To maintain our standard of living, we just can't say NO all the time.
As I travel, I am recording the relentless transformation of our waterfronts from places of industry to places of public recreation and private wealth.
These schisms are popping up everywhere. Former blue collar neighbourhoods in industrial towns are discovered by cultural workers who are constantly pushed out of escalating rental markets. They create a new vibrant neighbourhood which in turn is attractive to retirees cashing out of their homes, and investors seeking to capitalize on cheap real estate. As neighbourhoods evolve they begin to look down on their heavy industrial neighbours as a nuisance and a barrier to rising property values. It is clear that we need industry in its traditional place on our waterfronts as ships are the most sustainable way to move heavy goods. When we realize that just one shipload of steel replaces a 16km chain of 1000 trucks on our roads, we have a new conversation about gentrification, urban planning, sustainable transportation, corporate environmental responsibility and the workers that make it possible.
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