Loading summary
Transcript49 lines
- [00:12]
Alex Thomas
FIFA coming in, taking over for the World cup, you know, that's a colossal effort. And the whole footprint of that exercise expands way out into the public realm, beyond the footprint of the stadium. But then on a rainy Tuesday, there may be other reasons for the stadium to be activated.
- [00:27]
Andrew Tuck
What is the ultimate goal for a city when it hosts a major sporting event? This is the Urbanist Monocles program, all about the cities we live in. I'm your host Andrew Tuck, and this week we're going football crazy. To mark the start of the FIFA World cup last week, we are exploring what hosting an event like this can mean for a city. We speak to a stadium architect on what design considerations are made when planning or adapting a sports ground. We also find out what role football has played in Mexico City's evolution. Plus, we explore how mobility in Los Angeles is adapting to mega events. And we check in with Toronto after the city hosted its first match of this World Cup. That's all ahead right here on the Urbanist with me, Andrew Tuck. Football is by far the most played and by most metrics the most watched sport on earth. As such, many of the most soccer mad cities and countries have game day infrastructure embedded in their urban environments. But the sport's most prestigious event, the FIFA World cup, has in recent years chosen hosts in far less football crazy countries than its earlier editions. So how do stadiums not built for this particular sport adapt? And how do cities not used to events of this scale cope? The architecture and design firm HKS is well known for its stadium projects, especially in North America. And two of its recent venues built for American football, SOFI Stadium in California and the AT&T Stadium in Texas, will host soccer games during the 2026 FIFA World Cup. I recently caught up with the regional design director for Sports and entertainment and at HKS London, Alex Thomas, to discuss the finer points of stadium design in the modern age. And I began by asking him how the industry's priorities have changed over the years.
- [02:29]
Alex Thomas
One of the big shifts is in the recognition that these buildings should really be tied to their context, whether that's the climate, the city, the urban context, and also the cultural context. And that's why when you look at any of our sports projects, they all look so different because they are one off unique pieces of architecture designed to respond to their various contexts. And you can see that at SoFi, for example, they have a Mediterranean climate in LA and that's why the building is very open and it allows the breeze to come through and it's a very comfortable environment. You know the stadium works with the climate to create that.
- [03:01]
Tom Edwards
It was interesting reading about SOFI because it looks very unlike, well, externally, what you'd imagine a stadium to look like because, well, you can explain to people there are restrictions because you're a bit close to LAX there.
- [03:12]
Alex Thomas
Well, first of all, you know, who said a stadium has to look like anything? We really don't believe it should look like a stadium. It should look like the building it needs to be. That building has some pretty extreme constraints. First of all, it sits on a fault line, so there's a huge hole. And the main structure of the building sits on these seismic isolating structural devices. So when the earth shakes, a stadium doesn't. And then, as you mentioned, it's also in the approach to LAX airport, meaning that the whole building had to be sunk lower so as not to interrupt the aviation channels. So we dug a colossal hole. And there's some pretty clever structural engineering in the.
- [03:47]
Tom Edwards
I was speaking to a colleague just before we came on and saying. I was doing this interview, and he said, oh, the team I support, the ground can be pulled back and wrapped up. Then you can have a concert on a different flooring. When you go underneath, there's a Go Karts place. The level of thinking that goes into the design, you wouldn't spot it as a regular personal match day. What kinds of things are you thinking of when you build these stadiums?
- [04:10]
Alex Thomas
Well, I think the two key sets of drivers really are fan expectations, and you might say fan expectation or community expectation or customer expectation. I think the level of expectation as to what these venues could and should be is really expanding. And so that then brings us to the second driver, which is considering the event calendar. You know, what are the things that you might want to or need to, for commercial reasons or for community reasons, do with the stadium? And the answer is those things can happen at a really wide range of scales. So FIFA coming in, taking over for the World cup, you know, that's a colossal effort. And the whole footprint of that exercise expands way out into the public realm beyond the footprint of the stadium. But then, you know, on a rainy Tuesday, there may be other reasons for the stadium to be activated. There may be community groups or other commercial entities who want to come to that space and use it and benefit the team or local economies or whatever those things are. So it really links to the event calendar and the wide range of things that we expect the buildings to do these days.
- [05:12]
Tom Edwards
You face some particular challenges in the US Though, because all stadium designs in the States tend to be a Little bit on the edge of town with these large aprons of car parking around them that you have to work quite hard to get people to cross that threshold. If they think, oh, I know, we'll go for dinner tonight at the stadium, because it's still open, you can just go there for a meal, or there's a kids playgroup, we'll just go there. Or is that just built into the American psyche, this notion that you drive to the venue?
- [05:37]
Alex Thomas
I mean, I think sports around the world, sports fans generally, they're creatures of ritual and tradition and habit, and some of those things are difficult to break. But I think younger generations across the world and in different sports have very different sets of expectations. So in many ways, the venues have to cater to quite a wide range of expectations and different behaviors. So I think it's generally recognized that a stadium which is kind of embedded in a community and surrounded by other, you know, an extension of the city, has more to offer and is richer in terms of the experiences that people can have there. We refer to these internally as experience districts. But that can be something which has been created artificially, or it could be something where, you know, the stadium has been very, very carefully over time stitched into an existing urban context. And there are really strong benefits in both directions to those kind of synergies.
- [06:24]
Tom Edwards
The AT&T Stadium can take up to 100,000 people, and the pictures of it are extraordinary. Explain to listeners some of the things you have to think about there, because I imagine that there must be an extraordinary amount of work, again, that we don't really consider when we see the outcome of what you've produced.
- [06:40]
Alex Thomas
Yeah, I think the origins of stadium design, and I've seen this over my kind of 15 years doing this, what we consider stadium architecture is really evolving. So the basic principles of getting people to and from the venue, getting them in safely, making sure everybody can see the field, and all of those 100,000 in AT&T will have a great view of the pitch, I assure you. So those, I would say, are the kind of minimum requirements that any competent sports architect should be bringing to the project. Where it's become interesting in the last five to 10 years is when we start to kind of expand our area of interest and think about, okay, we can definitely get people in safely, they're going to have a fun time, then they're going to leave safely. What else can we do? And that's where it gets really, really interesting and exciting. You know, talking about ATT Stadium, something that they've been doing for several years is there's a fixed number of seats. But people love the idea of being in the same place at the same time as the event, even if they can't afford to or don't want to pay for a ticket. So for many years, people have been gathering outside the stadium when the game's going on inside the stadium. Why is that? You know, there's some really interesting things about human nature and what it is that really draws us to attend these events that, you know, I think comes from some kind of ancient herd instinct or social instinct that we have. So that's a great example of how an event and a venue containing the event has a lot of draw. And actually, often people go to these games. And this is true of soccer as well. It's not just an American thing. You know, sometimes people are more interested in actually, this is an afternoon out with my kids or this is a business interact that we're going to the game for. We're going to get a suite. And my priority isn't watching the game, it's doing business. So in some instances, the sport can become an excuse almost to create a day out and to create interactions and to have all of these kind of moments with our families and friends.
- [08:25]
Tom Edwards
So tell me, with your HKS hat on, a hard hat, I hope when you go into a stadium, either one you've designed yourself or not, what's your personal checklist of, like, this is what you need to make a good stadium.
- [08:37]
Alex Thomas
Yeah, I mean, we spend a lot of time thinking very deeply about every aspect. So really it's quite difficult to concentrate on the game sometimes. My son's 14 and he's really into going to away games supporting our team, Norwich City. And one of the things we talk about there is the atmosphere and, you know, where the noises fans are placed, what the structure is doing to either help or harm the acoustics and generate noise. I think for proper football, that's a really important aspect and it's something that, you know, really gets down into the kind of most raw and basic kind of tribal instinct of being a sports fan. But then of course, we look at all these other things. You know, certainly how easy it is to move in and out, the kind of seamlessness and the comfort that every fan has. You know, we shouldn't be having to wait outside or be crowded. And often if you pay a little bit more money, you can have an even more comfortable experience. And I think that's a really big part of it. I can't help but sit and look at the seating bowl at the end of the game and, you know, notice where the people are having to queue up. Oh, those people got out in two minutes and those people are still there five minutes later. You know, that's just the reality of, you know, one of my good hobbies also being my profession.
- [09:43]
Tom Edwards
Tell me also a piece about design, because that's the other thing that, you know, traditionally football, maybe you took your son, but now we have really strong women's football. We've done good things at making sure that it's a bit more family friendly, that guys mums take their daughters and their sons. And again, is that when you're thinking about safety, comfort, but atmosphere at the same time, you still want the thrill and you don't want it to feel like a crash that you have to design for someone who's like knee height getting through a turnstile as well as somebody who's six foot, whatever.
- [10:15]
Alex Thomas
Absolutely. I mean, we're working on some dedicated women's sports venues currently and, you know, our design team, we're having those conversations and asking questions like, well, you know, when I walk into a space, do I feel like it was designed for me? And often for a lot of female athletes, the answer is no. And so that's been really interesting to delve into that and to do the research and to work with clients to understand. But how could we do things differently? I think inclusivity is every sports team's priority or it's very high up in their priorities, Whether it's to do with welcoming people of all different physical abilities, whether it's about bringing the local communities in and making them feel part of the culture, whereas maybe historically they maybe felt excluded from it. So I think there's a lot of will there and certainly the day of the stadium being full of pie and pint man, as we call him in the studio, and catering exclusively to one kind of narrow demographic set of expectations. What we now need to be doing is making sure we 100% cater to the traditionalists, but also recognize and value and design around all of these new groups who are becoming interested in coming to stadiums and venues.
- [11:22]
Tom Edwards
As a design director and a lover of sport, do you look at me with a certain pride now? When you look at a stadium and you see it full with thousands of people caught in a moment, or when you. You see a penalty taken or a point won, is there an added free song of excitement? Think, do you know what? I might not be on the pitch, but I had a part in making this special.
- [11:43]
Alex Thomas
Yeah, I Mean, this is the cheesiest analogy I ever used, but these projects and architecture, they're team sports. Yes, there's a frisson of pride, but like I said, there are dozens if not hundreds of people involved in the design and the documentation and the construction of these projects. So that's really a wonderful thing. Probably the best part of the last 15 years is just working with so many great people and, you know, forming relationships and connections with colleagues and many of whom we still work with. That's a really great thing. And then I'd say also the sports industry is a really interesting industry to be connected with. You know, they're our client and, you know, the sports industry is a very dynamic place with lots and lots of interesting characters. So, yeah, there's never a dull moment.
- [12:20]
Andrew Tuck
My thanks to Alex Thomas from HKS there. Staying in the United States now, we wanted to check in with a friend of the show, Commotion founder and CEO John Russant, to see how Los Angeles transport is adapting to the influx of soccer supporters and preparing for future events too. John caught up with this show's producer, David Stevens, earlier this week. Let's listen in.
- [12:49]
John Rossant
LA knows how to put on great mega events. And we organized to perfection the 1984 LA Olympics. And you know, there were a lot of naysayers back then who said, oh my God, you know, traffic's going to come to a halt, et cetera. But the mayor at the time, Tom Bradley, you know, launched this Take the bus to the Games campaign, which drew over a million responses. And I think commuters voluntarily shifted hours and routes. You know, smog fell and Angelenos showed up for their city. And you see that happening. At the end of the day, Angelenos are proud about their city. So I think they're going to come through this year with the World cup, next year with the super bowl, and of course, the year after the 2028 Olympics and Paralympics. I mean, it's a trife of events that I think no American city has really faced this sequence in such a compressed window. Some people are predicting doom. I predict that things will go pretty well and that this is happening at a time when the public transit system, the LA Metro bus routes are being expanded in an unprecedented way. Remember in 2016, Angelina voters voted for measure M, which was increasing sales tax to fund public transit on a long term basis. And that is releasing about $121 billion, which is a big sum of money. And we're seeing it in action, new lines, et cetera. And this is going to have a Huge impact, I think, on the way Angelenos move. And if anything, it will drive more and more people to transit. I think it'll drive more people to zero emission modes of transit, to shared transit possibilities. Remember, this is also happening at a time when autonomous vehicles are starting to be on the roads everywhere in la. They will become ubiquitous in coming years. And the impact of autonomy on AI and the way AI is going to reorganize mobility will be enormous. So I think a very different LA will emerge over the next few years.
- [14:56]
David Stevens
Yeah, it's always so interesting to hear from you, John, because you give us a little temperature on the expanding transit in la. And on that note of expanding and contracting, when we talk about when those events do roll into town, how is LA Metro designed to expand and retract? How are any cities really designed to be able to increase capacity when needed and then also retract to their usual business afterwards?
- [15:20]
John Rossant
The best urban transit systems are elastic. You know, they're built for peaks and can absorb surges. The ones built only for average loads obviously collapse when there is a big load. But I think if you look at Tokyo with its five incredible Metro lines, New York with the mta, I mean, when the Yankees or the Mets reach the World Series, the mta, I can guarantee you, is running packed trains on every line. But they run. It works in the end of the day, so it can bend without breaking. And that's what a mature network looks like. And I think frankly, we'll see the same in la, but it's slightly different from New York. I mean, no single rail spine of LA Metro runs directly to Sofi Stadium, where a lot of the World Cup Games are going to be held, where, you know, a lot of the Olympic Games are going to be held. And so the way that's being addressed by LA Metro is through park and ride and shuttle connectors. You know, they're very functional. They may not be the most elegant solutions, but the important thing is that I think the city is using the World cup, the World Series, the Olympics as kind of deadlines that really accelerate projects that LA needs to have and wants to have. Whether it's, you know, a larger transit network, faster bus service, certainly better access to lax, which is has been really one of the worst served airports in the universe in terms of transit and getting there and parking. It's just been a nightmare. That's going to get better. There's a big people mover that will connect LAX directly with the Metro. You know, there's going to be gradually Reduced dependence on cars. You know, I'm looking forward to this new LA that I hope will emerge.
- [17:04]
David Stevens
I love that we feel your enthusiasm, John. You've worked on some big events yourself. You've worked on the World Economic Forum in Davos. You've got your own series of events, Commotion, which we'll come to in a bit. What have you learned from those events and what are you kind of hoping will emerge from these events that are happening in la, that they can continue on to help benefit the city past the closing ceremony?
- [17:25]
John Rossant
Oh, look, I mean, I think the fact that we have Commotion LA and a Commotion Miami, but we're talking about LA participants of really global decision makers at a very high level. So it's one of the only places in the world where you'll get, you know, I don't know, the CTO of a automotive OEM who can talk directly to the head of transportation of a Latin American city. I mean, those are kind of exchanges that are so important. You know, when you get public and private together, you look at different kinds of innovations that can help cities in the future. So I think we're distinctive at Commotion because of sort of who's in the room more than sort of what's on the agenda. You know, AI and mega events, the two big themes of the 10th edition of Commotion LA in mid November. You know, we're going to look at the way autonomy is starting to affect all of urban mobility, automation. We look at public private partnerships and financial innovation, city planning, you know, design and infrastructure, energy transition issues. These are the kinds of weighty subjects we look at at Commotion. It's a very kind of hands on conference. It's not a kind of show and tell trade show. I mean, it's where, you know, principals really meet and speak, do deals often. So yeah, I know that Monaco will be there, which is great, but tell your friends it'll be a really great event this time November 18th and 19th in the heart of downtown LA.
- [19:00]
David Stevens
Fantastic, John. So tell us, where can we find that information? Where can we buy our Tickets?
- [19:05]
John Rossant
Head to www.commotionglobal.com and you'll find everything out about us. And of course also at Substack we have a twice weekly Commotion News, which is one of the best analytical roundups anywhere of sort of what's happening at the cutting edge of mobility.
- [19:23]
Andrew Tuck
John Rossant there, founder and CEO of Commotion in conversation with David Stevens. We shift our focus now to another of the host nations for this year's World Cup. Mexico, the country's capital, is seeing a period of unprecedented global attention. But is there a gap between the Mexico City imagined by outsiders and the one experienced by residents? Joining Monocle's Tom Edwards was former Mexican Ambassador to the United States, Arturo Sara Khan, and the journalist and broadcaster experienced in interpreting Mexico for international audiences, Leon Crouse. Tom began by asking Leon to try to make sense of what Mexico City has become as an international hub.
- [20:09]
Leon Crouse
Well, I should probably begin by saying that this is a city that has been magnificent for over half a millennium, right? The old Mexica city of Mexico, Tenochtitlan, was an awesome place. That word is often abused. But here it's precise, absolutely unique place. A city surrounded by hundreds of causeways and lakes. And now it's become this gigantic international hub, almost a country on its own. Right? And it's become this magnet because I think it offers something increasingly rare among global density, of course. Creativity, history, food, street life, beauty, contradiction and possibility all at once. It is a fascinating, intense, complicated place.
- [20:53]
Tom Edwards
I love that. And there is this sense of opportunity, this extraordinary dynamism almost round every corner. Arturo, do you. I don't know. How do you describe the experience of being in Mexico City to people who are not familiar with it?
- [21:06]
Arturo Sara Khan
Well, for starters, you have to get used to the altitude. But beyond the cliche of being at almost 2,200 meters above sea level, it is one of the most vibrant places on the face of the earth. And it's been like that for centuries. It is true that in the last couple of decades, and particularly turbocharged after the pandemic, it has become this new sort of global hub that has, I think, attracted particularly creative industries, innovators, entrepreneurs, because in many ways, it's sort of like a new world. It's like the Wild West. It's rife with opportunities, and rife also with a lot of the challenges that the Wild west and the New World entailed when people were making their fortunes and their livelihoods and their rebranding themselves, remaking themselves. But I think it's that electricity that runs through your body when you walk around Mexico City. It happens in a few cities around the world, but certainly in the case of Mexico. And I think that in many ways, the pandemic is what sort of triggered this latest wave of passion and interest. And it's driven mainly on the pillars of gastronomy and plastic arts, creative industries. But I think the art world in Mexico City, it's always been there. We've had, go back to the muralists in the early 1920s and 30s, but it's always been an art capital of the world. But what has happened in the art scene in Mexico over the last 10, 15 years is beyond amazing. And I think that, plus everything else, that a country like ours, with all its beauty, but also all its contradictions and challenges entails, I think has made a lot of people feel that it's a place where you come to life,
- [22:53]
Tom Edwards
you feel alive, and people around the world are getting a sense of that vitality, particularly at this moment with this lens, the FIFA World cup lens, trained, of course, on all of Mexico across the U.S. canada, but also on Mexico City very specifically. What kind of an opportunity and obligation, I guess, does this sort of focus, Leon, provide? Because it is exciting, it is an opportunity. But I guess there are attendant challenges in terms of the narrative about Mexico City, that the world is served up. You must presumably welcome that focus. But tell me what this six weeks of this World cup may mean for Mexico.
- [23:31]
Leon Crouse
Well, I found the change of narrative to be, frankly touching. In these first few days of the World cup, you have to take into consideration that in the days leading up to the event, all coverage focused on a city under siege. Right? Teachers unions had taken over the SoCal or the main square of the city. They were threatening protests all over, including around the legendary Azteca Stadium. It could have been catastrophic. In the end, it became a party, and honestly, much more than a party, a celebration not only of Mexican identity, but of human identity. And I don't think I'm exaggerating. I mean, what the world saw and what we felt inside Azteca Stadium, which is, frankly, I've been to Wembley and I love Wembley, and I think those are the two great cathedrals of world football. The Azteca and Wembley was just incredible. And most of it was spontaneous. There were scenes that were unforgettable. But it was not only inside Azteca Stadium, also outside of it. And the way the country has shown its more virtuous side, most welcoming side. You see the videos on social media, fandoms coming to Mexico. It's no coincidence that the country has hosted the World cup now three times. And most people say the whole World cup should have been in Mexico. They're right. Because apart from our problems and the cartels, all of those things do exist. But what you are seeing now is the best Mexico and the best Mexico. Guess what? It also exists despite this insistence on a pernicious narrative. So I'm not being aromantic. I'm just saying that what we've seen in this first few days just corroborates the view that there is that other Mexico. That is pretty touching.
- [25:16]
Arturo Sara Khan
I fully agree with what Leon has said, but I'll be the proverbial skunk in the party by saying that all of this does bring a double screen type of vision regarding Mexico City, because, yes, absolutely. What we're seeing, what we're reading in terms of people talking about the experience within the iconic Azteca Stadium, the way Mexicans react to all the fans that have come to Mexico to watch the, the games in Monterrey, Guadalajara, Mexico City, all that is true. But at the same time, it sort of highlights the pending issues that the Mexican government and the city of Mexico municipality have not done, which is how do you create or piggyback on this natural soft power and attractiveness that Mexico City has to create a narrative to build upon that narrative to solve many of the critical challenges that Mexico City faces. You've got this huge event and at the same time, the previous government torpedoed the building of a 21st century airport that Mexico City really needs to sort of become an international hub or the most important hub connecting North America and South and Central America and the Caribbean on this side of the Atlantic. So it's this double screen of opportunity and challenge where I think, despite how we all feel boosted and buoyed by what we see in terms of Mexico City being again, a World cup city, the inability, the lack of appetite, the lack of bandwidth, of strategic vision of the Mexico City government and of the Mexican government in general, as to how you take advantage of this, do a bit of jujitsu and sort of build upon this, create a public diplomacy strategy, is completely absent from all of this. So a lot of what we're seeing is happening organically, which may be a good thing. But at the same time, it's also a story of the huge potential missed by authorities that have never understood how to leverage this and how to portray this to a global audience.
- [27:39]
Tom Edwards
Well, let's interrogate that in a little bit more detail because I think that's interesting. And obviously at Monocle, we're obsessed with quality of life. We're soon going to be publishing our annual rankings and we love to find benchmarks. We like to talk about best practice. If we look at Mexico City, and it's interesting, Arturo, from what you say, there clearly much work still to be done. What do we need to see? And maybe loan you can start with this. First of all, is it about striking a better balance, by which I mean, you know, the great cities that we enjoy at Monaco, they have a concern for Safety for degrees of predictability if it comes to transit timetables. But they also understand and value a bit of edge. The importance to have a laugh, crack a smile, bring some excitement. You know, Mexico City is a city that does have that balance. Is it a question of refining the pivot points or is it more, if we get down to brass tacks? Exactly what Arturo said. And it's about getting buy in from stakeholders, whether they're municipal, whether they're national, to ensure that the city can progress at the pace that it needs to.
- [28:38]
Leon Crouse
Well, of course there's a story of frustration, and it's not recent. It's been permanent and not only with Mexico City. I think the country has been a victim of its governments for a long, long time. Mexico City is the epicenter of the country, for better or worse. Now, I don't think frustration should overtake opportunity. And I do think that the city is incredibly vibrant and sometimes misunderstood. In the days leading up to the World Cup, I was interviewed by several outlets and they wanted to keep focusing on crime. And so I always come back to an anecdote. I mean, I took a family of friends of ours to Mexico City a few years ago and the father of the family, a very dear friend of mine, a lawyer from America, kept asking me, I have two questions for you. Is there good WI fi in Mexico? And how much is the armored vehicle that we going to need to rent for those few days? How much is that going to be? And this is an incredibly smart guy, sweet person, I love him. And I said, listen, there is great WI fi in Mexico. No armored vehicle needed. Now, does this mean that Mexico City doesn't have its problems? That if we had a different government that had a more integral view of what a city should be and stayed away from absurd projects like putting chandeliers in the subway stations in instead of making public transportation work, of course. Now are these problems that many of the great cities of the world face? Of course. So I would focus for now on the incredible showcase that the World cup has been for Mexico City and how it shows that in its insanity, because it is an insane place, one of the great insane cities of the world. It is a fascinating and hard to compare place, but you know, it is an incredible, magnificent metropolis.
- [30:27]
Tom Edwards
The city needs a manager. I was thinking, oh, Javier Aguirre is doing a pretty good job managing the Mexican national team, isn't he? From Mexico City? They're doing well. You had a gold Cup, Maybe the football manager could step up, no? Or is that not a helpful suggestion?
- [30:38]
Arturo Sara Khan
At this point, he has a character.
- [30:40]
Leon Crouse
Arturo. I mean, I think there's something there. No, don't you think?
- [30:43]
Arturo Sara Khan
I don't know if the current Mexican national team football coach would be my sort of iconic potential manager of the city, but I think someone like Johan Cruyff would be a spectacular mayor of Mexico City, sort of a philosopher footballer. I think that profile would be fantastic.
- [31:01]
Leon Crouse
But look, focus on mobility. Yeah, I agree.
- [31:03]
Arturo Sara Khan
Well, on mobility and on new ideas and on his mantra that every disadvantage is an advantage. You know, that's the type of profile and Persona. But at the end of the day, sort of. I measure Mexico City based on two factors. The first one is that if you look at successful nations throughout the course of history, they've been successful because of human connections. And in that regard, Mexico City has become the fulcrum of human connections in the past decade and a half, despite some budding pushback against gentrification and tourism. Nothing like what we've seen in Barcelona or Venice. But certainly a few months ago, it sort of started creating some challenges, especially in central parts of the city. But in terms of sort of human connections, it passes with flying colors. But then there's another issue that needs to be looked at, which is I think successful cities are the ones that understand that you need to cooperate and engage globally to solve locally. And that's where Mexico City is awol. It's missing because we have mayors who basically don't care about what's happening in the rest of the world, don't travel, don't engage with their peers in other nations or even in our own neighborhood in North America. And that's where I think Mexico City is failing in looking at what is working elsewhere, engaging with other mayors of key cities around the world and bringing best practices. And Mexico is cosmopolitan and it's global because of people, but not because of its authorities. And that's where this part is missing.
- [32:49]
Andrew Tuck
My thanks to Arturo, Sara Khan and Leon Crouse there speaking with Tom Edwards. And my thanks also to Andrew Law from Mexico. Input output for facilitating the conversation and you can find out more@mxio. Finally today, we check in with our Toronto correspondent to take the temperature of the city after it hosted Canada's opening game of this World cup last week. Thomas Lewis reports.
- [33:22]
Alex Thomas
It doesn't get better than this. We have a lot of excited Canadian fans.
- [33:27]
David Stevens
I got goosebumps.
- [33:29]
Alex Thomas
We've been waiting for this for so long.
- [33:33]
Tom Edwards
Most of my friends don't follow the team. They kind of laugh at us. They rather support England and all that. I said I'd rather die than wear somebody else's jersey, but that's, that's me. We've been waiting 23 years of our
- [33:45]
Alex Thomas
lives to, to, to see this and
- [33:48]
Tom Edwards
be here, and this is amazing.
- [33:52]
Thomas Lewis
Well, it definitely feels pretty magic. So far I've spoken to friends who live in different bits of the city. Toronto has quite a big footprint along the shore of Lake Ontario. And wherever you are, it seems the answer is the same. That there really is this pretty beguiling festive spirit that has seeped into lots of different bits of the city. After a build up that really was quite subdued. I think things like wrangles over ticket prices or some of the demands that FIFA was making of some of Canada's two host cities. And also the way that the buildup had played out south of the border in the U.S. i think that sapped people's excitement a little bit. But now that the games have begun and that Canadians have seen the Canadian team play their first match in Toronto, that's all ebbed away and people are kind of thrilled. It feels to me that the world has rolled into town for the World cup this time around. It's been lovely to see different bits of the city activated in different ways, in formal ones and in less formal ways too. Toronto's public library network, for example, which is one of the best used city library networks anywhere in North America, they're offering free screenings of all of Canada's games throughout this World Cup. Also at Nathan Phillips Square, which is the main plaza in front of Toronto's famous City hall building. Those curving mid century towers, well, that's been transformed into a football pitch throughout the duration of, of the tournament. And the University of Toronto, its lovely picturesque main quadrangle, that's been transformed into a public screening space as well. And there was a really lovely moment a couple of nights ago when the Toronto Symphony Orchestra was playing a concert in one of the concert halls in Toronto. But that was being live streamed onto the screens in Sankofa Square, which is often described as Toronto's answer to time, Times Square in New York. So you have this remarkable sight of lots of people dressed in Canada red watching one of Canada's best orchestras serenading them from a concert hall elsewhere in the city. So it's all felt pretty special so far. And I think it's fair to say there is a romance in Toronto for the World Cup, a deeper sort of emotional relationship that predates its hosting of World cup games this time around, because more than half the population in Toronto was born somewhere else. So whenever a World cup rolls around, someone will be cheering for some team somewhere in the city, no matter who's playing. So it does feel pretty special. The World cup is actually here. Oh, and an honourable mention too, to Alanis Morissette, who was an inspired choice to sing the national anthem ahead of Canada's first game here in Toronto of this World Cup. She did a fantastic job, did herself proud, did the country proud, really. It was magic.
- [37:00]
Andrew Tuck
My thanks there to Thomas Lewis, also Alanis Marissette. And that's all for this week's episode of the Urbanist. You can follow us for new editions of the show every week. And you can subscribe to Monocle magazine for reports on all things design, architecture and urbanism too. Just visit monocle.com this episode of the Urbanist was produced by star striker David Stevens, who also edited the show. I'm Andrew Tuck. Goodbye and thank you for listening. City lovers.