The Commerce Times

Toronto vs. The World

Forget what you’ve heard. Toronto is not a world class city.

At least, that’s what was said by panellists from a discussion called “Is Toronto a World Class City?” held in the Eaton Lecture Theatre over Alumni Weekend at Ryerson University.

“Alumni Weekend [October 3 and 4] was designed to allow former Ryerson University students the opportunity to reconnect intellectually, just without the tests,” joked Tyler Forkes, executive director of Alumni Relations at Ryerson. In the pursuit of lifelong learning, Alumni Relations planned a number of sessions to engage the exchange of ideas on issues of widespread interest.

Directed by CBC’s Suhana Meharchand, the discussion focused on one topic close to all of the panellists: where Toronto stands on an international scale.

Architect and urban-planner Ken Greenberg said that there is “a collective sense that somehow we have stalled,” citing the city’s amalgamation in 1996 as a cause of serious problems.

“We ended up with something both too big and too small and underfunded,” said Greenberg, noting that the needs of the city are not being met by senior levels of government.

Kyle Rae, city councillor for Toronto Centre-Rosedale, agreed.

“The federal and provincial governments fail to fund, and the rural MPs and MPPs fail to recognize Toronto’s place,” he said, also recognizing that in Europe, for example, the European Union funds transport infrastructure from a high administrative platform.

“Toronto is still the only city in Canada that is in a position to even contemplate the question.”

“This idea of becoming world class is a fruitless preoccupation,” said Dr. Pamela Robinson, assistant professor at the Ryerson School of Urban and Regional Planning. She said that she loves her daily life in Toronto, and that the city should not try to measure itself against any other standards beyond the sum of the everyday. Robinson said that “yes, we are a world-class city…wannabe,” in response to the topic question.

Transportation was the key topic in Matthew Blackett’s portion of the presentation, who said that we should deal with the issues: not only to improve the TTC but make the streetscapes more enjoyable for pedestrians and for cyclists, who currently have limited usable infrastructure.

“Walking is a more personal experience, you get to know the city intimately,” added Robinson. “We don’t invest in public spaces the way we need to.”

The panellists also gave a nod to Ryerson’s importance in the larger picture of the city.

“One of the most important things businesses are looking for is a highly educated workforce. Ryerson provides that,” said Rae.

“Universities play an incredible role in the city. They are really participating in the rejuvenation of the area. Often the graduates stay here, which has a lasting effect on the rejuvenation of the city,” said Greenberg.

“This idea of becoming world class is a fruitless preoccupation.”

For those Torontonians who are die-hard believers that their city is indeed “world class,” the panel conversation is no cause for despair or dejection. As Konrad Yakabuski pointed out in an article in the Globe and Mail this summer, Toronto is still the only city in Canada that is in a position to even contemplate the question, and is consistently ranked highly when compared to other North American cities.

The panellists agree that Toronto is unquestionably a North American city, and that it is difficult to compare the culture, architecture and ambiance of places like New York and Chicago to the “old cities” of Europe. When compared with cities worldwide, Toronto is sometimes lucky to make the top 20. For example, it ranked 19th in the 2008 NEXUS & HUB Innovation Cities list. However, when compared to North American cities on that same list, Toronto is fifth. Its place on other indexes can sometimes move erratically; it was 10th in Foreign Policy magazine’s 2008 Global Cities Index, and nowhere in the upper rankings of the Urban Land Institutes’ 2008 rankings.
It is this complexity that makes the notion of ranking cities so interesting. The criteria are often so widely varied that a city that ranks highly on one index may be at the bottom of another.

Rae added that we do very well in slices when measured against other cities in terms of finance, cultural activities and the like but as a whole, Toronto is a failed experiment.

Figuring out a city like ours is no small task and the insights of the panellists were what drew Elsie Nisonen to the presentation.

“I just thought it would be food for thought,” she said. “People struggle on what Toronto is or isn’t. It is the biggest city in the country, but it’s also the most hated.”