normanjennings

“No one wants to live in a place where they perceive the rights of those breaking the law to take precedence over those who have chosen to abide by them.” Cities are built on a delicate social contract — one that can fray, or even break, if we don’t manage it with care. Urban life asks more of us than life in any other setting. It demands proximity, tolerance, generosity, patience, and the ability to navigate shared spaces where our lives touch those of strangers every single day. When this works, cities unlock extraordinary collective good. When it doesn’t, decent people will flee. Cities are where we show the very best of who we are. We care for the vulnerable, newcomers build new futures, it is where innovation takes root, and where sustainable living has its greatest potential. But without order those possibilities collapse. A city that cannot manage public spaces cannot fulfil the promise of the city. Urban residents already carry a series of burdens. We live with noise. We live with regional congestion even when we ourselves walk, cycle, or take transit. We accept higher costs of living, and we receive the lowest per-capita federal investment in infrastructure compared with smaller jurisdictions - by a long shot. Urbanites already make trade-offs, willingly, because the benefits outweigh the costs. But that only holds if the social contract is upheld. Public space must work for everyone. Compassion and order are not opposites; they are twin pillars of a functioning city. If we fail to hold them together, we risk losing the very thing that makes urban life possible: the belief that our shared spaces belong equally to all of us. Cities flourish when rights are balanced with responsibilities, when generosity is paired with good governance, and when compassion never comes at the cost of public order. Everyone who sets up a tent in a park is offered shelter - 3x - before they are removed. We can be compassionate, and we can protect the broader social interest. This is good governance - and foundational to the social contract of cities. Without it, our cities will fall apart. This is an important article, @globeandmail should consider removing the paywall in the spirit of broadening the discussion about the future of our cities. theglobeandmail.com/opinion/…