Less than a day after the attack by a man driving a van killed 10 pedestrians in North Toronto, the city installed a row of thigh-high concrete barriers outside its main downtown train station. An interim measure, residents were told. More than six years later, they’re still there.
The goal of these barriers is laudable, the pace of replacement questionable and the result downright ugly.
As city hall once again promises that a more permanent security solution is on the way, a plea for more beauty in urban life. Cost and functionality will be key considerations in whatever is done – but aesthetics should be, as well.
A call for beauty in urban life may seem vain, even frivolous, given the challenges Canada’s biggest cities face. Their finances are precarious, their infrastructure crumbling and their future threatened by young people leaving. But it need not cost more to design an attractive barrier than an ugly one, or an elegant garbage can instead of a utilitarian one. And improving the public realm can help cities improve their prospects.
Public realm is planner-speak for the shared outdoor space where millions of Canadians go about their daily lives. Think of this as the stage set of urban life. It’s full of small cues that encourage people to stay a bit, or to hurry through. These details can fade unnoticed into the backdrop, but they help determine whether someone has a positive or negative impression of a place.
Consider a city centre you liked on vacation. What made you linger? It probably had a bit of greenery, places to sit, perhaps a fountain or something else to look at. Most importantly, it had other people, giving it a vibrancy that made it an enjoyable place to spend time.
A welcoming public realm brings us together, with multiple benefits.
People congregating in an area will often end up spending money there. Public mixing in a communal space is good for civic stability. Well-used areas create a sense of local ownership, and having people around can reduce worries about crime. There’s a psychological benefit, as well: drawing residents out of their homes acts as an antidote to the atomization that can be a feature of urban life.
It can also help cities to survive and to thrive. The pandemic caused a shift to working from home that hurt city-centre businesses, boosted office vacancies and undermined municipal budgets. In response, urban experts have urged cities to refashion their downtowns as places where people want to live and visit, not somewhere to work and then leave.
Happily, Canada’s big cities have a head start on this concept. They avoided the 20th-century hollowing out that hit many U.S. cities. They have lots of people living downtown. Their entertainment scenes are robust. Their streets are generally safe.
But too many lack a sense of place. With the exception of Montreal, Canadian municipalities put little effort into the public realm.
City leaders can even appear downright hostile to residents spending time in public, allowing garbage cans to overflow, leaving water fountains broken and designing parks without enough benches. Some of this is about funding. But it’s more about priorities and philosophy. Many politicians and bureaucrats appear ignorant about how people want to use urban space, or indifferent to their experience in it.
Consider again those security barriers in Toronto. Safety is a real issue, and installing the kind of concrete barriers used on highway construction sites is a functional way to shield pedestrians from homicidal drivers and other threats. But they’re unnecessarily ugly.
Why not robust planters instead to protect people? Or large stones that can double as public seating? Or a row of sturdy bollards? Any of these could have been put in over the last six years to replace the concrete barriers.
Instead, someone had the bright idea this summer of freshening up the barriers. They painted them bold colours and added cheery words in a number of languages. Then they posted pictures online of what they called their “welcome barriers.” After a wave of mockery and criticism, someone deleted the posts.
If Toronto wants to make people feel welcome, it could work a little faster at replacing those temporary barriers. And all municipal leaders should think about how to make their public realm a bit more hospitable – indeed, beautiful.