I've lost count of articles about Toronto I've read in pubs like the NY Times and Wallpaper that don't quite seem to capture the essence of the city. Sort of like the Toronto Unlimited campaign.

So I was stunned (althought not totally surprised because the magazine totally rocks) to crack open the latest issue of RES and see they absolutely nailed it. Exhibit A:

"Some cities seem built for tourism, but Toronto is not one of them, despite such eye-catching attractions as the sky-high CN Tower and the Victorian-era Distillery Dictrict. Visitors are best off acting like residents who realize their city's primary appeal is its people. While America boasts of its melting pot, Canada describes itself as a mosaic. But this abstract multiculturalism only reaches fruition here in Toronto, where a walk across town reveals the entire world fitting snugly inside a single city."

I wouldn't hesitate to guess that a little article like this actually has more impact than those bogus Times ads.

Any how did RES garner this insight when an expensive research probe and a high priced US ad agency failed? They found a local to write the damn thing in the form of Eye contributor Joshua Ostroff.

Small World, Big City: Toronto by Joshua Ostroff appears on pages 36-37 in the July/August issue of RES Magazine. (Not the cover above. That's from the last issue)