A couple of months ago, I wrote a post about walking in the suburbs. Lately I’ve been doing the opposite of that and walking in the city.

I’ve been working downtown of late, in the King and Spadina area – the Entertainment district as the city calls it.

Weather permitting, I’ve been getting off the subway at King Station and walking west on King to my client, just west of Spadina. Most days if the weather is good, I try to get out a lunch time and go for a 10-20 minute walk round the neighbhourhood – along King to Portland, up to Adelaide or Richmond or Queen, then back east to Spadina and down to King again.

It’s a really interesting walk. The vibe, compared to north-west Toronto around Steeles & Weston Road in Emeryville, is totally different. Downtown it’s walk and bike friendly. King Street has been designated as a streetcar zone so car traffic is limited. There are lots of pedestrians around and lots of bikes, scooters, and skateboards.

Uptown in Emeryville, it’s car-city – walking is an afterthought and you never see bikes or scooters. Public transit is limited to buses and those are used by the people who work in the light industries that dot the area.

Downtown, the street traffic is either young and professional (software industry, design industry, or hip retail for the most part) or else young and destitute (pan-handlers or barrista wannabes). The tattoo-to-skin ratio is way higher down here compared to uptown in Emeryville. I feel out of place walking around without nose ring.

There are funky food options everywhere downtown, as well as retail options for everything from clothes to bongs to adult toys. Emeryville has no retail other than fast food and Tim Hortons.

I like it downtown – there’s an energy that makes you feel like you belong, and you want to shop and eat locally. It reminds me of why I wanted to move from a small town to the big city in the first place, 35 years ago. It buzzes and it accepts – I can wear shorts and a tee shirt to work and no one cares. I can walk to a restaurant that has something tasty to eat (hello porchetta), and I can relax my car alert spidy-sense in a pedestrian-friendly zone where the humans rule the streets instead of cars. I love it.

Whenever I’ve travelled to other cities, I’ve tried to walk the downtown core and savour the experience. Working and walking downtown in Toronto has reminded me why I gravitate to the heart of the cities I’ve visited. There’s energy and informality and diversity, and there are real people going about real lives and real jobs. That urban tapestry is much thinner and paler in the burbs compared to the Technicolour downtown – I can get sushi or burritos or pizza or ramen or burgers or sandwiches or babimbop all within 5 minutes of the office.

This is urban, and it’s why I love cities.