An interesting piece on urban centers –
“Last year, the
increasing population of Toronto passed the declining population of Chicago.
Comparisons come naturally. What Chicago was to the 20th century, Toronto will
be to the 21st. Chicago was the great city of industry; Toronto will be the
great city of post-industry. Chicago is grit, top-quality butchers, glorious
modernist buildings and government blight; Toronto is clean jobs and artisanal
ice-creameries, identical condos, excellent public schools and free healthcare
for all. Chicago is a decaying factory where Americans used to make stuff.
Toronto is a new bank where the tellers can speak two dozen languages. You feel
a natural ease in time when you touch down from another city; you don’t have to
strain for hope here. The future matters infinitely more than the past….
It has become the
national metropolis, the city plugged into the global matrix. At the same time,
Toronto is 51% foreign-born, with people from over 230 countries, making it by
many assessments, the most diverse city in the world. But diversity is not what
sets Toronto apart; the near-unanimous celebration of diversity does. Toronto
may be the last city in the world that unabashedly desires difference.”