Yule Heibel on 2008-10-06
Toronto and Victoria sound more and more like close, like-minded and similarly afflicted, siblings. In spirit, and in fact.
This link has been bookmarked by 1 people . It was first bookmarked on 06 Oct 2008, by Yule Heibel.
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06 Oct 08
Yule HeibelEver since my "corner-making"/proxemics article for FOCUS, I've been meaning to write an article about the dismal unavailability of seating in Victoria's downtown. We seem more concerned with making it impossible for homeless people to sit down or sleep on benches than making it possible for housed people to take a rest. The streets are unfriendly and cheerless in that regard, and it doesn't matter how many flower baskets the city hangs up.
MORE BENCHES, please!thestar christopher_hume street_usage street_furniture benches montreal cities
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It's not that the city is so much greener than others; the difference lies in the ease with which it can be inhabited.
What does that mean? Well, to begin with, benches – and lots of them.
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Compared with Toronto, where finding a place to sit out on the streets is next to impossible, Montreal positively invites visitors to sit down and watch the passing parade. Benches are everywhere you turn.
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Simply put, benches allow us to inhabit a city. They help transform a place into a destination. They tell us we're welcome and give us a chance to be spectators as well as participants.
Here in Toronto, it seems benches are regarded with suspicion; perhaps our attitudes are vestiges of a time when this was a city that associated sitting and relaxing with slothfulness and indolence. To sit is to loiter. Even now, there are plenty of signs reminding us that loitering is forbidden. The devil makes work for idle hands, and, in Toronto, idle feet.
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Montreal goes even further and attaches benches to utility poles throughout the downtown core. Again, the message is clear: The street isn't just a way to get from A to B, but a place to be.
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Yule Heibel on 2008-10-06
interesting... images?
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And you'd think Toronto, which likes to make a big deal of its commitment to pedestrianism, would latch on to the bench. In the grand scheme of things, benches offer a cheap and easy way to demonstrate its seriousness about getting people to walk.
But the culture of official Toronto is one of fear and loathing. From the bureaucratic point of view, benches are risky business. They attract the homeless, drunks, drug addicts, and worst of all, skateboarders. They are dirty, dangerous and, well, to be avoided.
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