I was just reading about London's plans to pedestrianize Oxford Circus with two new semi-circular pedestrian piazzas (pictured above). And it reminded of two things.
One, there are silver linings to this pandemic. And one of them is that it has forced us to rethink how we allocate public space and how we engage with it. It is incredible seeing Toronto right now with so many outdoor patios in full swing. Why eat inside when you can eat outside? We should have been doing this all along.
Two, the transformation of Toronto's Yonge Street cannot happen fast enough. We are sorely missing a pedestrianized spine through the middle of our downtown. This portion of Yonge Street currently looks like shit and I know that we can do much better.
Think La Rambla in Barcelona. Grafton Street in Dublin. Lincoln Road in Miami Beach. These are the streets that seem to always draw you in. They are places where public life can play out. I'm pretty sure that I have never once visited any of these cities and not walked these streets.
Thankfully Yonge Street's transformation is underway. So let's make it truly remarkable and one of the most beautiful streets in the world. That should be the bar we set for ourselves.
Image: Westminster City Council
I came across this stack of old Wallpaper city guides while reorganizing a few things over the weekend (because that's what happens on the weekends now). They are pretty beat up and color faded from travel. It looks like these guides are still being published by Phaidon (along with an app), but it's been well over a decade since I bought one.
I know the exact time period of the above books because I used to do really nerdy things like date and location stamp them when I got them. The Rome book was July 2007 and I picked it up in Dublin, while I was there working for a real estate developer before the global financial crisis. I also discovered old phone numbers and email addresses written inside of them. Usually it was a Hotmail address.
What I liked about these guides is that they were fairly condensed -- good for a long weekend -- and they were generally design-focused -- perfect for architecture nerds like me. Their restaurant, bar, and club selections were also just fine as a jumping off point. After that it was up to you to make your own adventure.
I sent this photo to my friend Alex Feldman over the weekend -- he also went without any sleep in Berlin -- and he reminded me what it was like at this time. This was 2007. The first iPhone was just being released. Its map functionality was nowhere near what it is today (or didn't exist). And I certainly didn't have one. I had a Blackberry with a plastic wheel on the side. It was basically a giant pager.
To navigate a city at this time meant using a physical map. It also meant getting repeatedly lost and having to ask real people where to go. Alex also reminded me that I made him wander all around Berlin so that I could buy a new pair of glasses. What can I say, this was pre-laser Brandon and I needed cool architect glasses. They ended up being red.
As frustrating as this must have been at times, there's something nice about traveling without knowing each and every step and without being able to summon an Uber at any point in time to take you exactly where you want to go. In fact, this is probably the central ingredient of all good travel: you need to allow yourself to be open to new experiences.
One of the great lessons of Anthony Bourdain was that you have to get out of your comfort zone. Cities have both highs and lows, but there's real value and authenticity in the lows if you're willing to engage beneath the surface. Perhaps that is the irony of old fashioned guide books in the pre-smartphone era. They were supposed to tell you exactly where to go, but they actually helped you find the opposite.
The only city that I never actually got around to visiting from the above stack is São Paulo. As you can tell, Brazil has been on my list for many years. I did make it to Rio de Janeiro a few years ago and São Paulo was supposed to be October 2020. But I'm pretty sure that trip will need to wait. Maybe I should leave my phone at home.
“The concentration of economic growth and prosperity in large metro areas defines the modern global economy, creating both opportunities and challenges in an era in which national political, economic, and societal trends are increasingly influenced by subnational dynamics.” -Brookings Institute
The Metropolitan Policy Program at the Brookings Institute has a new report out for 2018 called the Global Metro Monitor.
Here are some of the highlights (data is from 2014 to 2016):
- The 300 largest metro areas in the world accounted for 36% of employment growth and 67% of GDP growth.
- Metro areas in China and the Asia-Pacific region outperformed, whereas Latin American cities, and in particular the largest Brazilian cities, were weaker performers.
- The majority of large metro areas had growth rates that exceeded that of their respective regions. So again, cities are the driver.
And here is an interesting interactive chart (better to click through) that shows the % change in GDP per capita.
Look at how much of an outlier San Jose is. Though, check out Dublin in the footnote. And if you look at the actual data table, it is all China, except for Dublin at the top.
For the rest of the charts, click here. And to download the full Global Metro Monitor report, click here.