Cities amplify the best, but also the very worst, of humanity.
City centers are fueled by individual self-interest. Everybody goes to the city to ‘get’ something – career, education, entertainment, money, power, sex, etc.
Population density in cities with limited resources and limited opportunities creates a competitive and tension filled culture.
The pace of the city makes people less compassionate even when they may want to be, ie. “I can’t stop to help that person because I’ve got to get somewhere to get something.”
Cities are deceptive. In the words of Jay Z and Alicia Keys Empire state of mind – “These streets will make you feel brand new, The lights will inspire you”. The problem is that while the city may be alive, that doesn’t mean you are.
The busyness of cities prevents us from stopping, reflecting, and asking questions like ‘why’ until we’re completely broken and miserable.
Cities are dense with living beings that refuses to connect with one another. ie. I can be nose-to-nose with another human being crammed in a gloriously life-filled subway and we can completely ignore each other. This chips away at our humanity daily because we know something’s not right.
The diversity in cities naturally brings with it conflicting interests and cultural clashes. Not only does the fringes of culture collide, but those who are already oppressed, are condensed into tight spaces which creates an even more volatile environment. People can be ticking time bombs.
Cities thrive on anonymity. Relationships become transactions and we further dehumanize one another.
Cities export evil. Cities inherently create, magnify, and propagate culture. When it’s bad, it’s bad for everyone. ie. how cities of the west have led the cycle of work-to-excessively-consume lifestyle now seen as the pinnacle of living for those in rural, village, suburban communities.Cities often displace wildlife and native cultures (we name our neighborhoods and streets after what we’ve destroyed ie. shady oaks, parkway forest, etc.)
Whether it’s for more affordable housing or an easier lifestyle – cities build up towards high-rise apartments. The living-in-a-box-in-the-sky infrastructure (that I currently live in) disconnects our relationship to the land and creation.
Cities can become empires. Empires oppress neighboring cultures, serve only the privileged few, and have an insatiable need to always expand and conquer.
And the list goes on. While murder rates are actually dropping in many cities compared to rural areas, cities can cause a death you’re not even aware of because it’s so broadly accepted.
With all that being said, cities are crucial and strategic to our global future. We need people in the city, especially those who want to seek the good of the city.
Toronto is the most ethnically and culturally diverse urban area on planet earth. Half of its citizens are visible minorities.
You can find glimpses of the entire world in one city. Over a 140 languages and dialects are spoken.
Toronto is formed and shaped by the people of the globe – half of the population is foreign born.
Toronto is a model mosaic city. Ethnic enclaves are everywhere. Every city on the planet has a china-town, Toronto has at least six and counting.
Approaching 6 million people in the Greater Toronto Area it is the fifth largest metropolitan area in North America.
Toronto is geographically a hub to America. Within a 100-mile radius of Toronto a quarter of Canada’s population resides here, as well as 125 million Americans or roughly 40% of the U.S. population.
Richard Florida who wrote “Rise of the Creative Class” describes Toronto as being one of the most creative cities and is on set to be “a world leader in innovation and prosperity”
Toronto’s leading sectors include finance, business services, telecommunications, aerospace, transportation, media, arts, film, television production, publishing, software production, medical research, education, sports, sustainability, and tourism industries.
Toronto is undergoing massive renewal and gentrification – creating a city in flux with new needs and opportunities
Toronto is a city of the future. The world is increasingly becoming more diverse and more urban as Toronto already is. If you can make something work in Toronto you have the potential for modeling and leading it for the rest of the world.
Your thoughts? I’d love to hear why your city matters to you.
As a follow up to the previous post God’s bias for the city, here’s some thoughts on why the cities are strategic to anyone who wants to make a global impact.
Cities are both magnets and magnifiers. People from surrounding areas are drawn in and everything they do is amplified and ripples back out.
Increased density means there’s people like you there. People you can connect with and people you compete with.
Increased diversity means there’s people completely unlike you there that you’ll need to learn to work with and from.
Density and diversity cultivates, if not forces, innovation and change
Cities are where the fringes of culture converge – the poor and the rich, the skater and the geek, etc.
Cities are where people are at. As of 2007 the world reached a demographic tipping point where more people live in urban environments than rural. Nearly all population growth going forward will be in cities.
Cities are educational hubs where new ideas and creativity are highly valued.
Cities are media hubs that broadcast the human story.
Cities shape and create culture for the masses downstream. Where the city goes, the culture goes.
Just as God has a clear bias towards the poor, the scriptures also reveal that God’s heart leans towards the city.
From Genesis God calls for humanity to be fruitful and multiply. Not simply to reproduce (otherwise Jesus would’ve done a terrible job with this mandate), but to cultivate life in the widest sense – to create culture, to steward over creation, to develop civilizations, and ultimately cities.
Even the ‘garden of eden’ carries with it the idea of a lush park by a palace. A place dense with life near a kingly residence. Seeds of a future city.
God doesn’t allow his people to remain agrarian, and calls for ‘cities of refuge‘ to be made. Cities with leadership, government, jurisdiction, so that people might find safety and progress could continue without ongoing tribal warfare.
In Jeremiah 29 God calls for his people to seek the good of the city. Not to necessarily conform to the city, or to leech off the city, but to be rooted in the city. We are to be city builders.
The Apostle Paul planted churches from city to city because he knew that if he captured the heart of the city, the gospel would flow out from the city centers into the surrounding regions. It’s interesting to note that it seems the smallest unit of the church was referred to as an entire city – ie. the church of Ephesus, Philipi, etc.
God reveals his ultimate vision for humanity in Revelation as ‘a holy city’ descending from heaven. Pieces of Eden like the tree of life and rivers are still there, but it’s wrapped up in a city filled with life. Heaven’s like an urban jungle.
I’ve always loved this quote by Ray Bakke – “If you don’t like the city, you won’t like heaven”
These are just a few snapshot thoughts that could be unpacked a lot more. Your thoughts?
Continuing the series of posts on U2 songs, “City of Blinding Lights” is also a favorite. It’s musically reminiscent of “Where the streets have no name” with a brilliant intro.
I think I heard Barack Obama use it as his entrance music a number of times during the campaign.
As with many u2 songs there are a number of conflicting images in the song.
A couple of simple repeated lines throughout the song, make me go hrm…
Oh you look so beautiful tonight In the city of blinding lights
Can you see the beauty inside of me? What happened to the beauty I had inside of me?
For some reason it makes me think of an old story I heard originally by H.G. Wells called Country of the Blind. (Doing some research on it, I realize there’s several renditions of it, below is a summary strictly from my own twisted memory).
There once was a remote city struck with a disease that caused complete blindness of all it’s inhabitants and it’s descendants.
The people eventually adapted to life being blind. It became so normal that the very concept of sight was all but forgotten after several generations had passed.
A man with perfect vision stumbles into the city. His heart breaks because he realizes an entire people group have no idea of the colors and beauty that surround them as they feel their way through the dark.
He commits himself to sharing this wonderful gift of vision he has with the people of the city.
He befriends the people and begins describing to them textures, and tints, and things in the distance. He points out beautiful features on their faces, the blues across the skies, and the yellowness of the sun.
But the people of the city think he’s gone mad as they are unable to comprehend what the man is passionately illustrating.
Having compassion, the people of the city take hold of the man, to help cure him of his illness.
And they gouge out his eyes.
I wonder if this man would be singing “Can you see the beauty inside of me? What happened to the beauty I had inside of me? ”
Ever been there? Had a spark of hope that no one understood? Saw something that was so overwhelmingly beautiful that you couldn’t put words to it, but you tried to share it anyways? Only to then have them crush it and rip it from your soul?
I participated in Government 2.0 online last year, but just got around to going through this talk by Mark Surman of Mozilla. He offers a great primer on technology and how the open source movement relates to civic engagement. My favorite insight was towards the end where he states that if people actually thought that the government was listening, they would actually jump aboard and get involved.
I wonder how many people we leave disengaged, because they don’t think we actually care enough to hear them out and do something about what they have to offer?
Grasshopper.com did a great job with their recent marketing campaign using social media. They created the above video, while a bit cliche, I thought it was nicely done.
The video works because its message rings true of the human spirit. We’re all summoned to create, risk, lead, and change, at least in some area in our lives. Whether we’re able to hear that calling, or do anything about it, might be a different story altogether.
I pour my heart into a lot of different things that I think are worthwhile, but I question if I’m changing the world. I’m in a city of nearly six million where a simple stroll through the downtown core can make you feel like a speck of dust.
I think when you’ve changed a life (including your own), you’ve already changed the world.
Join the Origins projectcommunity – A network initiated by Dan Kimball, Erwin McManus, Scot McKnight, and many others. There’s a group just for Canadians as well.
Check out Refresh Worship, a hub for events going on in Toronto
Need cool motion graphics design work? Get in touch with my friend Jeff.
Wedding and Engagement photos? See Claudia – She helped with the SolarCrash Event photography project and we’ll be booking her if/when we do a vow renewal party.
My friend Ming is organizing Project SWAP – shopping with a purpose, June 20th, check it out.
BTW, if ANYONE, has ANY contacts in the Toront District School Board, my wife is looking for a referral for just about ANY elementry school in the city, ASAP.
