[URBAN NOTE] "Arresting condo development in Toronto"

[rfmcdonald]

Enzo DiMatteo's interview with the two parodists who satirically proposed the redevelopment of some of Toronto's most iconic buildings as condos is worth reading.

They call themselves Glo'erm and Tuggy, and last week the "urban interventionists" (aka Daniel Rotsztain and Mike Stulberg) provoked a timely discussion about the state of the city by erecting a fake development proposal sign outside Old City Hall announcing plans to convert the historic building into a 90-storey condo. Not everyone got that it was a parody. Rotsztain says buildings going up as part of intensification reflect developers' vision of the city more than anyone else's.

What triggered the idea to shame runaway development in Toronto?

It was inspired by the profusion of existing development proposal signs downtown. The black-and-white signs have been updated, but even the new ones seem to announce what will be happening on a particular site rather than offering an invitation for a conversation about the future of the city. Some of the real development proposals out there already look like parodies, with giant glass towers rocketing out of tiny heritage buildings.

Your fake proposal to turn Old City Hall into a giant condo is only slightly less preposterous than an idea floated a year ago to turn it into retail space.

Yes, the development proposal sign we put in front of Old City Hall was so mundane that most people didn't notice it at all. And of those who did, many thought it was real, even when they read that the heritage building was going to be turned into a parking garage. And there's the problem: the bureaucratic language and the lack of engagement with these signs numb the mind to the point that ridiculous claims can be slipped under our noses. This [art] project hit a nerve because it reflected the helplessness many of us are feeling toward the shaping of our city.