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Can we stop using the term "world class" when talking about improving Toronto?

King of Kensington

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Everybody says what they want is a "world class" city - what does it mean? Even the very parochial, suburban politicians who don't want to inconvenience drivers in any way say that. An NFL team would supposedly make Toronto more "world class" too!
 
I think that we are a "world class" city already. Cities are sometimes ranked as "alpha" and "beta" level in terms of global importance. For instance, London and New York City are at the top, while Houston is Beta. In the case of Toronto, we are a global financial hub and home to a lot of big businesses, which puts us in the "Alpha" category.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alpha_city
 
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The Economist just ranked Toronto as the city with the 4th best quality of life in the World
http://www.thestar.com/business/201...ing_three_canadian_cities_in_top_10_list.html

Forbes also recently named Toronto as the 10th most influential city in the world (tied with L.A. and San Francisco)
http://www.forbes.com/sites/joelkotkin/2014/08/14/the-most-influential-cities-in-the-world/

People here like to complain a lot, but this is truly a remarkable place. Can it improve? most definitely, but for most of us who haven't been born here it's clear that this city is something special.
 
The Economist just ranked Toronto as the city with the 4th best quality of life in the World
http://www.thestar.com/business/201...ing_three_canadian_cities_in_top_10_list.html

Forbes also recently named Toronto as the 10th most influential city in the world (tied with L.A. and San Francisco)
http://www.forbes.com/sites/joelkotkin/2014/08/14/the-most-influential-cities-in-the-world/

People here like to complain a lot, but this is truly a remarkable place. Can it improve? most definitely, but for most of us who haven't been born here it's clear that this city is something special.

I agree.
 
I think that we are a "world class" city already. Cities are sometimes ranked as "alpha" and "beta" level in terms of global importance. For instance, London and New York City are at the top, while Houston is Beta. In the case of Toronto, we are a global financial hub and home to a lot of big businesses, which puts us in the "Alpha" category.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alpha_city

I couldn't agree more. Toronto is a great city. It should just be itself, crappy sports teams and all. This "world-class" stuff is nonsense. It's like letting someone else dictating the terms of how/where we want to live. At its worst, it's like Sally Field at the Oscars. "you like me, you really like me." It's not cute. It's pathetic.
 
I couldn't agree more. Toronto is a great city. It should just be itself, crappy sports teams and all. This "world-class" stuff is nonsense. It's like letting someone else dictating the terms of how/where we want to live. At its worst, it's like Sally Field at the Oscars. "you like me, you really like me." It's not cute. It's pathetic.

I'm not 100% sure, but I think this "World Class" stuff started in the late 1980s or early 1990s, when politicians started trotting out pet projects and saying that we had to have them to become a "world class city", and unfortunately it stuck in the city's collective small-town mindset, which we're still trying to shake off:
"We're not world-class, we're just a big version of [fill in name of small Ontario city of your choice] ..."
 
I don't think I have ever used the term before....but I don't cringe when I hear others doing it. I just take it as an expression of desire for people to make Toronto as good as it can be and for it to gain the recognition/acknowledgement of what it already is.

In the end, calling something "world class" is largely meaningless. I think visitors and business are attracted to cities that appeal to them in some way and express their opinion with their feet and their dollars. Looking around me every day on the streets of Toronto it is pretty clear that the outside world already considers us as one of those special cities that they want to spend time in.
 
World-class cities never have to state the fact or aspire to be. They just are.

(What I find even more amusing is how my hometown of Halifax has been actively trying to get this designation. Reporter Tim Bousquet railed on it effectively, which you can read here, if you are so inclined.)
 
A colleague suggested I did a search on Google Trends, and it turns out we're pretty interested in the term, but on par with New York and London.
Singaporeans, on the other hand, they are truly obsessed!

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I agree.

It's an over-used and meaningless term and a concept that many are obsessed with in this city.

Constantly worrying whether we're "world class" reeks of insecurity.

"World class cities do X", where X is whatever the person speaking wants to happen and could be anything, is a very unpersuasive argument in my opinion.
 
"World class" is the right idea, but it's too vague and applied to glorify things. Toronto is a successful city with ambitions to do transit, housing, architecture and education to the highest standard--world class.

To that end, it's always useful to look around the world to see which cities have done things right, and then to use them as a benchmark for whatever we're undertaking. There's nothing insecure about that; it's the mark of ambition.
 
That is great to see, but of course there is so much room for improvement.

I've lived in European cities, and although they're not perfect either, they are far ahead especially when it comes to public transport.

I am surprised Toronto made it in the top 5 on The Economist's list. Even for the average middle income Torontonian it is still tough.

Overall Toronto is headed in the right direction, great sports city with loads of cultural activities yet we still haven't reached our potential.

-AMJ
http://amjwesternontario.com/
 

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