city building : In The News

Mercer, the international consulting firm that annually releases one of the world's most comprehensive quality-of-life reports, has published it 2011 findings.

Once again, Canadian cities (including Toronto) dominate the North American rankings. As reported by the Globe & Mail,  four Canadian cities (Montreal, Vancouver, Ottawa and Toronto) were the only North American cities to make the top 25. Vancouver tied for fifth spot, followed by Ottawa in 14th, Toronto in 15th and Montreal in 22nd.

"Canadian cities (Vancouver, Ottawa, Toronto and Montreal) hold the top spots in North America in quality of living and safety."

"Mercer looks annually at several measures, including the political and social climate, the economy, health and sanitation, education, public services, recreation and housing."

The Toronto Star writes on the 10 Torontonians who made this year's Order of Canada recipient list. The prestigious list includes opera singer and comedienne Mary Lou Fallis, publisher Patricia Aldana, and co-director of Mount Sinai Hospital's Intensive Care Unit Dr. Arnold Aberman.

After 11 days and 260 film screenings, TIFF 2011 has officially come to close. The Washington Post praises TIFF programmers for the exciting variety of movies on offer, describing the fest as a "balanced, healthy cinematic ecosystem."

"What's more, with some of the festival's smallest independent productions having been acquired by studios in recent days, audiences can be assured that, even as multibillion-dollar spectacles and comic-book franchises threaten to gobble up the smaller fry, a diverse, harmonious cinematic habitat still has a chance of surviving."

"So, at this year's TIFF, audiences could rousingly applaud the funny, touching mainstream comedy The Descendants—the festival's first bona fide home run, featuring a by-turns hilarious and heartbreaking performance by Clooney—then a few days later see Shame, Steve McQueen's stark, disquietingly graphic portrait of a man grappling with sex addiction."

"But even though the market heated up somewhat, the heart and soul of TIFF beat on the streets of downtown Toronto, where thousands of cinetourists make their annual pilgrimage, seeing up to four or even five movies a day, emerging only to cadge a hurried meal before plunging again into the dark. This is a world blithely oblivious to wheeling and dealing that occur in such elegant precincts as the Fairmont Royal York or InterContinental hotels, where the swells congregated this year. Instead, festival-goers—who could be heard coining the term "TIFF-ing" for their cine-obsessed pastime—shuttle from queue to queue, comparing notes with their fellow enthusiasts over well-thumbed programs, circling and crossing out titles with the ruthlessness of seasoned racetrack sharpies."

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original source Washington Post

Toronto is the ninth greenest city in North America and the second greenest city in Canada (behind Vancouver), according to the newly released North American Green City Index. Conducted by the Economist Intelligence Unit (and sponsored by Siemens), the study ranked 27 North American cities based on categories including CO2 emissions, green energy and environmental governance.

"Toronto's strongest category was waste, where it ranked fourth in North America while it also ranked in the top half of the index in the CO2, energy, buildings, water and air categories."

"Meanwhile, Toronto wasn't looking so good in the transportation category (surprise, surprise). The T-dot had the longest commute time of all 27 cities in the index with plenty of traffic congestion and sprawl within its borders. The study also noted that, while Toronto has a good ratio of public transit vehicles to total area, it lacks large, centrally located pedestrian-only zones."

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original source buzzbuzzhome.com

With TIFF back for its 36th year, the LA Times writes on the best Toronto hotspots "to eat, drink and be seen." Toronto's high-end hotels, world-renowned restaurants and array of premium coffee shops are among the many Toronto highlights the Times recommends to its readers.

"Toronto tends to be blasé about its stars—Rachel McAdams' regular vintage-shopping jaunts in the city's popular Kensington Market attract about as much attention as anyone else's—but whatever see-and-be-seen attitude the city does hold surges to a fever pitch during the annual International Film Festival. This year marks the 36th edition of TIFF, and whether you're looking to rub elbows with Clooney & Co. or want to duck away from the hubbub for low-key cocktails and charcuterie, the following list offers some of the best that Toronto has to offer."

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original source LA Times

The Toronto Star's Christopher Hume writes on the legacy of the Bell Lightbox, the 2-year old TIFF headquarters that's transforming Toronto's downtown.

"There’s no need to shed any tears for Yorkville just yet. Though it lost much of the film festival when TIFF moved downtown last year, it can still count on the enduring power of vanity to keep its wheels turning. And if the ’70s ever become fashionable again, the old Village will be the place to be."

"Meanwhile, down at King and John, the Bell Lightbox, TIFF’s elegant new funhouse, continues to change the face of the downtown neighbourhood. It’s not that Yorkville — or at least, the larger Yorkville area, including the Royal Ontario and Gardiner museums and the Royal Conservatory — is any less a cultural hub, but some of that energy has shifted south."

"The city also provides a study in the domino effect, how one change leads inexorably to another. TIFF is a catalyst as well as a result. And as the area draws ever closer to critical mass, it becomes a self-sustaining mix of culture, entertainment, commercial, corporate and domestic forces."

"That’s why the neighbourhood is no longer simply an Entertainment District, a Financial District or any other such designated enclave. It now incorporates elements of both. In that sense, it belongs to everyone."

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original source Toronto Star

Toronto's newest tourist attraction, an $130-million aquarium to be constructed at the base of the CN Tower, officially broke ground on August 17th. Blog TO hosts renderings of the ambitious project (expected to be completed by 2013) that will feature a 96-metre-long moving walkway through a "shark lagoon" and will be able to accommodate as many as 13,500 sea creatures.

check out renderings here
original source Blog TO

The National Post reports on efforts by a group of French-speaking Torontonians hoping to create the city's first "French Quarter". The group--the Toronto chapter of the Association of Francophone Communities Ontario (ACFO)--are hoping to transform the area around College and Sherbourne into a vibrant strip that would showcase francophone culture, film, art and cuisine.

"It's an idea that has been kicking around for at least 10 years, according to Jean-Pierre Bou�, president of the Toronto chapter of the Association of Francophone Communities Ontario (ACFO). The group has partnered with local French radio station Choq-FM and, with funding from Canadian Heritage, is asking francophones in the GTA what they think about reviving a French district that used to be on Carlton, between Yonge and Parliament streets. Their response will determine if the group pursues it."

"Mr. Bou� said the original idea was to have it cover a rather large chunk of downtown, from University Avenue to the Don Valley Parkway, from Carlton to the lake. Now, they envision anchoring it around Sacr� Coeur Church, the city's first Frenchspeaking Roman Catholic parish established in 1887, at the corner of Carlton and Sherbourne. College Fran�ais is a few blocks west, at Mutual Street, while the Centre francophone, Boreal College and TFO, the province's only French-language educational public television network, are all at Yonge and Carlton."

"Mr. Bou�, who owns Lafayette Bistro on Queen Street, says part of the challenge is francophones have not settled in a specific place in Toronto. "When an Italian family comes to Toronto they ask where are the Italians and they go where they are," he said. French people will go in the opposite direction of their own kind, he says, because they're independent. "But I can tell you that after a while you are desperate for a confit de canard [duck confit] and you would be delighted if you could find an area where there is not one, but six, seven, 10 restaurants where you can choose."

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original source National Post