Can Winnipeg Become a Real City?

Its present form taken only 36 years ago with the amalgamation of 12 municipalities, Winnipeg has still to evolve an "urban culture", argues Nick Ternette.

1 minute read

August 24, 2008, 5:00 AM PDT

By Michael Dudley


In 1972, Winnipeg was formed from the "amalgamation of 12 small municipalities into one city, with one city council. [Now] there is a large division between the inner city and the suburbs. But it's more than that. The fact is, Winnipeg is not a city at all. It is a grouping of 29 (or more) neighbourhoods that make up a large town.

Let me explain. I know, for example, people who live in St. James who have never gone downtown or, for that matter, to any other community in Winnipeg. They were born, they live and will die in St. James.

This is the 21st century. Small towns are dying out. It's time to grow up. Winnipeg must develop an urban culture -- that is, as Richard Florida suggests, a creative class of artists, architects and entrepreneurs who work together and have a vision of the city as a whole."

Tuesday, August 19, 2008 in The Winnipeg Free Press

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I love the variety of courses, many practical, and all richly illustrated. They have inspired many ideas that I've applied in practice, and in my own teaching. Mary G., Urban Planner

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