Greater Sudbury has changed dramatically in the past decades, but more change is needed if Sudbury is to continue to grow, diversify, and keep youth here, said speakers at an innovation meeting held Tuesday, Nov. 10, at Cambrian College.
“We have gone from having no tourist attractions to having the second most important Science Centre in Canada. We have gone from having a local hospital to hosting a regional hospital site. We have gone from sending students out of town for post secondary education to being the centre for post secondary education in the north,” said John Rodriguez, Greater Sudbury mayor, explaining how the city has embraced change.
Rodriguez introduced the main speaker and former Sudbury resident Bruce Mau, a published author and advocate for urban change.
The meeting was held by Imagine Sudbury, a citizens group seeking to revitalize the downtown area.
“When I was a child growing up here, when there was a strike (by mine workers), most of the men left town,” said Mau, commenting on how much Greater Sudbury has changed since he grew up here as a child.
Mau's presentation included a slide show, complete with a hundred examples of innovative organizations, projects, and accomplishments from all over the world. Included on the list were environmental, business, cultural and educational achievements, some from Greater Sudbury.
“Sudbury has been known for its mines," said Mau. "But one organization, NORCAT, is working towards mining the moon.”
Mau spoke about his four principles of urban revitalization:
- Compete with beauty: money and talent are attracted to beauty
- Make community design open to the community itself: invite the public into the process
- Design the “nature” of the city: imagine the city as a giant park
- Match actions to words: Do things that emphasize what we want to "say" about where we live
Mau also pointed out that Greater Sudbury has 330 lakes within its boundaries. Protecting and building on this natural beauty was part of his first suggested principle in the re-designing of Greater Sudbury.
“We have an extraordinary landscape that is unique in the world. Compete with beauty. Money and talent are mobile today. They go to beautiful places.”
But beauty is more than physical places like lakes, he stressed.
“If you want them, those with money and talent, then you must have beautiful food, ideas, experiences, not just physical beauty.”
A slide of two different roadways, one an appealing tree-lined highway in New England and the other, a slide of a local highway showing bare rock and a lack of vegetation, emphasized his point.
“The message conveyed here to our youth is that we do not care about where we live. So you might as well leave town.”
That resonated with Vale Inco's spokesperson, Steve Ball.
“I found it inspiring when he said that highways should be developed by engineers and designers. We could have these beautiful roadways here too,” said Ball.
Stéphane Gauthier, artistic director of le Carrefour francophone and member of Imagine Sudbury, said he approves of Mau's idea that beauty also refers to culture.
“No one has this much (cultural) complexity in such a small area (as Greater Sudbury). We have French, English, Finnish, Chinese and aboriginal community events,” said Gauthier.
The recent Patricia Cano concert at Little Montreal, organized by le Carrefour francophone, was used to demonstrate the cultural complexity.
“Patricia sang in English, French, Spanish and Portuguese. Everyone there felt included. All business (for the concert) was done in French. Both shows were sold out. She had eight world class musicians on stage. It was very uplifting to be there,” said Gauthier.
The second principle suggested by Mau was to open the planning process up to the public.
That resounded with Dave Kilgour, who has been part of a planning initiative for the Northern Ontario Railway Museum and Heritage Centre (NORM). They have opened the planning process for the museum to the public.
“We have been inviting Capreol residents to come up with ideas for the museum,” said Kilgour, explaining that one person had a great idea to bring more people, especially students, to the museum for a reasonable price.
“He said 'why not partner with the railway? Have the kids brought downtown to the station and have them ride the train to the museum on Mondays when the bud car is not being used. That is cheaper than arranging bus transportation. Some of these children may never have been on a train before.' Our committee thought that was an excellent idea.”
Kilgour said he also appreciated that Mau was getting people to think beyond the immediate.
“Our plans for the museum are to have it as the third major tourist attraction after Science North and Dynamic Earth. We are thinking outside the box.”
Mau's third principle to imagine the whole city as a park was an idea that made sense to retired Laurentian University sociologist John Elliott.
“When you think of it, we only have one park: Bell Park. It has the amphitheatre and the boardwalk beside the lake as an enhancement. The other parks we have are mainly developed as swimming beaches with some parkland.”
Elliott cautioned that he thought innovative ideas, like the ideas proposed by Mau, could be derailed by some city staff members, who might not be receptive to what he termed "bold thinking."
“Bureaucrats have a tendency to support only that which advances their careers,” he said.
For more information, visit www.imaginesudbury.com or www.bigideasbigsolutions.ca.
