U of T prof Nick Mount and writer Stephen Marche took on architect Jack Diamond and journalist John Barber at the AGO last night to debate whether Toronto will ever be considered a truly beautiful city.
Last night, The Walrus filled the AGO’s panoramic Baillie court with engaged city-dwellers and local luminaries to debate this resolution: “Be it resolved that Toronto will never be beautiful.” As a primer on urban design and a thought-provoking examination of aesthetic appeal, the public debate was pretty interesting. As a showcase for a cross-section of Torontonian personalities, it was downright fascinating. Here were the five most intriguing talking points:
1. Beauty is a) passé, b) destined to be ruined by billboards or c) socially useful.
Nick Mount, an award-winning U of T English Prof arguing against the resolution for Side Negative, argued that if Torontonian monuments are ugly, it’s because the designers wanted them that way. “After the first World War, a group of artists refused to produce beautiful art for a society they felt turned Europe into a wasteland,” said Mount. “Where art led, cities followed.”
He pointed to the financial district as an example of buildings that are meant to instill awe, humility and, possibly, reverence—but certainly not an awareness of beauty. And that’s a shame, because Mount also contended that we need beauty in times of strife—art can be a source of unity. “And, these days,” he said, “we could use some unity.”
2. Democracy is inherently ugly, and that’s OK…
John Barber, The Globe and Mail’s former City Hall columnist, delivered the first rebuttal in favour of the resolution for Side Positive. As he spoke, a slideshow of cracked-concrete streets, decaying strip malls and neglected highway greenery cycled on the projection screen.
“These images are of a city of becoming … one created by people who arrive and want to get ahold on something,” said Barber. “This is ‘Toronto the Good Enough.’”
But this kind of prudent ugliness is to be embraced, said Barber. Democracy is ugly, historically—only the single-mindedness of fascism produced a finely honed, unified urban look.
Matt Galloway, host of CBC’s Metro Morning, later asked from the audience: “Do we need to change how we think before we are able to be beautiful?”
3. …but so is bureaucracy, and that kind of sucks.
Jack Diamond—Officer of the Order of Canada, architecture giant, founder of Diamond and Schmitt Architects—accompanied Barber on Side Positive. More than one audience-member voiced unease at the prospect of having Toronto’s permanent ugliness confirmed by the man who designed the Four Seasons Opera House.
“Toronto is one of the best cities in the world,” said Diamond, but he argued, it exemplifies “Presbyterian narrowness and architectural mediocrity.” Diamond also noted that the constitutional distribution of power leaves the city deprived of fiscal power and, hence, any real chance of improvement.
Stephen Marche, Torontonian author-journalist and Mount’s partner on Side Negative, countered by citing Toronto’s relatively newfound economic clout as a banking capital. This circumstance kick-started Berlin’s assertive rejuvenation, he said, and Toronto will fall into the same pattern.
4. Toronto is about to boost its digital profile.
The Toronto Project, co-sponsor of the debate along with The Walrus, is designed to be a comprehensive online archive of Toronto history and culture, by transforming the Toronto Public Library archive of Toronto history into an animated, interactive web-feature. But the site will also open itself to grassroots-level urban stories. Check out the initial setup at www.thetorontoproject.com. Right now, the site is rudimentary, but it might grow into something pretty special.
5. John Barber can hold a grudge, and he does it with style.
As the audience applauded the conclusion of Barber’s “Toronto the Good Enough” speech—having effectively shaken the audience with its depiction of systemic urban squalor—he rolled on to one final slide: a zoomed-in photo of his long-time adversary, Mayor Rob Ford.
“Total mistake,” said Barber. “I don’t know how that got in there.” (The room did not seem to mind.)
Likewise, Marche delivered a thoroughly stinging compliment to the mayor. While discussing Toronto’s desire for beautiful architecture, he noted the earnestness at the heart of the Ford brothers’ notorious Ferris Wheel waterfront-revitalization proposal: “Even Rob Ford, given then limited tenure of his imagination, recognized the need was there.”
