How would you rebrand London, Ontario?

[LakeLocker]

Was just in Kitchener Waterloo was astounded by the progress they've made since the completion of the LRT.

They really made something of the whole we're technological advanced germans(obsessed with rectangles). Was intrigued with the thought that GTA/Horshoe growth might eventually push the gentrification this way.

I'm been spit balling ideas all day.

Things that come to mind:

The heavy influence of the working class in the city.

The transient nature of the city.

The obsession with Suburbanism

The "Forest City" vibe(that sorta make no sense).

The Faux British brandings that are everywhere.

The proximity of Detroit(evey library has 15 different books on the city).

The remnants of the automotive industry.

Being in a center point between all the lakes of Ontario.

[Pinus]

Shouldn't this be in the Ontario subforum?

[Djeffery]

Not really sure what you are after in this

[whatnext]

"It's London...no, the other one"

[MonkeyRonin]

Originally Posted by whatnext

"It's London...no, the other one"

Step 1: A new name.

[LakeLocker]

Originally Posted by whatnext

"It's London...no, the other one"

I'm a huge fan of renaming the city New London.

[DLLB]

Why? And NO!

[LakeLocker]

Originally Posted by Djeffery

Not really sure what you are after in this

You've been hired to come to London to help gentrify the city. With the realization that you are starting from the basement floor of urbanization how would you go about it.

[urbandreamer]

London is much more urban than KW. The LRT in KW is very suburban oriented and to get it built they widened Weber Street into a suburban arterial road. King Street is dead now. The GO train connection & 401 widening to Toronto has had a greater impact on development. London otoh has a real city feel downtown and older main street commercial strips even in the suburbs. What London needs is population growth, a school of architecture, developers willing to hire quality architects and visionary urban-focused urban planners. London needs to impose a height limit downtown so its older building stock isn't demolished: build 8-10 storey midrises on all the parking lots, strip plazas and post-war housing sites. Connect UWO to the historic centre with 3-6 storey commercial/apartment buildings. Be inspired by Dublin or Newcastle not London UK. Its British heritage is its best asset. (I was born in London and went to church there until a teenager.)

[ssiguy]

As a born and bred Londoner let me shed some light on the situation.

First, London was not named London to show its patronage with the other one but rather because many major political figures in the 1800s wanted London to be the capitol of Upper Canada {Ontario} and thought the name would help get the designation.

Second, London got his nickname the Forest City in the 1800s. London was the only major settlement in Ontario that was not on a navigable waterway. It was said that to get there from anywhere else {due to no decent roads, railways or water} you had to go thru `the forest` to get there. The nickname stuck and London was one of the first cities to have `tree law` which is why the city is so leafy.

Third, London, despite being a manufacturing centre today, was the last major city to get any manufacturing. London didn`t get it`s first large factory until the 1920 when McMormicks moved in and it was a huge controversy as Londoners thought that their leafy, well to do, university, and insurance town was above the manufacturing cities of Hamilton and Windsor. This upper class mrentality still clings in London due to having a non-manufacturing background and being dominated by a pretigious university and insurance. This is also why London has almost no warehouse conversion...........it doesn`t have any old warehouses to convert. Instead it has leafy inner city housing of brick Victorians and Edwardians. It`s also why London is still a conservative city in terms of lifestyle but definately liberal in it`s political and social views.................an upper class and educated old wealth mentality.

Fourth, London goes thru it`s name changing idea every couple of decades and yet no one really wants the name changed.

[Djeffery]

Originally Posted by ssiguy

A
Third, London, despite being a manufacturing centre today, was the last major city to get any manufacturing. London didn`t get it`s first large factory until the 1950 .

Total bullshit, sorry. You even mention a company by name who's large plant sitting vacant on Dundas st right now was built before the first world war. Never mind Kelloggs across the road.

[Loco101]

Originally Posted by Djeffery

Total bullshit, sorry. You even mention a company by name who's large plant sitting vacant on Dundas st right now was built before the first world war. Never mind Kelloggs across the road.

If I remember correctly, you mean the GM Diesel plant. I remember it being in operation when I lived in London for a couple of years when I was a young adult.

[Loco101]

Ideas for London's slogan could incorporation the following:

-well positioned city

-well balanced in terms of what is available

-one of the best looking cities in Canada

-safe and quite affordable

-diverse opportunities

[ScreamingViking]

A simple switch of syllables will create a geographically unique yet familiar name: London, Ontario... become Donlon, Ontario.

"On your travels you may have done London, but we bet you've not Donlon"

"We ain't Denise but we have much music here"

[ssiguy]

Djeffery................you are right about the date, I should have proofread better as it was a typo on my part as I meant to write 1920. I've corrected my error.

As far as London is concerned, it is what it is................a very pleasant, safe, clean, green city with a rich architectural heritage and very pleasant inner city neighbourhoods and parks. While certainly not exciting, London is a lovely city and has a good reputation as being such all across Canada.

One thing that London has which stands out is a VERY solid urban form. You would be very hard pressed to find more than one solid block of undevveloped land in any part of the city pre-1970 urban boundaries. This has led to London being a very walkable city and pedestrian friendly city much of it due to the facyt that London has very little manufactruing areas and post-industrial blight.

Of course this constant urban form has meant that London was never ripped up by urban freeways which can permanently scar the urban landscape and divide neighbourhoods. This constant urban form has however had a the negative consequence of making London traffic horrid and leaving no corridors for mass/rapid transit.

London is also quite unique in Canada in having a downtown park. Almost all Canadian cities have inner city parks but almost none have a beautiful big park one block from the main drag that everyone downtown can REALISTICALLY go to during their lunch hour. The cities that do have option are ussually river/lakeside greenways but not real parks.

[ScreamingViking]

But seriously, with SO MANY place names in Ontario (and Canada) that share the same/similar moniker to somewhere else in the world, what's the difference if we keep a London? Are we not good enough to have a London? Are we not smart enough to realize our London is a different London than the one many around the globe may think of first??

There are at least 129 Hamiltons in the world, for example.

There are Torontos in Australia, the UK, the USA, and PEI ffs

Ottawa is a city, a river, islands, and the name of a number of other places.

It's time to get over this.

[WhipperSnapper]

DREWLOndon

[Djeffery]

Originally Posted by Loco101

If I remember correctly, you mean the GM Diesel plant. I remember it being in operation when I lived in London for a couple of years when I was a young adult.

No I don't, and it's not vacant, it's just not occupied by GM anymore. It did come along later in the city's history, but this city has a long manufacturing history going back to the 19th century. That whole area around Kelloggs and McCormicks was the industrial area of the city even before those plants came along. Back then, that area was outside the east end of the city, as most city's had industrial areas to the east so the prevailing westerly winds didn't carry industrial air pollution over the city. The city then grew to the east of that and then another industrial area to the east sprang up again, which is where the GM Diesel plant was, as well as the World War 2 bomber plant at the airport.

[north 42]

Originally Posted by ssiguy

Djeffery................you are right about the date, I should have proofread better as it was a typo on my part as I meant to write 1920. I've corrected my error.

As far as London is concerned, it is what it is................a very pleasant, safe, clean, green city with a rich architectural heritage and very pleasant inner city neighbourhoods and parks. While certainly not exciting, London is a lovely city and has a good reputation as being such all across Canada.

One thing that London has which stands out is a VERY solid urban form. You would be very hard pressed to find more than one solid block of undevveloped land in any part of the city pre-1970 urban boundaries. This has led to London being a very walkable city and pedestrian friendly city much of it due to the facyt that London has very little manufactruing areas and post-industrial blight.

Of course this constant urban form has meant that London was never ripped up by urban freeways which can permanently scar the urban landscape and divide neighbourhoods. This constant urban form has however had a the negative consequence of making London traffic horrid and leaving no corridors for mass/rapid transit.

London is also quite unique in Canada in having a downtown park. Almost all Canadian cities have inner city parks but almost none have a beautiful big park one block from the main drag that everyone downtown can REALISTICALLY go to during their lunch hour. The cities that do have option are ussually river/lakeside greenways but not real parks.

Riverfront parks aren’t real parks? That’s a new one to me!

[Rahfi]

Just get the inevitable done and change it to Farhiville.