A Jane’s Walk with Jes F and Rahul M of Sustain Sauga
Mississauga City Centre is a “vertical suburb around a mall”, a “triumph of bad policy over logic”. Its own mayor calls it “boring”. These may all ring true, especially from behind a windshield or an infinite scroll.
But what truths might exist alongside these portrayals—truths that might help realize a more livable, more neighbourly community?
This walk is about the art of paying attention to possibility in Mississauga City Centre: possibility as it actually exists, as it waits for a slight nudge, and as it speaks to challenges faced by North American suburbs seeking to transition away from car dependency. It will feature conviviality in lesser-known parks and side streets, buried creeks waiting to be daylighted, and public facilities with the potential for civic activation.
A section of the walk will be devoted to Community Commons Park and the Living Arts Centre: two unique public spaces that are decried as “underutilized” by the present mayor and targeted for a $4 billion redevelopment. Another section of the walk will feature civic spaces around Celebration Square: as they have been variously transformed for the better, closed off or hidden from the public, or wait for people and government to take pride in these places.
Continue reading “Noticing possibility in Mississauga City Centre”
Kenneth Cardenas 