For 10.000 years this was the location of Lake Ontario's shoreline. This Brick wall stands where water and land met with a vista of horizon.

Yes this is a proper starting point for this walk. This peace of urban art, Shoreline Commemorative, was created by Paul Raff in 2014, when new condominium building replaced old structures on the corner of Church and Front Streets.

South of this point there is probably 50 more meters of the Church Street. Still there is one quite valuable spot there. Tiny original Banksy artwork is hidden [protected under plexiglas frame] worth probably several millions of dollars. Nobody, or to be precise very few people in the city, knows about it. I hope you will not reveal its location, please do not spread the word. If you want come and visit it in person. ⇣

Now is time to start our way north, with flatiron building at the left and St. James Aglican Church right. But lets explore maps first. ⇣

Place for the church, to the left [west] was also marked and that is start of existance of the Church Street. Notice that lakeshore is just bellow. ⇣

While this was happening to the south city was intensively expanding to the north. Church Street is following this progress. Today it is approximately 3.4 km long. Central metropolitan area of Toronto is BTW approximately 20km from south to north, and 60km east to west. ⇣

Whole area is becoming very popular with young generation, fed up with waisting hours in traffic to get to the place they work. Demand for new, specially smaller one and two bedrooms apartments for families without kids, is growing enormously. It is understandable, but not urbanistically desirable, that these buildings are growing taller and taller, some reaching height above 50 floors. Highest one, visible in a distance is not in a Church Street, it is 89 stories tall. ⇣

Dérive, or stroll [check all >psycho<geography> terms, please!] true this street is very unique experience, rare not only for Toronto where 50% of the people are born outside of the county, but unique anywhere in the world. It is not surprising that religious institutions of all imaginable denominations are located along the street and innumerable other public institutions. ⇣

Our standard practice is to open our mind. To position ourself to absorb, to focus on the place itself. Then genius loci [spirit of the place] is revealing "psychographs", small individual scenes preparing you for the powerful experiences in longer and more purposely oriented drifts. When turned to common praxis genius loci is willing to uncover things otherwise deeply hidden or with unrecognizable importance. That is when you notice that shifting focus suddenly makes thing fundamentally changed. ⇣

Photos above are of The Cathedral Church of St. James. This is a forth church on this spot since 1793 when first Aglican Church priest [or minister] arrived from England, this one opened in 1853. ⇣

Sight left and right are at least to me not that interesting, huge towering condominiums on the left and one more coming to the right. After this we are ready for excitement.

Before we start just let me list some of the restaurants along a way. That is what I am talking when I talk about multiculturalism in Toronto. That is what is making this street and this city great.

Crape.to - Costa Rican Crapes, Gyu-Kaku, Japanese BBQ, Magners Irish Pub, Golden Thai, Shawarma’s King, Asis - Shisha and Hookah Bar, Kinton Ramen Japanese Restaurant, Marquise of Branby - British, Alexandros - Greek Restaurant, Naru Izakaya - Japanese, PI CO - Pizza bar - Italian, Kawa Sushi - Japanese, North of Brooklyn Pizzeria, Mexi Cados, Churchmouse - Firkin Pub British, O’Grady’s - Irish Pub, Loaded Pierogy - Polish, Si Lom Thai Bistro, Poch 1889 - Korean Eatery, Fushimi Japanese Cuisine, Tacorito - Mexican, Istanbul Kebab, A la Turque, Torch Pressed Sushi, Smith stylish French Eatery, oNoir - French Italian, Crape It Up - Vietnam, Cafe California, Piedmont Coffee Bar - Italian, Lola’s Housemade American, El Rinconcito Mexicano, Asahi Sushi - Japanese and Korean, Z-teca Mexican, Plaza Mana - Italian, Indian Roti House, Neighbor Wang - Chinese, Ali Baba Middle Eastern, Ehiopiques Restaurant, Cafe de Melbourne, Hot House - Italian, Le Papillon - French, and of course usual North American, Starbucks, McDonald's, Pizza Pizza, Pizza Nova, A&W, Domino’s Pizza, Subway, Tim Hortons.

I counted places from at least 27 countries, what do you think Impressive? ⇣

This is what they think about themselves: "We're at the heart of Toronto, serving our community and a diverse congregation drawn from across the city. The richness of our 200-year history is complemented by our progressive vision of the future. We welcome everyone, inclusive of age, ethnicity, gender identity, ability and sexual orientation." ⇣

Toronto with almost 10 million people in the metropolitan area is of course an excellent example of Postmetropolis, dramatically restructured megacities that have emerged world wide. Megacities tend to concentrate the best and the worst—globally connected and locally disconnected, physically and socially.

What we need is noticing and pointing a finger to the extreme or just powerful instances of deterioration or good sides of the cities affected by climate change and contribution of postmetropolis to the pollution and excessive energy consumption. ⇣

University recently changed its name to Metropolitan University [due to the concerns over Egerton Ryerson, who is considered one of the primary architects of the residential school system since 1880s, that forcibly separated children from their families and forbade them to acknowledge their Indigenous heritage and culture or to speak their own languages]. It is still possible to see both RU [for Rayerson] and TMU [for Metropolitan University] along the street. ⇣

The Ryerson Institute of Technology was established in 1948 in response to the need for skilled tradespeople following the Second World War. Approximately 250 students enrolled in the first year. In 2002, Ryerson Polytechnic University shortened its title to Ryerson University, reflecting the school’s rising profile as a full-fledged university with strong academic programming. ⇣

This corner was until 1999 the most popular sport event place in the whole city. It was arena for the Maple Leafs, very popular Toronto hockey team, and as we all know hockey is most popular sport in Canada. I am BTW football fun [called soccer here] so I am attending TFC games. Even being extremely popular Maple Leafs are still after 55 years still waiting for the title in the NHL competition.

Today this building is huge shopping center with multiple stores and it is still keeping small hockey arena for usage of nearby Metropolitan University. ⇣

Area north from Alexander Street is start of Wellesley - Church Village home of Toronto LBGTQ community. Image above right is from June 2022 Pride Parade along this street.

As Marcel Proust states, “The real voyage of discovery consists of not seeking new landscapes but in having new eyes.” ⇣

This is how they describe themselves: " The Village is a comfortable and supportive community that offers the connectedness of a small town, in the heart of the City. The Village is an urban destination, connected to transit with businesses and events that are on the forefront of City building and urban life. Art and culture is central to our lifestyle including galleries, art installations and theatre. Our nightlife is diverse and offers music, dancing and shows that entertain and attract visitors".

As I mentioned before one aspect, extremely important to me, is participatory urbanism and influence of citizens on urban democracy. Participatory urbanism builds upon a large body of related projects where citizens act as agents of change. This is one of fine examples of successful citizens participations, they strongly influenced whole neighbourhood. ⇣

Just this Village itself [ six blocks, ~ 1 km long] with all its rich content requires more than an hour, so let's make a break. ⇣

This is definition of my >psycho<geography< practice: "The subjective analysis, mental reaction, to the neighbourhood behaviours related to the geographic location. A chronological process based on the order of appearance of observed topics, with the time delayed inclusion of other relevant instances. ⇣

Further to the north above Isabells and Charles Streets Village is fading away to end up on Bloor Street. It is quite understandable, Bloor is one of two main streets in Toronto [25 km long], traversing the whole west side of the city. It has life of its own, not letting anything take it away. ⇣

For now you will just have this few photos, thay are mostly self explanatory but of course you can ask for more info at any point. ⇣

Enjoy just few photos here or come back in person to get full experience, I am considering this just as a teaser.

Today,on August 17, new census data was revealed and it is showing true diversity of this city including this street too. 42.2 % of people of Toronto speak regularly at home some other language then official English or French! ⇣

“Active search for and celebration of, chance and coincidence” by Wilfried Hou Je Bek, is one of the best descriptions of psychogeography existing today.

Or we can use this opinion about >psycho<geography> from the paper Competing on Creativity: Placing Ontario’s Cities in a North American Context, from November 2002, by Meric Gertler and Richard Florida, both prominent urban theorists: “The ability to attract creative people in arts and culture fields and to be open to diverse groups of people of different ethnic, racial and lifestyle groups provides distinct advantages to regions in generating innovations, growing and attracting high-technology industries, and spurring economic growth.”

For much more information about my standpoint read my paper “Psychogeography Now – Window to the urban future”.