Yeah it's crazy how much something as simple as the look of the ground can affect the look and feel of a place
It would be more puzzling if it didn't matter what it looked like. The ground (public realm) makes up close to a third of what we see/interact with as we walk around. When we lay down asphalt, concrete, ugly utility poles, etc. the only thing left to save us are architecturally beautiful buildings. Public realm matters and why the construction of attractive buildings is only part of the solution in building a beautiful, attractive, appealing city.
As much progress as has been made, 90% of the streets in our city need to be re-built. It's a monumental undertaking but at least the process has started. Those few blocks of Yonge downtown? I'm eagerly awaiting the re-build. We need to get this right. After that, it's time to turn attention to Queen, College, Dundas, King, Front, Sherbourne, Jarvis, Church, Bay, Spadina: literally 100s of streets.
