Among his examples are Miami ("Everyone can tell you that Miami is on the road to becoming the business hub and the capital city of the pan-American economy") and Hong Kong ("Any taxi driver will tell you Hong Kong is going to be the first city in the world where the Chinese language and system and the English language and system are going to be used by everybody, all the time. It will be completely bilingual in Chinese and English.")
So what is our core identity?
When people in Boston, Bombay, and Barcelona hear "Toronto", what should spring to mind? Hating Toronto is a beloved national pastime, but any time I'm in a foreign city, people have nothing but good things to say about us. They sincerely praise our politeness and clean streets, to be sure, but also speak highly of our cosmopolitanism, which seems to me the true center of our city's character. But can pluralism make for a coherent unifying identity? I believe so, but perhaps not in precisely the way Clark intends.
Or, as one Invest Toronto participant suggested, should we forget about forging a "core story" and simply market ourselves as a great place to visit in the winter?
Photo by pixel bunny, member of the blogTO Flickr pool.
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That said, I don't know what its identity should be. It seems to me that the national pastime is worrying about identities, be they national or urban.
Less effort on marketing the place, more on making it a place that's good for the people who live and visit.
Our different cultures is something to play up.
This city has an incredible amount going for it. It's one of the most multicultural cities in the world, it's relatively well-run, it has a wealth of educational and economic opportunities, it's got a very positive international reputation, and perhaps most importantly, we have very little historical baggage. We should build on all that and try to be "Toronto: The World's City".
I'd like to hear this "guru" sum up our fair city in one line and we'll be done with it.
Of course Paris feels like Paris, its been Paris before Canada was even discovered!
Toronto, or Canada in general is a toddler compared to most major metropolitan cities, but what we do have are all the conveniences, and modernism of those we wish to be compared to.
Add to that, it is a seriously inexpensive city when you break it down.
We have great restaurants, nightlife, multi-culture, festivals, sports, music, weather, arts, population density, shopping...
It doesn't get any better as far as Canadian cities go, and deep inside, everybody knows it, which is probably why it has become such a national pass-time to hate on Toronto.
You'd never get the expanse of available things to do in Vancouver, Montreal, Halifax, Calgary, Ottawa... that you do in Toronto.
You'd have to go to NYC to get the same conveniences as Toronto, yet it'd cost you triple to be there and do anything.
Anyone who says Toronto sucks is likely jealous because they live somewhere else in Canada, or hasn't ever left Toronto to see what we compare to.
I love this city, and I have traveled plenty, but I always feel like Toronto is my favorite city in the world.
http://www.entertonement.com/clips/43356/Toronto-is-Just-Like-New-York
Culturally, i believe T.O. has a very strong Arts and entertainment community. Being an artist in Canada, there's nowhere else i'd rather be, really. It that sense i guess, it is like NYC.
It doesn't help being the Provincial Capital.
Los Angeles, New York and Chicago have all thrived perhaps because the meddling bureaucratic state capitals are located in Sacramento, Albany and Springfield. In Toronto, there are way too many outside provincial forces driving one stake after another into its heart.
I'm not much of a drinker. But a lot of the problems with this city are inspired by the arcane liquor laws. What sort of modern city permits the state to tell its citizens when and where the can buy their liquor and consume it. And what sort of citizens accept this level of psychological control by the state?
Children running to and from state owned stores.
The state plays way too big a role in the comings and goings of Toronto. And as we have seen in recent years, the people who run the state, be they liberal or conservative, are basically unqualified and unsophisticated oafs.
Then there is a impossible relationship between Canada and Toronto. Your passport says Canada, but the Canadians sure as hell don't like us. From their thrones in Ottawa, the Canadians take our tax dollars and laugh as our city decays further and further into a shabby abyss of chaos, congestion and crime.
I agree with writer Patrick Lee,"...we don't have much gravitas on the global scene. "
Unless we are prepared for some kind of revolutionary acts here -- and I'm not holding my breath -- creating a core identity for marketing purposes, will be one more in a long line of futile efforts. ie: Toronto Unlimited. Toronto, there's no place like it. Toronto. You belong here. etc.
As for the argument Toronto is a young city, so don't expect much, remember, poor old Toronto was established on August 23 1793. That gave us a little more than 2 centuries to make something of the place. Toronto's been around longer than Chicago. But look at it. 243 square miles of sprawl with architecture and urban planning rivaled only by Bucharest, all encased by a generic suburban wasteland.
How on earth could you market this?
@Sam:
You are right in 90% of what you said- and summing it up that "You'd never get the expanse of available things to do in Vancouver, Montreal, Halifax, Calgary, Ottawa... that you do in Toronto."
But "It doesn't get any better as far as Canadian cities go, and deep inside, everybody knows it, which is probably why it has become such a national pass-time to hate on Toronto." And "Anyone who says Toronto sucks is likely jealous....."- I have to call you out on those statements!!
You have to at least acknowledge the fact that not everyone likes the same things, a lot of the things (or offshoots of them) that you (and many people) like about Toronto are what other people don't like- especially the crowds/population density/crazy amount of people in the GTA and everything that goes along with that (traffic, commuting times, air quality, rental prices, etc).
I am not saying one city is better than the other- just that they all have their strong points and the people that live in each city are there because they value something that city has- for example Vancouver and its nature, both in and around the city- you have to agree that they have Toronto beat on that account. And while I have never personally experienced it, everyone I talk to, even staunch Toronto enthusiasts, tell me that the nightlife in Montreal is the best in Canada. (etc etc for each major city in Canada, they all have something to offer). From what I have experienced, Toronto does have the most going on, which to me, is it's stand-out feature.
I could write a whole other post on the reasons why other Canadians don't like Toronto- but I think a big part of it is exemplified in the statements and tone of your post- because you DO truly believe that Toronto is the best city in Canada (instead of acknowledging the positives in each), and you think the rest of the country is jealous. Its that attitude and those sentiments that are hated.
And last but not least- You can not seriously list the WEATHER as one of Toronto's positives!!- I have lived in several major Canadian cities and have to say that Toronto definitely has the worst weather of any of them!!! (No, I have not lived in Ottawa or Montreal, whose winters I have heard are way worse, lol).
It sure as hell ain't perfect but it's dynamic and thriving, and not in an oil-fired Alberta kind of way.
Toronto: If something is fund or smart just wait a week or two and City Council will regulate and/or ban it.
Toronto: The micro-management capital of Canada.
Sure, Montreal may be the 'old whore' that's been around the block. But Toronto is the boring, rich kid that doesn't even know what "third base" is.
I think we're all overlooking the most pithy and accurate of Toronto's various nicknames: Toronto the Good. That says it all I think. Interpreted positively, it gives off the image of Toronto as a city where very few doors are closed. Whether you're into art or politics or sports or drinking yourself into oblivion, Toronto's got you covered. And truly enough, the people who live here and who visit here all have nothing but good things to say about the atmosphere and the population.
Interpreted negatively, however, it sounds more like "Toronto the Unambitious". Perfectly content to provide a competent experience to anybody who wanders through, but not offering a defining experience to anybody. Worst of all, there are some areas where Toronto is not even 'merely good'. I think we can all agree that our beloved city is not particularly well designed, and until the last twenty years or so it had practically no disctinct architecture to speak of. What's even more unusual is that our architecture with the most character is generally hated by the natives- in particular the Michael Lee-Chin Crystal and the almost universally despised Flying Tabletop (which I actually love). Toronto as a city, as well as all of its denizens, seem content to continue drifting along through the international scene, not asserting itself or making a fuss of any kind. It makes for a city very enjoyable but not in any way magnetic.
Of course, we're so deeply entrenched in this problem that it would be difficult to pick one or a handful of our features and elevate them to the level of an international strength. What we need, I think, is a real heavyweight in one area to be born in or to rise up in our city. An internationally recognized architect or actor or beekeeper or taxidermist, or whatever, that people could associate with Toronto. Until then, I don't think we can just arbitrarily choose a feature- or worse, vote on one- to define the city. We need a real homegrown Toronto posterboy, that's what I think.
If I had to make a nomination, I'd say a good place to start in terms of identity for the city would be with some of our young.. not quite entrepreneurs, but independently motivated artistic and cultural figures. There are a lot of admirable young Torontonians seriously getting things done, which I think is cool. In particular a dood like Ryan North, of Dinosaur Comics, or the late Jeff Chapman, aka Ninjalicious, who kickstarted (or is at least popularly associated with) the Urban Exploration movement.
Toronto: I can get it down the road for less
Toronto: We make due with what we have (oh wait, that's parkdale)
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Toronto: We need to stop comparing ourselves to everyone else
the last one is our key issue, we always want to be like someone else, we always want to have what status another city has achieved
toronto needs more of a spine... ...or at least it's political agenda does, it's people already do