Will Pate Talks Open Cities

Open Cities — a weekend-long celebration that asks how we can collaboratively add more open to the urban landscape we share — kicks off this Saturday at the Centre for Social Innovation. I'll be there, Macbook in hand, to share my ideas about openness in Toronto, along with concerned citizens from across the city and country.

One of those concerned citizens is Will Pate, a social media junkie who you're bound to see popping up at any major event in Toronto and who has been a contributor to the Flock movement. Most of us, however, will recognize him as one of the co-hosts of the popular CommandN videolog along with the always-smiling Amber Mac.

I recently had the chance to ask Will a few questions about his thoughts about Open Cities in Toronto and around the world.

What is an Open City in your eyes?
An open city is one where boundaries are broken down. High densities of people enable great opportunities for community, culture and growth. In Toronto's case, embracing openness could take us from being a world class city of scale, to fulfilling our potential as a model city for the globalized world.

What can Toronto do to achieve this vision?
Embracing a practice and culture of openness is key. We have to learn how to trust each other. Create something beautiful. Solve a problem that has been intractable to date. Show people how easy it is to create results.

What are you most excited about for the Open Cities event this weekend?
I'm most excited to meet the people doing great things in their communities.

Find out more about Will Pate at willpate.org or say hello at Open Cities this weekend. More information about Open Cities Toronto 2007 can be found at OpenCities.ca. Registration is still currently open. Stay tuned for live coverage from the event on blogTO.