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The London Free Press: Special Reports: The Next London

PART 19: Defining London through public art fund can help direction
Paul Berton
Sun Media

 
February 8, 2008  

It's only a first step, but it's a step in the right direction. This week, council made a pretty strong statement in favour of public art, and the need to encourage more of it in London.

WEB: www.shakespearetotheshoreline.ca

If it gets final approval later this month, council's vote to contribute $160,000 to a recently established public art fund could usher in a new era and reinforce London's future as a creative city.

"I think it's a significant step for the city, I really do," said Cont. Gord Hume, who heads up the creative cities committee, which made the recommendation.

The objective, says Hume, is to double the amount over the next few years and then leverage the fund to attract investments from the private sector.

It might seem radical, but London isn't exactly leading the pack by establishing this kind of fund. Many larger -- and smaller -- cities have much bigger funds relative to their size.

But it's a good start.

Public art helps make a city worth living in. It tantalizes and it rewards, it attracts innovative, creative, hard-working contributors to the local economy. It is part and parcel of a creative city, and is key to our future economic prosperity.

Will it be controversial? We should all hope so. For good public art is rarely invisible. It is more than statues in the park or a sculpture in a square.

Good public art helps distinguish public spaces; define borders; creates places; acts as a focal point; anchors buildings. Good public art reminds us of who we are and where we've come from. It entertains, challenges, engages.

It also helps urban design and raises the bar for other projects. It makes people more aware of the importance of our built environment, and the need to make our cities livable.

If it creates debate, which it inevitably does if it's any good, then so much the better. All the great public art pieces emerged out of very loud, public and sometimes even divisive debates.

London has some fine public art, but not nearly enough of it. Perhaps the last big project occurred on Wellington Street north of Dundas. (And it was controversial.) That happened far too long ago.

As Hume says, public art "isn't all about hanging a pretty picture on a wall." It could be innovative design or unique lighting. It could be placed downtown or in the suburbs or along Highway 401.

But it should tell others, and it should remind us, that we're standing up to be counted.

Paul Berton is Sun Media National Comment Editor.



E-MAIL: Paul Berton





The Next London

PART 19: Defining London through public art fund can help direction (Feb. 8, 2008)
It's only a first step, but it's a step in the right direction. This week, council made a pretty strong statement in favour of public art, and the need to encourage more of it in London.

PART 18: Community building -- the world is watching (Feb. 2, 2008)
In a month or two, city council may officially embark on a journey that will redefine the way we build neighbourhoods.

PART 17: Explaining 10 myths of urban design (Feb. 1, 2008)
In a recent presentation to city council, Sean Galloway, London's new urban designer, eloquently outlined what he called the "10 myths of urban design."

PART 16: Coming to terms with the 'tombstone' (Jan. 26, 2008)
Charles Landry, the esteemed author of such books as The Creative City and The Art of City Making, took one look at London's downtown courthouse during a visit several years ago and remarked: "If the accused don't feel guilty already, they certainly will when they see this."

PART 15: Making downtown neighbourly (Jan. 17, 2008)
Is downtown London a neighbourhood? If it isn't, it should be. If people don't think of it that way, they should start.

PART 14: Why London's downtown matters (Jan. 11, 2008)
No discussion of urban design, or placemaking, or the Creative City, or a vibrant economy, or healthy suburbs can occur without a lot of talk about a city's downtown.

PART 13: Let's put people ahead of cars (Jan. 5, 2008)
Our streets are meant to move traffic efficiently -- or are they? This is a fundamental question in the debate over how to make cities more livable. Toronto's Yonge Street, for example, is not famous because of cars -- it's famous because of people.

PART 12: Markham shows us the way to grow (Dec. 15, 2007)
Cornell, a community in Markham, just north of Toronto, is considered one of the best examples of new urbanism in Canada.

PART 11: London's residential streets are too wide (Dec. 8, 2007)
At the heart of the new urbanism is the need for more cozy, friendly, walkable neighbourhood streets. London doesn't have enough of them, and one reason is because our streets are simply too wide, and our houses set too far back.

PART 10: Noise walls unnecessary with better planning (Dec. 7, 2007)
There is something wrong with a community that feels the need to wall itself in with sound barriers.

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