Coach House Press has just launched the highly anticipated, "uTOpia," a compendium of writings on Toronto and the issues it faces. From Howard Akler to Marlena Zuber, thirty-four Torontonians describe the city that could be. Edited by Jason McBride and Alana Wilcox, the book asks what would you do to improve Toronto.

Anne Michaels writes in a cover note, "uTOpia - a collection of essays by people who are passionate about Toronto - contributes to a larger conversation that has been taking place in Toronto for decades. It's a frank discussion of the ways the city can best become itself, in all its variety, its history, and its intimacies."

Toronto will become what we decide it should and will be. If we allow for a city where the homeless live under bridges - something I saw for the first time in third-world South-America in the eighties and was naively shocked about - then that's the society we will build around us. If we continue to generate pollution from the materials that now fuel the city rather than find safe, alternative fuels, then we will mire the landscape with toxins. If we continue to fail at the opportunities provided us to design a waterfront that is as beautiful as the lake it sits on, then we will get the city's edge we deserve.

uTOpia at its best offers ways to achieve this. Dave Meslin's 2019 "City Hall Update" describes a future city newsletter. "De-amalgamation Continues," the headline shouts. "Garrison Creek returns," says another. We can only anticipate the day . . .

Contributors include Howard Akler, Andrew Alfred-Duggan, Jacob Allderdice, Bert Archer, James Bow, Nicole Cohen, Jonny Dovercourt, Dale Duncan, Philip Evans, Mark Fram, Misha Glouberman, Chris Hardwicke, Sheila Heti, Alfred Holden, Luis Jacob, Lorraine Johnson, Edward Keenan, Mark Kingwell, John Lorinc, Sally McKay, Heather McLean, Dave Meslin, Shawn Micallef, Derek Murr, Ninjalicious, Darren O’Donnell, Planning Action, Barbara Rahder, Dylan Reid, Erik Rutherford, Jeffrey Stinson, Deanne Taylor, Conan Tobias, Stéphanie Verge, Adam Vaughan and Marlena Zuber.

You can get uTOpia through Coach House Press or at your local book store.