A little Toronto in Venice Biennale
Big cities like Toronto can be pressure cookers of tension, so it’s important to leave now and then if you can.
I never understood cottage culture and the deep desire to get out of the city, until I moved to Toronto. There just isn’t as pressing a need to escape smaller cities. For those of us who are uncottaged, Toronto Island serves this purpose and is a critical place for mental health and perspective.
This year I’m lucky to escape even further and, for part of my summer, visit Venice, Italy, with its efficient and fast public ferry system. It works so well that it shames Toronto’s antiquated island ferries that have drained all romance from summer day trips.
The Venetian ferries had me thinking a lot about Toronto, but so did the Venice Biennale of Architecture, an event that happens every two years. A number of countries, including Canada, have permanent pavilions and others exhibit together in endless exhibition halls. It’s a massive exploration of ideas, many relating to cities.
What was most compelling this year was the overwhelming social mission and human scale of so many of the projects. “Starchitect” buildings and grand projects did not dominate, but the problems of global and urban politics did.
The theme of this year’s Biennale is “Reporting from the Front,” as cities are on the front lines of human growth and migration. Toronto is feeling the pressure too, particularly around housing.
“By 2050 two thirds of the world’s population will live in cities” read one large poster in an exhibit by London firm Rogers Stirk Harbour + Partners that proposed a modular, containerlike public housing scheme they called Tree House.
“The housing crisis is increasing inequality and destroying our cities,” read another of their posters. With more than 170,000 Ontario households waiting for affordable housing in 2015, our region is part of this global problem.
Proposals to fix these and other questions were abundant at the Biennale, overwhelming really. But taken as a whole, dedicating so much space, time and effort to issues of housing instead of to flashy megaprojects suggests a seriousness in the urban and architecture worlds around these issues. Global agendas are slow to change, but already in Canada the federal government is talking about investing in Canadian cities.
Spain’s pavilion felt like an alternate Toronto — if some kind of economic disaster happened here — dedicated to the unfinished buildings, houses and subdivisions that proliferate the Spanish landscape since that country’s economic collapse.
We struggle with growth in Toronto, but Spain is dealing with what happens when the bubble pops. Which is more difficult? What would happen if growth just stopped in Toronto?
The other related themes at the Biennale were of human migration and refugees. How to house them and integrate them into city life was the subject of quite a few exhibitions. The Austrians choose not to stage an architectural exhibit, but rather dedicated their pavilion to “Places for People” research and directed other resources to helping refugees back in Austria.
Figuring out the right answers to all these questions is an ongoing effort, but remembering Toronto is not alone is important. As our city struggles to address these issues, other cities are too. Perhaps it’s little comfort to those jammed on the Yonge subway every morning to know others are jammed in dozens and dozens of other cities too, but they are. Countries have often looked to each other for common cause, but cities can do that too.
Still, if only Toronto could adopt some of Venice’s fast, easy-on, easy-off ferries to get people to the island and back without hassle, it would be easier for everybody to escape the city and get some perspective on our home. Shawn Micallef writes every Saturday about where and how we live in the GTA. Wander the streets with him on Twitter @shawnmicallef.
Spain’s pavilion at the Biennale felt like an alternate Toronto, if some kind of economic disaster happened here