Toronto is introducing ‘cultural districts,’ but who gets to determine the culture?

Thestar.com
Dec. 8, 2021
Danica Samuel

The city of Toronto is trying something new with some of its neighbourhoods --formalizing them into “cultural districts.”

But for many urban planners the initiative begs an important question: who gets to determine a city’s culture and legitimize it?

The cultural districts program, first proposed as a response to ongoing calls to secure heritage designation and preserve Little Jamaica, was announced at a city economic development committee meeting in October.

In addition to Little Jamaica on Eglinton West, three other areas are being considered for the program: the Church-Wellesley Village, Chinatown and Geary Avenue, an area once known as Toronto’s ugliest street now transformed into a hub of art stores, breweries, restaurants, fashion houses and music shops.

At the October meeting, Elena Bird, policy development officer for the city, stated that the cultural districts program is about examining how to celebrate and empower communities “beyond the current policy tool.”

“How can we protect areas from displacement, through potential solutions such as community ownership?” asked Bird. “How do we avoid the loss of character and identity that provide a safe space, and a sense of belonging for communities?”

Listen to Danica Samuel discuss 'cultural districts'

A lot of the specifics of the cultural districts program have not yet been determined, but the city said it will be conducting broad public engagement throughout the winter and be looking to places like San Francisco, Singapore and Boston to inform what is done here. The research would determine the implementation plan, timelines, resources, governance and financial and community benefits.

But Jamilla Mohamud, senior urban planner at Urban Strategies, points out that a cultural districts program shouldn’t be implemented from the top down --meaning it can’t be the government determining what’s best for marginalized communities.

“Who gets to decide what’s worthy of receiving that (designation), like (what) culture is considered worthy and benefits from the designation and (what culture) doesn’t?” asked Mohamud, adding it’s not clear what conversations between the city and residents look like.

“It really has to be a community-based initiative,” explained Mohamud, emphasizing that process development, application eligibility and definitions of a cultural district should all be created in collaboration with community members.

“Particularly centring the needs of communities who have been systemically marginalized --low-income, racialized communities, Indigenous populations,” she continued. “(We should) be thinking about how can we leverage this cultural district designation to make a more livable, better, equitable city for everybody.”

When asked how the city will determine the cultural influence of a district --whether through historical presence of a specific group or its present identity, the city said it is identifying cultural districts as “municipally significant areas that have a historical legacy of clustering cultural resources, businesses, not-for-profits and residents, which (when) combined uplifts the cultural identity and cultural heritage of the neighbourhood.”

Furthermore, Bird said in the city meeting that cultural districts would take what existing Business Improvement Areas do one step further by “connecting businesses, but with the residents, and with the local community, that kind of cultural community in the neighbourhood.”

Glenn Castanheira, the general manager of Montreal centre-ville, a non-profit organization made up of nearly 5,000 businesses in downtown Montreal, has previously spoken with the Star about how his city’s urban planning compares to Toronto’s.

Much like Mohamud, Castanheira also agrees that who determines the culture could be a concern, but he also thinks that the concept of formalizing districts in general can be narrow-minded.

While Castenheira supports the preservation of cultural heritage in neighbourhoods, he fears that formalizing a designation for the area through government policies can hinder the natural evolution of culture across a city.

“I think (districts) are mostly what you see in American cities, which is horrible,” said Castanheira.

He says that whether it’s arts, finance, or entertainment that sort of experience is “much more than a geographic element. It really needs to be organic and go all over the place.”

As for the formalization of cultural districts, Castanheira wonders what happens when a neighbourhood full of ethnic heritage and culture evolves organically --not through gentrification, but particularly through migration.

He uses an example of New York’s old Chinatown in Manhattan, and its modern one in Queens. He also says the same about the community he grew up in Montreal --informally known as Little Portugal --where he says “a fraction” of the Portuguese community is left.

“Little Portugal used to be the Jewish quarters of Montreal, right. Has the Portuguese erased the history of the Jewish community in Montreal? No, they each build on each other and it’s going to keep happening,” he said.

“What I’m getting at is the more restriction you put around a certain area and identifying it to a certain cultural heritage, the more the higher risk you run into of either ghettoizing it or segregating it from the rest of the city. There’s a true risk there. There is a beauty in the way cities organically evolve. And if it’s done well, it’s to ensure that those communities retain their power and influence on the city itself.”