Words of wisdom from Toronto

This photo shows "new" architecture (The CN Tower isn't that new any more), historic buildings, great streetfronts, and streetcar rails in Toronto. Photo by Sanda Kaufman, a professor at Cleveland State University in the Urban Planning program.

The Toronto Globe and Mail tells us that Mayor David Miller issued a challenge last night to builders and architects to put Toronto on the map for architectural and design excellence. "As a city we must learn to despise mediocrity," he said in a speech prepared for the city's architecture and urban design awards held at the Art Gallery of Ontario. " 'Good enough' is no longer good enough," he said. (...) In an interview before his speech, Mr. Miller said he wants architecture "to become a real value of Toronto."

He noted with admiration what he had seen while on a business trip in Kiev and Berlin last week. He said that since Germany's reunification, Berlin has found a way to blend both old and new architecture to make a statement for the city.

"It's incredible what's happening," he said. "They have had a systematic and deliberate effort to ensure excellence in architecture, both in new buildings that are completely different from traditional styles and building that fits into the traditional styles. "It's been a phenomenal success. In Toronto, we need people to walk anywhere in this city and know they are in Toronto, and you can't always do that."

"Because we have a huge building boom there is an enormous opportunity to ensure that architecture is a value for Toronto and for builders," he said in the interview. In his speech, the mayor praised "great creative minds" for helping to reshape the city's urban landscape. But he also wondered aloud "why we have so many bland buildings. . . . It makes me wonder how we came to accept 'nice enough' as a measure of architectural merit."