Return to the Flaneur/Flaneuse

Hey,

So we've come to the end of the course. The exam will take place less than three hours from the time I am writing. It's been fun.

I want to direct your attention to the video below. This is how some fellow undergraduates in the drama program at U of T read and practice Benjamin. Our class assignment on the flaneur provided, I believe, some measure of what these students must have experienced in Berlin. Some approximation.

There is so much excitement in the eyes of these students. There was far too much information to process and to convey. It's this energy and this process of telling a story that's so much larger than yourself that I desire. If you too desire this experience, I would encourage you to travel, to listen and to learn broadly.

Best,
Dan

AftER - Walter Benjamin project 2012

Prostitution: The Underground Economy in Flux

http://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/underground-economy/

The underground economy is an interesting avenue to study. This article is relevant because recently there was a debate about legalizing prostitution. This change will shape the way the city is understood and its reputation; however, although there are many negative connotations aligned to this legalization, there are possible positives. The underground economy will shift because prostitution may be legalized; it may no longer a grey area.

Non-Place and the Denver Airport

On a recent trip to Austin, Texas I had a lengthy layover in the Denver airport. The layover was very long and tedious and allowed me to walk around the airport several times to gain a sense of the destinations, people and airlines that were constantly moving in and out of the airport. As with all airports the groups that were flying out of Denver were heterogeneous in composition and size. The variety of people varied along ethnic, racial, class and gender lines. During my several trips around the airport in an attempt to keep myself busy I started to think about Marc Augé’s idea of "non-place" and place (yes Denver airport is that boring). Although I had a relatively limited remembrance of his ideas I do not recall strongly that the airport was a central example of his idea of "non-place" based on its role as a place of transience. defined by “supermodernity”. Moreover,  airports lack the required significance and stability for it to be considered a “place”. Although the idea made sense at the time of my reading of Augé’s article I was struck at the dissonance I experienced when trying to apply his theory to my experience in the airport. In theory as described in Augé’s article the airport is a place which lacks a distinctive sense of place as its user and residents are highly fluid, and temporal. As a result a consistent element of place is theoretically missing from the airport. However, this fluidity and lacking in distinctive characteristics due the transience of flyers was not by my experience in the airport. Firstly Augé’s ideas are a very generalized assumption of a monolithic character of airports around the world. What struck me most strongly about the Denver Airport was how rooted in a distinctive place it was compared to this idea of transience as described in Augé’s article.

 Firstly in the bathroom there was a sign declaring the bathroom to be a tornado shelter. Apart from the surprise of seeing this sign I was struck by how the materiality of the building and its rooting in place was reinforced by this declaration. The building took on a far mote concrete and lasting image in my mind. Secondly and most importantly the composition of the passengers moving throughout the airport was rooted in a distinctive and particular place. Many of the flights were going to cities in the Midwest and the Great Plains. As a result some of the passengers had cowboy hats, cowboy boots, and hunting camo. I was rarely see any of these items while living and Toronto and thus it became that the Denver was a not non-space but strongly associated with particular places in America. The airport and its function at that moment was not defined by transience but instead defined by its placement in a particular geographical location in America. Thus, the idea of place being tied to the airport over one of non-place seemed far more helpful in understanding the airport at that moment. That is not to suggest that transience was not an important feature of the airport but to ignore the idea of place within the airport ignores its particular position in a distinct geographic and cultural part of America.   

More and More Condos

http://www.cbc.ca/strombo/news/here-comes-money-gentrification-condos-and-canadian-cities.html

Yet another article about gentrification in Toronto. This one is more about the rising number in the amount of condos. The article looks at condos in Toronto, but also the popular cities in Canada. One of the things that shocked me the most was the possibility of removing a sacred site, such as a church and replacing it with a condo! It just goes to show how these cities continue to grow and how condos are becoming a popular replacement for historical places.

Enjoy!

Stephanie

Gentrification and Toronto

http://www.thestar.com/opinion/commentary/2014/02/02/kensington_market_loblaws_beyond_a_debate_over_gentrification.html

As I finished up the final book for the course, I began thinking about how our own city has changed in a number of ways. One of the things that came to mind was the possible idea of bringing a Loblaws to Kensington market. I think this shows how even Toronto is becoming gentrified.

Enjoy the article!

Stephanie Di Matteo

China's Housing Bubble

http://www.economist.com/news/china/21599395-chinas-property-prices-appear-be-falling-again-double-bubble-trouble


This article by the Economist highlights the ongoing insecurities of the Chinese housing market, the power of the large developers and also the government's efforts to try to keep the housing market under control.

It also highlights that there are so many houses/apartments being built, yet most of the population in China cannot afford to buy them and most migrant workers still live in dormitories. This highlights some of the huge social inequalities which are growing in China, and which the housing market emphasizes.

There are fears the housing bubble might burst, yet at the same time there are so many people in China who would like to buy a home/apartment who cannot afford to do so.

Links nicely with the Zhang book.

How to be sexy though consumption of the the ideal image

http://www.dailymakeover.com/trends/slideshow/how-to-be-sexy/

http://www.gq.com/

As discussed in lecture, consumption is linked to identity. The article and the GQ home page illustrate fashion as a way of being "sexy". In this sense, sexy is intimately linked to consumption patterns. These consumption patterns are linked to socioeconomic status.

Power of the word "sale"

http://agrinomics.wordpress.com/2012/10/02/predictably-irrational-the-power-of-the-word-sale/

Article explores how consumption can be encouraged through the use of the word "sale". Consumers are more likely to engage in consumption when the word "sale" is used. The words creates a sense of bargain which entices consumers to purchase items at a discounted price. What I find is that consumers are misled by the word sale and that the sale may only entail minor discounts to regular retail price.

Nail Houses and Expensive Dogs

Zhang’s discussion regarding “nail households” in chapter 5 sounded interesting so I looked them up and found the photos pretty shocking.

I also came across this article which relates to our discussion last week about conspicuous consumption and the debate over dog ownership in China.

http://news.nationalpost.com/2014/03/20/is-this-the-worlds-most-expensive-dog-pair-of-very-big-very-slobbery-tibetan-mastiffs-go-for-3-2-million-in-china/

The person who bought these dogs for $3.5 million dollars (the bread of which is apparently notorious for their short life-spans adding weight to Velbin’s idea of buying things for the sake of it), is a real-estate developer who seems to fit with how Zhang characterizes developers in her book.

Toronto's St. Jamestown

The north-west corner of St. Jamestown is an interesting piece of Toronto. An office building at the corner of Bloor and Sherbourne houses shops, a private college, and the main entrance to Sherbourne subway station. To the east is a busy fire hall, and to the south is a church. Yet this block also contains several abandoned houses, some of which are heritage properties. Some of these have been boarded/bricked up since before I first became aware of them in 2001.

The James Chalmers Building was demolished in 2006 following its collapse. It had been left unkempt by its owner despite its heritage designation. and remains a vacant lot to this day.

Its collapse also forced the evacuation of 4 Howard Street, which was subsequently boarded up to match its neighbours on Glen Road. The upset caused by these events helped lead to changes that allow the city to mandate ongoing maintenance.

It has long been suspected that the abandoned houses on Glen Road will meet the same fate as part of a gentrification scheme where buildings are allowed to collapse when they cannot legally be demolished. The street sees heavy foot traffic due to the east entrance to Sherbourne Subway Station, and for the still-inhabited homes. It has also been used regularly by film crews; a sign was posted this week to announce filming of a new television series. 14-16 Glen Road, as seen in the picture that can be accessed via the link above (this paragraph), is shown with windows and doors boarded on only one side. With 1 semi-detached home abandoned, the other inhabited renters for some time yet is now also sealed off from the public. The Anson Jones House on Sherbourne (beside 4 Howard Street) can be seen still inhabited on page 2 of the linked site, yet it also now sits boarded up.

Indeed, since the publication of the articles I have linked to, signs have appeared detailing extensive high-rise development proposals. Gentrification is not new to the area, evident in Tridel's postmodern condo building on Sherbourne (almost facing Howard Street) that adjoins an old Knights of Columbus hall which was moved forward several feet from its original site. As can be seen in the picture below, there has been some backlash. A faded sticker reading "Gentrification" can be seen at the top, and it has been graffiti-ed while the buildings remain untouched.

Most recently, fences have been erected around the Glen Road houses. The signs remain unchanged, so perhaps this is a sign of imminent changes to the St. Jamestown landscape.

       

Camille Paglia on Her Love for The Real Housewives! (and New York Times articles)

For those Real Housewives fans in the class, we are in good company! Camille Paglia is also a fan. In the video above, she refers to it as "anthropological" (great news for us!) And below I've linked a rave review that she penned for Bravo, in which she states, "I watch virtually nothing else on TV now, except for occasional documentaries and Turner Classic Movies."

http://www.bravotv.com/blogs/the-dish/camille-paglia-why-i-love-the-real-housewives

Also, here are the links to the New York Times articles that I mentioned today. The second one is more relevant to Chapter 6 in Zhang's book (Recasting Self-Worth), which we will discuss next week:

"In China, Children of the Rich Learn Class, Minus the Struggle" (NYT, September 22, 2006)

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/09/22/world/asia/22elites.html?_r=0&adxnnl=1&pagewanted=all&adxnnlx=1395615663-QhUx0poWohfI+iaV+Cb5rA

"For Many Chinese Men, No Deed Means No Dates" (NYT, April 14, 2011)

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/04/15/world/asia/15bachelors.html?pagewanted=all

A Perfect Example of Conspicuous Consumption

Since we were talking conspicuous consumption in class and someone mentioned the Rich Kids of Instagram. I just wanted to share their tumblr link and let everyone know that some of kids from this blog have also received a TV deal under the name "Rich Kids Of Beverly Hills".
Here you go, and enjoy their displays of wealth.

http://richkidsofinstagram.tumblr.com/
http://ca.eonline.com/shows/rich_kids_of_beverly_hills

The Zabaleen of Cairo, Egypt

Have you ever heard of the Zabaleen? 

Well you should consider looking into them - especially if you're interested in where urban anthropology and environmental issues intersect. The Zabaleen "Garbage People" are a group of refuse collectors and recyclers that predominantly live in Cairo. They are a well established group consisting of upwards of 70 000 people that have informally served as garbage collectors for over 70 years. In fact, they are argued to be the world's most efficient recyclers as they are capable of recycling 80-85% of waste. However, Cairo has begun to adopt neoliberal ideologies that place urban branding and renewal at the forefront of its political agenda. This has led to the privatization of municipal waste management and the attempted displacement of the Zabaleen as they are accused of what essentially boils down to an eye sore in Cairo's bid for a clean and attractive city that hopes to promote tourism and foreign investment. 

If you're interested in finding out more, you can brush up on your research from some of the following links or track me down in class to have a conversation!

Cairo’s Contested Garbage: Sustainable Solid Waste Management and the Zabaleen’s Right to the City

- http://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/2/6/1765

Crushed? Cairo's Garbage Collectons and Neoliberal Urban Politics 

- http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/juaf.12073/full

Entertain yourselves, anthropologically

I'm sure you all have a lot on your plate these days, but I wanted to point your attention towards some videos and articles that I have mentioned in class, in case you are in the mood for some anthropological entertainment.

First, "Unsettled: From Tinker to Traveller" - this is the documentary about George and Sharon Gmelch's return to Ireland to reconnect with their research participants, 40 years later:

Second, here is a 2008 Savage Minds post (this is a great anthropology blog, by the way) about The Wire, which makes a case that The Wire is the best ethnographic text on contemporary US society:

http://savageminds.org/2008/02/25/is-the-wire-our-best-ethnographic-text-on-the-us-today/

Third, here is a recent article from Forbes magazine, about urban development in Kunming, China - the city in which Zhang's book, In Search of Paradise: Middle Class Living in a Chinese Metropolis, is set. A very interesting read, that may help provide some context for Zhang's book:

http://www.forbes.com/sites/morganhartley/2013/11/22/making-room-for-history-among-chinas-new-highrises/

Enjoy!

TIMELAPSE OF 30 YEARS OF CHANGE

http://www.theatlanticcities.com/technology/2013/05/terrifying-fascinating-timelapse-30-years-human-impact-earth-gifs/5540/

This website talks about a project done by NASA and Google. It has some gifs that show how areas of the earth have changed over the past thirty years (I think the exact dates are 1984-2012). These includes gifs of Dubai and Vegas. But more interestingly, if you scroll down a bit you can zoom in on any location and see how any city has changed over this time period (make sure to press play after you have zoomed in). It is amazing to see how cities have built-up and spread out over the past thirty years.

Radioactive Bluefin tuna

http://thecitizenscolumn.com/general-ed/2013/10/2/all-bluefin-tuna-caught-in-california-are-radioactive-stay-away-from-sushi

Toronto Photographers

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2499677/Torontos-notorious-rooftopper-survives-death-defying-encounter-skyscrapers-captures-city-1-000ft-up.html

Really interesting article about young photographers and thrill seekers climbing skyscrapers to capture breathtaking images of the "urban jungle" we call Toronto. I enjoy how the photographer(s) juxtapose the people in the frame and the cityscape itself. The pictures are an intriguing way of viewing the city from a vantage point not native to most urban dwellers. Most of these shots are taken illegally, with the photographer and thrill seekers avoiding security guards. This relates to the idea of the contested city, being that these people are defying the norms and legal system imposed on the system to provide themselves enjoyment and capture their view of Toronto with the use of a lens. These photographs contest the city's legal framework by defying private property rights, something that is instrumental to the neoliberal system. This is even related to this upcoming weeks readings... food for thought! I don't want to delve too deep into my perceptions, I hope you all can produce your own conclusions given the knowledge provided in lecture and in the readings. Enjoy!

Toronto and the Figure of the Hoser

An interesting piece by John Doyle about the figure of the hoser in Canadian culture from Bob and Doug Mackenzie to Rob and Doug Ford. The two key points: the hoser has morphed from a loveable figure into an angry and aggressive one; and it's now acceptable for hosers to be rich businessmen and media figures (Don Cherry) despite their appeals to 'blue collar' values.

Exciting new technologies for urban planning

AMAZING Ted Talk which addresses the problems with mainstream urban planning theory and presents a technology that has the potential to change the way homes and cities are built all over the world. Check'er out! http://www.ted.com/talks/alastair_parvin_architecture_for_the_people_by_the_people.html

The Trayvon Martin case is an example of how an encounter at the street level in a nominally public space can scale up from the street and become a national public debate about race and racism. In this relatively impromptu speech, Obama puts himself in the position of Trayvon Martin and discusses some of the other ways that racism gives rise to a fear that forecloses the possibilities of open "contact" (Jacobs) kinds of encounters in the public spaces of the city. Note though how gender plays into this dynamic of fear, for when he discusses the now heavily mythologized elevator scene he refrains from putting himself in the position of someone who might be feared. Keep in mind also that this speech is aimed at giving expression to widespread political outrage in the hopes of heading off what could be a violent response to such a verdict (memories of Rodney King and the LA riots). In this regard, watch his hand gestures, which might be expected to emphasize his points with fist thrusts but which come across as being fatigued and lacklustre. Thus, even in his body language he channels the frustration while refusing to channel a forceful reaction, replacing the potential force with a frustrated fatigue.

TED talk on "Walkable Cities"

Urban Planner Jeff Speck does a great TED talk on the value of "walkable cities". A must see! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wai4ub90stQ 

NY Times Article - The Experiences of living in London

I found this article from the New York Times titles 'Lessons From Living in London'. The writer is a New Yorker describing her experiences moving to London, UK. I thought it was a really interesting article to read as the author discusses how one makes a city their own, by becoming a local, and how living in a city is very different to visiting it. The author talks a lot about the neighbourhood feel of London, and I think this is something we all do in each city we live. We always frequent the same areas, we have our favourite places to eat, our favourite stores, and usually our friends live nearby. It was also interesting to note the cultural aspect - the difference of being an American in London.

Whilst this is essentially a travel article, I think it is useful and interesting to read when considering the metropolis.

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/10/20/travel/lessons-from-living-in-london.html?smid=fb-nytimes&WT.z_sma=TR_LFL_20131021&_r=1&

Jane Jacobs meets John Travolta

One could probably have an entire film festival just on films with good sidewalk scenes but the opening scene of Saturday Night Fever is undoubtedly among the best. The soundtrack from the brothers Gibb certainly doesn't hurt either. Here we have all of Jane Jacobs' themes about sidewalk sociality: the different forms of contact (here: the gaze, the glance, the stare, the stop and chat, the shared liminal space) and the public characters (the pizza parlour woman who knows Travolta's usual order, the shopkeeper and Travolta himself). Here too the theme of trust comes up when Travolta tells the shopkeeper he doesn't need a receipt, saying 'I trust you'. That the shopkeeper rejects this trust only serves to emphasize the social fact of its existence, regardless of actual individual reliability (as it turns out Travolta can't really be trusted either as he proceeds to fleece a customer while acting neighbourly). Enjoy!

Today in lecture, Professor Barker talked about separated the reality of the U of T campus and the notion of the film studio, which reminded me of a song by Lorde called "Team", in which some of the chorus lyrics talk about what directors or media captures as representing cities. The lyrics read "we live in cities you'll never see on screen, not very pretty but we sure know how to run free". It could mean that depictions of cities that may seem beautiful and romantic may not be what it is really like to live there, especially if only attractions are captured in the film, show or commercial. It may also mean that (or at least I like to think it means) locals within cities understand and appreciate the hidden treasures that their city has to offer, such as family run bakeries, quiet grassy areas amongst the skyscrapers and back alleyways that provide some peace and quiet within the city.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YtdK_Y5iZnU

This is from the website http://urbane.us/welcome.html dedicated to vibe maps of cities, this is their home page blurb:

"NAVIGATE BY VIBE."

"Urbane is a new way of using maps to better navigate the world. Get a sense of place by capturing and discovering the character of your own neighbourhood or new places you're visiting. "

On the website you can scroll around on an interactive map and see how people described the area, the team who created the website talked to people in different neighbourhoods to "translate" the vibe. Thought it was pretty interesting, as well as the New York and Los Angeles maps. This particular map I think is lacking certain vibes. Any thoughts?

Construction

I was walking through my former neighbourhood today and I realized that so much construction is now taking place there. A former Polish Community Centre has been levelled and a condo building is being built in it's place. The sign of a former mechanical shop has been taken off, the land has been fenced off and building notices put up. Numerous houses are being renovated as well.
I remember reading that Toronto is the city with the greatest number of condominiums in North America. Why do you think this is? Most of these condo's might be in the central Toronto area.
I remember the Polish Community Centre hosting community sidewalk fairs where you could try Polish food and see Polish folk dancing. I remember my father visiting the mechanical shop numerous times.
There used to be an association between people in this neighbourhood across horizontal space  - now community space seems to have become remodelled vertically.
What is foregrounded and what is obscured when our vision becomes orientated upwards?

City of Toronto map - fantasy style

A friend shared this image with me on Facebook. 

 My first thought was to think of this class and how the prof brought up our own perception towards Toronto. Just thought this would be an interesting share, and whether some of you agree or disagree with the fantastical representation of each district.

I for one am really amused with City Hall, aka "Dragon Mayor's Lair".

Reading Benjamin's article on The Flaneur one cannot help but to juxtapose imagery and the feelings of wandering around Toronto with those described in the article from the 19th century in Paris. Almost 2 centuries separate the imagery alive in the Parisian descriptions but yet they are still able to resonate with a metropolis existing within the 21st century that is, technologically and, at least in theory (or on the face of things), economically and politically separated. Yet two selections stood out for me when visualizing our fair city of Toronto;

"Streets are the dwelling place of the collective. The collective is an eternally unquiet, eternally agitated being that - in the space between the building fronts - experiences, learns, understands and invents as much as individuals do with the privacy of their own four walls."

“The brutal indifference, the unfeeling isolation of each in his private interest become the more repellent and offensive, the more these individuals are crowded together within a limited space.” Friedrich Engels Die Lage der arbeitenden Klasse in England 1848

Now along with these two quotes I would like you to examine these two images from the corner or Bathurst Street and Bloor Street (as seen on the afternoon of Friday September 20th, 2013)

These images represent the impact that an individual has had upon the city and in turn a reflection of how the city has acted upon the individual. This man is at once part of the collective, indeed with the street being his dwelling place, and isolated from this collective due to him being labelled as one of the "homeless"(at least to outward appearances, the appearances garnered from a simple viewing, at once visual, auditory and olfactory). 

This individual (and I painfully have to lump myself into the 'brutal indifference' category because I cannot attribute a name to this man) routinely stands upon the corner of Bathurst and Bloor and silently, with a empty, worn, disposable coffee cup in his hands, not outstretched but neither held close, petitions for alms. His outward appearance does not vary from day to day or indeed from season to season but remains stoic in his unchanging appearance of stained kaki pants and an equally unclean black hooded sweatshirt. 

As I have mentioned he does not actively ask anyone for aid, but his intentions are not suspect nor illusive. In fact he does seem to break his silence, nor does his face change with any twisting of emotion. The actuation of the wall muriel is both accurate in its voice and characterization of his facial expression. The man could be the living embodiment of the art as much as the art is an embodiment of the man. 

Granted this individuals background and story are hidden to me, hidden behind my indifference but I cannot help but think that the city has been as active an agent in placing him in his circumstances as much as the city has been an active agent in memorializing this man's ever constant presence about this intersection. Perhaps it is a stretch but the city seems to have imprinted itself as much upon him as he has upon the city. 

     Hello all, I have never written a blog before so sorry if what I write does not make any sense, or is wrong.  Normally I like to keep my thoughts to myself because I fear about how I might come across.  Incidentally, I am adding this digression because blogging for dummies says I’m supposed to (seriously, that’s not a lame attempt at humour).

     Anyways, after reading the Sharon Kelly’s article “The New Normal: The Figure of the Condo Owner in Toronto’s Regent Park”, I was reminded about a documentary I saw called invisible city by Hubert Davis.  I could not find the full film, but this the trailer: 

                                          (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T6SG4UG7ogY)

     I found it interesting that the filming of the documentary coincided with the ethnographic fieldwork conducted by Kelly.  However, the documentary offers a different view, as the director follows two Black Canadian youths who live in Regent Park, commenting on their struggles within the community.  I feel that this low-income perspective contrasts nicely with Kelly’s article.  Watching the film added depth to my understanding of the “social mixing” taking place through the revitalization of the neighbourhood.   I really enjoyed the premise of the article, which questions this whole idea about how the condo-owner might struggle with the idea of being some kind of saviour.   Among other things, both works left me wondering if this social mixing in the area might have the opposite effect of lowering crime in the area, and actually make it worse.

     Coincidentally, while reading for another course I am taking, I came across a sociological theory brought forth by Thorsten Sellin.  He argues that “cultural conflict” is a main factor of criminal deviance.  Basically, from what I understand, when the norms and values of two different cultures collide, conflict emerges (I must have missed something because that seems way too obvious).  Sellin discusses what he refers to as “take-over” situations, or the infringement of a more dominant group onto another group’s territory. As an example to explain this concept, he specifically highlights how “middle-class people gentrify a rundown neighbourhood” (P.66) .  After reading this, I immediately thought about the middle-class condo owner/low-income resident dynamic in Regent Park.  Intrigued, I wanted to see what has been happening since the first phase of the revitalization that Kelly discusses, and since the film came out in 2010.  I found this article by Sara Thompson and Sandra Bucerius: 

http://www.thestar.com/news/gta/2012/06/16/regent_park_revitalization_has_it_created_an_us_versus_them_dynamic.html

     I felt that the Star’s take on the development project (especially the first two paragraphs!) really provides weight to Sellin’s argument, fitting almost perfectly with his ideas that I clumsily laid out above. 

     Both the The Invisible City, as well as, Kelly’s “The New Normal” questions the ideology behind the concept of social mixing. This, in turn, left me questioning it. It looks as though the concept failed, and that crime has indeed gotten worse in Regent Park. While the project was a social failure, my guess is that it was probably an economic success from a private investment perspective.


Other Sources: 

Patricia A. Adler and Peter Adler. Constructions of Deviance: Social Power, Context, and Interaction, 7^th edition (Belmont: Wadsworth Publishing, 2012) pg. 66

Sara Thompson, and Sandra Bucerius "Regent Park revitalization: Has it created an us versus them dynamic?" (Toronto Star, June 2012)

Intersections Are Contests

Yesterday, we reviewed some of our favourite Toronto intersections. We were also asked to reflect upon our experiences of these spaces. The words we chose reflected the notions we also discussed last week, words such as “diversity” and “accessibility.”

Yonge and Dundas provides, in some sense, both diversity and accessibility.

Try and visualize with me. You have emerged from the depths of the TTC into a blinding, deafening, muting swarm of people and things. Electronic billboards many times larger than your body. More massive are the buildings which form a cage of concrete, with only the distant sky above. Street performers make tremendous noise and movement (singing, shaking, gyrating, flailing their limbs, calling out) – all of these sights and all of these sounds. And the smell of street food, of gasoline, and the smell of the people that surround you on all sides, the smell of different places brought by some of these people. In the confusion of all these sights, sounds and smells, people brush past you, invading the “personal space” so important to many of us. All these sources of stimulus and you haven’t stepped 10 paces outside the subway. This is an example of just some of the information you are receiving in a busy Toronto intersection like Yonge and Dundas, and more precisely Yonge and Dundas square which is a meeting place for many but a resting place for few.

This sensual information – the sights, sounds, smells, touches – these are each embodiments of Yonge and Dundas culture. I think that precisely what is embodied is the imagined community we have named the market. The market makes accessible goods and services to be purchased. And there is some amount of diversity in what is available for purchase: television, clothing, food and city tours just to name a few. Though each can be purchased and consumed, the medium of consumption is different in each of these examples: clothing is worn, food is eaten, television is watched and listened to, and city tours are in some cases watched, listened to, worn and eaten.

You, the person reading this post, have probably decided that what I have been describing as diversity is shallow relative to other examples of urban diversity. This is a description merely of a diversity of things to be purchased at Yonge and Dundas. None of my examples were of things visitors could sell themselves in the market. None of my examples were of those objects or experiences existing outside of the market.

Yonge and Dundas (click the image to enlarge)
Screen Capture from Google Maps

In relation to the intersection between Baldwin and Augusta, the south entrance to Kensington Market, the intersection between Yonge and Dundas is best described as another species of intersection. Of course, there are things for purchase, but the volume-dial has been aggressively spun to a nearly inaudible frequency. The goods are in many cases on-the-street to enable consumers to touch and to closely view the clothing and food for themselves. The street performers are here, as they are at Yonge/Dundas but they do not need airhorns or amplifiers to make themselves heard. If you are at this intersection you do not need to expend effort to make yourself visible because there are less people and crucially for my purposes, there is less noise (phonic noise, visual noise, olfactory noise).

Baldwin and Augusta (click the image to enlarge)
Screen Capture from Google Maps

The messages of Yonge and Dundas are received, while the messages of Baldwin and Augusta are exchanged. There is no sending return messages at Yonge and Dundas. It is a cacophony of noise. Who could hear you with all this stimulus to receive? Of course the people immediately around you might think they hear something but this exchange will almost certainly falter. You'll have to repeat yourself over and over again because another custom at Yonge and Dundas is not to receive messages. At Baldwin and Augusta you must learn to pause long-enough to make these exchanges.

I have used the word must to describe a custom which you may think is voluntary. Why would I make an argument like this? This is a conditional, must-not usage. You must not break the law. You must not disobey your authority figures. You must not create dangerous situations. Each of these must-nots is predicated on the idea that you respect the customs of your environment, and if you contest the customs at any Toronto intersection you should be prepared to endure societal disgrace. The faces of societal disgrace include: stares, jeers, whispers, pointing, unintended injury, intended violence, malice, confusion and so on. These society-level behaviours exist wherever you find people, but the specific expectations and the degrees of severity you find are highly variable.

A consequence of participating in quieter intersections is an increase in what other people will expect from you and what you can expect from them in return (an exchanging of expectation). A consequence of participating in a noisier intersection is a decrease in expectation and an increase in the volume of information which you are exposed to.

When you and I decide to respect or contest the customs which surround us we are exercising our agencies. Depending on where these customs exist, we may need to work harder to express this agency. If we do not express our agencies we silence ourselves. If we remain silent we allow others to speak for us.

I hope that some of you will be willing to respond to me but I can appreciate that the internet can be both an extremely noisy and an extremely silent environment. I'm hoping for reasonable criticisms (I really wanted this first post to be in even less detail so I fully expect disagreement and corrections) and reasonable suggestions of how I could expand my connection between information and cities. I would also really appreciate any other examples of intersections (or of any additional social spaces) where these ideas could be brought to bare.

Global suburbanisms conference

Maria, who took Metropolis 347 some years ago and is now active in a community food initiative in Parkdale, sent on this information about an upcoming conference at York U on global suburbanisms.

Fritz Lang meets Kraftwerk

This opening sequence from Fritz Lang's Metropolis presents an image of what life is like in the underground city where workers toil. It is a world governed by the clock and an alienating and monotonous division of labour (in a subsequent segment, we see the above ground world of tennis and gardens--much like the suburban camp described by JK Galbraith in the documentary below). Here someone has presented a mash-up of this opening sequence with a song by Kraftwerk. One often thinks about the relation between cinema and the city but here we are also invited to think about the soundtrack to the city. Since the advent of the Sony Walkman and on to the iPod and beyond, our experience of the city has often been set to music. What is the soundtrack that best captures the city for you? 

Metropolis: Age of Uncertainty

This documentary narrated by John Kenneth Galbraith is rather dated but it is still informative. I like the dramatization of Engels' essay on 'The Great Towns,' which remains the classic 19th century account of the industrial city. I also like the section on Brasilia.

welcome to the Panopticon! what, you didn't know? we have arrived!

http://mashable.com/2009/02/21/social-media-better-people/

This article by Peter Cashmore briefly points to the many ways in which our public actions and conversations are vulnerable to capture and re-presentation by more than just CCTV... for example, if anyone with a cellphone can catch you in the act of doing something socially distasteful, then broadcast and ultimately humiliate or shame you via YouTube or some other social media network, then will web 2.0 social media become the omnipresent Big Brother, the watching eyes and ears that ultimately train us to become better (nicer on the outside) people?

Physical Demarcations of Space in Toronto

Demarcated spaces or neighbourhoods are evident in every city around the world. The rich-poor divide which has embedded class and ethnic characteristics. However in most cities the demarcation of space is an invisible barrier, whereby every neighbourhood has a pre-established use. What i found interesting in the city of Toronto is an example of a physical demarcation of space in a neighbourhood already well known for its elite status - Bloor-Yorkville. Cemented into the pavement of the neighbourhood's major intersections , for example Avenue Rd. and Bloor St. is a sign demarcating this space as "Bloor-Yorkville". The pre-established notions of the Bloor-Yorkville neighbourhood as being one of Toronto's highest end shopping, entertainment, and living quarters, transforms these signs into a much more dynamic demarcation of space.
Are these signs insinuating that once entering this neighbourhood can only certain people enjoy its amenities, thus creating a physical rich-poor divide. Or do these signs create feelings of superiority among those who are able enjoy the luxurious amenities this neighbourhood as to offer. Whatever the feelings may be among those who can enjoy and among those who simply walk through, the physical demarcation of space through the use of a sign within our city's pavement has transformed the invisible barrier of this elite neighbourhood into a physical divide, one people physical cross when the walk passed this embedded sign.
I wonder if any one could think of any other physical divides that characterize Toronto's city scape?

The Flaneur

I was in London back in February and was just looking through the Lonely Planet guide and stumbled upon a restaurant named The Flaneur. The restaurant claims to be based on the essence of the Flaneur, who is a rich person that didn't need to work and that spent their time strolling around markets to show off their wealth. "A sign of just how much time you had to idle around used to be sometimes seen by people having a tortoise on a lead! We have brought this concept back by filling our shelves with artisanal & fine foods, so bringing the essence of the "Flâneur" to Farringdon."

The owners wanted to go for a feel where you could come sit in and watch people and enjoy a slow meal. But isn't the whole point of the flaneur so that you DON'T have some restricted framework guiding your actions and thoughts? So then, in wanting to achieve what the flaneur achieves, by walking idle around the city and interacting with everything for only short amounts of time, the restaurant actually fails.

I am by no means trying to critique the restaurant but just found it interesting to our discussions in the course. In a metropolis like London, I don't find it surprising at all that some people want to recreate the feel of the old bourgeoisie class in creating this restaurant, but from what we learned about what a flaneur is and how he lives and interacts with his surrounds, it seems incorrect to call this restaurant The Flaneur. Am I wrong in thinking so? Or could the concept of the Flaneur be changing when applied to a metropolis already full of people walking idle, and having a life full of only brief and rapid interactions with everything along its path? Could we call it a new postmodern flaneur character, one that actually sits and doesn't really interact with anything, if only to watch it from afar and actually not partake in the rapid city life? Instead of walking idle and interacting with the city, like the Flaneur in Paris of the 18th and 19th century, maybe London can bring this character some new definition and into the current century.

Walking Advertisements

The other day at the corner of St George and Bloor I saw something quite new, well at least to my eyes, this might have been going on for a while already but I only recently discovered it. It was something simple really, something we always see but something that I started questioning for the first time in a different way. It was a mannequin. However, unlike most that I see in store fronts sporting the latest fashions, this one was just there, at the corner, all by its lonesome self. Interestingly though, I think it was actually there on purpose. It was positioned to look like it was running and had one foot bolted into the ground. It was dressed all in black (black tshirt and black shorts, yet it had one logo on the front of its shirt). I wish I had taken a picture because my memory fails me as to what the tshirt said, but nonetheless it looked like an advertisement.

This got me thinking about how advertising companies have really changed, especially in larger cities like Toronto, and how such an ad could change what we talked about in class regarding street life and street dynamics. On a regular basis we're subjected to ads be it on posters, pasted on buildings, on billboards, in newspapers or even on other people, but now it seems to have come to life in a sense. It's not only on a flat screen but in the middle of the road forcing us to interact with it. People would slow down, look at it, trying to figure out what it was and I think in that it succeeded as a good advertising tool. It is still novel and so people are reacting to it and taking notice of it, but it makes me question what would be the next step up after the novelty wears off of this? What new 'characters' will be added to the street next and how will our forced interactions with them change our perceptions of the street?

I don't think it is entirely new what companies are doing now in order to sell their products. I remember a couple of years back reading about how Sony was using new tactics to sell its new phone, the first of the Ericsson series. Basically it would have a confederate walk the streets and ask people to take pictures of him/her with their new phone. And as he/she would hand their phone over to the willing citizens, they would get them to interact with the phone and hopefully spark their interest into buying it or at least inquiring about it.

This mannequin has worked in the same sense. Here I am, still talking about it, and I saw it weeks ago!