Beautifying the Streetscapes of Toronto

An article in the Globe and Mail called “Condo Construction Makes for Artful Streetscapes,” which was published in late January, touches on a sensitive issue in Toronto: The beauty of our streetscapes.

The article focuses on artist Mike Parson, who has been asked to design a mural for the construction hoarding around The Bond by Lifetime Developments. It has been expressed by locals that the amount of construction in Toronto is unbearable. The sight of construction isn’t a pretty one, and it interferes with the city’s walkability. On the other hand, Toronto is booming, and we need to keep creating new housing to accommodate the amount of people moving into the city every year.

The article continues, stating that art on construction hoarding may become even more popular if murals like the one at The Bond are successful. Last December, at BILD’s Talking City Building forum, Councillors Adam Vaughan and Kristyn Wong-Tam spoke very passionately about the beautification of Toronto streetscapes, and singled out construction hoarding as one of the worst eyesores. With Councillors in favour of hoarding art, it may even become a prerequisite for building approval.

With the amount of construction sites in Toronto, we believe that murals by local artists is a very good way to beautify our streetscapes. Toronto is already such an art-oriented city that an initiative to bring that art to the streets, while covering up the sight of construction, would benefit everyone, and even improve tourism and help businesses.

One issue that may arise is that developers are still in the process of selling units while construction his underway - and as you may know, most of the profit comes in with that last 30% of sales. Construction hoarding is almost always used for advertising the condo, and developers may not want to give up that space. We are confident that a compromise can be made - whether it’s splitting the space between ads and art, or setting a time limit on how long the ads can stay up. Brian Brown of Lifetime Developments told the Globe, “... I think it’s a great opportunity for us to do something that gives back to the street while we’re under construction.”

We are very excited to see if more construction hoarding soon becomes canvas for our local artists to express themselves. In the meantime, keep your eye on The Bond!