Dont rely on people such as Microsoft billionaire Bill Gates and other rich smart people of the world to make your city into a thriving, interesting, art-filled metropolis.
That was the message from local writer/artist Douglas Coupland in a speech he delivered Wednesday to city mayors and business people as part of The Cities Summit held at the Vancouver Convention Centre.
You just cant assume anymore that Bill Gates and corporations are going to do your innovating for you, Coupland told the crowd, which included Mayor Gregor Robertson and Calgary mayor Naheed Nenshi. Those people, as youve seen, are as future blind as anyone else. In this new world of better cities and better people, the innovation is going to come from you.
Holding up his iPhone during his speech, Coupland said he was astonished that Gates and his colleagues missed out on the download and online revolution, including Facebook and Twitter.
Genius ideas seem obvious when they happen, he said, adding that who would have predicted 30-second long clips of frolicking puppies and kittens will suck hundreds of millions of dollars out of the global economy yearly.
The digital revolution, he said, affects cities in a way that goes beyond attempting to compete with the city down the river with three better hotels or golf course. The world, he added, is largely addicted to novelty.
So to make a city thrive and become a place in which people want to live and visit, Coupland suggested cities market their unique differences. Spending money on the arts is also a must, otherwise cities become parking lots or psychic black holes.
People want experiences that cannot be downloaded, however you want to define that, he said. People want to see visible things and they want to do things with their bodies. You cant download a Henry More sculpture and you cant attach a ski slope to an email.
Added Coupland: Basically my theory is take your fringe and make it into a fringe festival.
Using a visit to Columbus, Ohio as an example, Coupland said he noticed a Hostess factory on his way to the airport. Thats the same Hostess that makes the famous snack cake, the Twinkie.
Coupland said if he were to return to Columbus, he would want to stay at a nice hotel, rent a bicycle in the morning and cycle to the Hostess factory. There, he would hope to see an 800-pound Twinkie inside a 50-square foot crystal coffin that would never decay.
But there would be no Twinkie cam so you couldnt watch it at home, you would have to actually go to Columbus, he said.
In closing, he imparted advice for the locals.
My own theory about Vancouver is that were all at our best when were experimenting with new ideas, and were at our worst when we ape the conventions of other places.
Twitter: @Howellings
