I had this exact same feeling staying in Vancouver this summer! And I interviewed someone earlier in the year who thought Montreal was a utopian city! (I’m now planning a trip!)
Maybe Canadian cities are just utopian because they are so multicultural, and because they seem designed to be a good place to live (so much culture, so much greenery, so many bike paths and places to stroll!)
I definitely agree that Utopianism relies on two things: systems designed to be of the best benefit to the most people, but also the freedom for those people to live the way they want to within their local communities. So far, democratic socialism seems to provide some kind of happy medium there, but it will certainly never be perfect!
Utopia is an evolution not a destination! And many of our societies are much more utopian than More could have imagined!
Lol please don’t expose the greatness of Toronto. If you do, too many people will come! It’s a hidden gem!
Toronto is the whole world in one place getting along happily,
Also, I feel like we went to the same tea flavored ice cream place on Yonge and it was SO good. Did they only have peach and matcha as the choices? Incredible matcha ice cream here. The Toronto food scene is the best food scene in the world if you judge purely on taste and not service.
And if it wasn’t for winter, Toronto would be the best big city to live on earth imo.
> Of the world’s large cities, it is one of the most diverse, and possibly the one with the largest proportion of foreign-born immigrants.
Dubai's population is a whopping 85% foreign-born, and it's definitely part of "the world's large cities".
I also like to think of Canada and Australia as being unusually high-percentage foreign-born, but the UAE in general, and Dubai in particular, is the actual blatant outlier there.
I had the exact same impression of Toronto as you; it's not somewhere I love or want to live in, but I'm very happy it exists; I really do think it demonstrates something special, that the most multicultural city in the world can just be... A bit dull!
What makes Canada more generally and Toronto specifically so special is that they are so neutral when it comes to culture. Both Australia and the United States are similar to Canada in many ways, but both states place their dominant culture on a pedestal.
It is also for this reason why Toronto is the most interesting food city in the entire world.
I'm sure Toronto is a beautiful city. But utopia or even close I disagree. A place and there are many were people are living in streets and public places is no utopia.
I had this exact same feeling staying in Vancouver this summer! And I interviewed someone earlier in the year who thought Montreal was a utopian city! (I’m now planning a trip!)
Maybe Canadian cities are just utopian because they are so multicultural, and because they seem designed to be a good place to live (so much culture, so much greenery, so many bike paths and places to stroll!)
I definitely agree that Utopianism relies on two things: systems designed to be of the best benefit to the most people, but also the freedom for those people to live the way they want to within their local communities. So far, democratic socialism seems to provide some kind of happy medium there, but it will certainly never be perfect!
Utopia is an evolution not a destination! And many of our societies are much more utopian than More could have imagined!
as a torontonian I endorse this post
Lol please don’t expose the greatness of Toronto. If you do, too many people will come! It’s a hidden gem!
Toronto is the whole world in one place getting along happily,
Also, I feel like we went to the same tea flavored ice cream place on Yonge and it was SO good. Did they only have peach and matcha as the choices? Incredible matcha ice cream here. The Toronto food scene is the best food scene in the world if you judge purely on taste and not service.
And if it wasn’t for winter, Toronto would be the best big city to live on earth imo.
SF should study Toronto.
> Of the world’s large cities, it is one of the most diverse, and possibly the one with the largest proportion of foreign-born immigrants.
Dubai's population is a whopping 85% foreign-born, and it's definitely part of "the world's large cities".
I also like to think of Canada and Australia as being unusually high-percentage foreign-born, but the UAE in general, and Dubai in particular, is the actual blatant outlier there.
I had the exact same impression of Toronto as you; it's not somewhere I love or want to live in, but I'm very happy it exists; I really do think it demonstrates something special, that the most multicultural city in the world can just be... A bit dull!
This is a fantastic and important post Etienne.
What makes Canada more generally and Toronto specifically so special is that they are so neutral when it comes to culture. Both Australia and the United States are similar to Canada in many ways, but both states place their dominant culture on a pedestal.
It is also for this reason why Toronto is the most interesting food city in the entire world.
I'm sure Toronto is a beautiful city. But utopia or even close I disagree. A place and there are many were people are living in streets and public places is no utopia.