Comments on: Should London Exist?

By: Best of: Social Media in London | brianfrank.ca

Best of: Social Media in London | brianfrank.ca — Sat, 10 Oct 2009 20:21:00 +0000

[...] Should London Exist? [...]

By: Randy

Randy — Wed, 25 Mar 2009 13:29:21 +0000

Great reading. Thanks for this.

By: Randy

Randy — Wed, 25 Mar 2009 13:29:00 +0000

Great reading. Thanks for this.

By: Ontario in the Creative Age: First Thoughts | B Frank

Ontario in the Creative Age: First Thoughts | B Frank — Fri, 06 Feb 2009 11:23:08 +0000

[...] had a bit invested in this since I wrote about the expected proposals back in January. At first glance I would seem to be proven wrong because I suggested that London [...]

By: Liking London: Average is Underrated | Brnfrnk

Liking London: Average is Underrated | Brnfrnk — Sat, 24 Jan 2009 08:58:48 +0000

[...] was something I was beginning to allude to in an earlier post in this local “series” (see the comments especially): London is the Middlest City in [...]

By: Brian Frank

Brian Frank — Sat, 24 Jan 2009 03:05:22 +0000

Thanks Gord, you put it perfectly. Doing pleasant, middling things isn’t terrible — but being “stuck” that way (like being stuck anywhere — as in, being without any control or opportunity to manoeuver) is bad.

You zeroed-in on exactly the ideas I’m going to develop further. It is a very “interesting and challenging position” — a challenge I love the more I look at it.

I looked up the census info (sort of — on Wikipedia). London is still #10 if you go by “metropolitan areas.” As an “urban centre” we’re #11 (K-W leaps ahead), and as a “municipality” we drop to #15 (after Mississauga, Brampton, Surrey, and Laval).

By: Brian Frank

Brian Frank — Sat, 24 Jan 2009 03:05:00 +0000

You zeroed-in on exactly the ideas I’m going to develop further. It is a very “interesting and challenging position” — a challenge I love the more I look at it.

By: Gordon A. Harrison

Gordon A. Harrison — Fri, 23 Jan 2009 19:25:38 +0000

I’ll add Urban Nation to my ‘next up’ list, Brian.

We are in an interesting and challenging geographical position and could be left behind, in a sense, as the Golden Triangle around Toronto continues to be the center of important development.

I don’t know if there’s anything terrible about being a pleasant, niche city, though I’m just not sure if we’ll remain pleasant as we spread far and wide, or what niche we can fill.

As the 10th largest city in Canada (aren’t we still?) we should be able to stand for something. We throw ‘Forest City, Creative City’ around a bit but does that appeal or generate support from the majority of citizens in our geographical area?

I sometimes feel residents of small towns and cities have an easier time with their identity (e.g., St. Mary’s, Stratford, Port Dover) than we do.

Our size is a factor to some degree: We’re too big to be comfortable just with Festival City and too small to feel we have much weight.

Are we just stuck in the middle, doing middling things? That’s not terrible.

Keep thinking, and making others think.

Gord Harrison

By: Gordon A. Harrison

Gordon A. Harrison — Fri, 23 Jan 2009 19:25:00 +0000