This is one of my favourite music videos of all time.

The Pharcyde is an alt hip hop group from Los Angeles. Active since 1989, this song “Drop” is from their album Labcabincalifornia (1996).

A few months back, we had a wonderful night here in Sudbury. Hundreds of people gathered in the student center at Cambrian College of Applied Arts and Technology to hear local boy Bruce Mau speak. It was great to see people from all walks of life – from young College/University students, blue-collar workers to local government, and every one in between discussing the future of Sudbury. It was impressive to see so many concerned citizens ready to work together to make this a better place to live. It was impossible to not get swept up in the enthusiasm! As designers, we can’t help but stand in agreement with Bruce’s insight and would love to help implement his visions for our city. Nothing would make us more proud than see our northern city become a great hub of culture for the north.

However, it is important to note the direction of our city. The infiltration of big corporate box stores over the last decade has created a carbon copy atmosphere of déja vu template architecture – a scenerio that is felt across the nation. In Sudbury(not unlike most other cities of the same size), there has been a corporate overhaul of our economy by the addition of giants like Chapters, Costco, Lowes, Winners, Home Depot, Walmart and Real Canadian Store. With this same sort of suburban development happening everywhere else, we can’t help but ask ourselves a fundamental question. What distinguishes ourselves from the likes of every other Canadian city with these same developments? With our downtown core dwindling and suburban sprawl reaching further and further out, our city lacks the character of a cultural center that so many of us normally associate with a city’s downtown. These box stores are not custom to Sudbury, nor are they adding more value to living here, in comparison to living in say, Barrie or London. They are definitely not adding an element of culture to this city. Local business is struggling to maintain market share when more and more big players come in to swallow the market. With more and more companies setting up shop in our city that are headquartered in Toronto or the United States, what becomes of our city? Do we become more like someone else? Do we have our own identity? What does the future of Sudbury look like? Will it be bright? Can it be bright? Does it ensure a strong recovery of the mining sector, or a more diversified economy? Or maybe both? Do we become a mecca of culture by supporting the arts? Do we unify our neighborhoods by strengthening our downtown? Will culture begin to splash out from strong downtown development? Or does it tell a story of division between our city’s South End, New Sudbury, West and East End and Downtown? Does it show the struggle of smaller amalgamated communities pulling for equal support from our government? Do we become closer as a community, or do we grow further apart with suburban sprawl?

As small town folk, we often find it more fitting to place individuals from bigger cities in a higher position than we to improve our city – Are we potentially looking passed intelligent people in our own city with their own revolutionary ideas? Over the years, there have been many groups advocating change in the community. I can’t help but feel that the strong focus on Mau could have been distributed to many of these groups who struggle to make their similar views heard. If given the proper support from our municipal government, what massive change could Critical Mass Sudbury have done with alternative transportation in our city? What more massive regreening could Uncommon Sense have done with more support? What could Green Sudbury have done with unified support from our community? What about the yearly graduates from civil engineering at Laurentian University and Graphic Design graduates from Cambrian College? Do they hold important ideas for the future?

It is time to empower our citizens and understand that we have extremely talented individuals currently living/practicing in our city. It is important to keep an eye out and support these groups who advocate change. How many more Mau types presently roam our city, burgeoning with innovative and progressive ideas who have yet to be heard? Where do we go from here? Do we have potential for massive change? Is it up to us? Why not listen to citizens on the front line who are demanding change? No matter who sparks the change, I think we’re all ready to help.

“Sudbury is a changing city—undergoing a dramatic transition from its mining town roots in the midst of the northern Ontario wilderness. It is also Bruce Mau’s home town, a place embedded in both his history and his ideas about the possibilities of the future.

We were invited by Imagine Sudbury, a group of citizens seeking a bold vision for the city, to help initiate a new plan of action. Through a series of workshops, interviews, and a public presentation, we outlined strategies for change that allow for a re-imagining of Sudbury by applying design thinking to the city as a whole.

This is an opportunity to bring spectacular focus and an audacious dimension to the change in city, to align the energies of the local visionaries and change-makers already working on great ideas, and to initiative the long-term, large-scale projects that will enable Sudbury to become a prototype city of the sustainable future.

To make these possibilities a reality, we are working with Imagine Sudbury to launch a Centre for Massive Change, which will act as the continuous engine for action and change. With the help of community, business, and education leaders in Sudbury and beyond, we are developing the model and launch plan for the Sudbury Centre for Massive Change.”

- Words from brucemau.com.
- Top photo from Alex Bitterman
- Walmart photo from The Sudbury Star