When visitors arrive at Cambridge’s Gaslight District, they’ll notice a blend of culture, energy and curiosity – a definite vibe – that makes it one of the most eclectic neighbourhoods in Ontario.
It’s quickly becoming a destination where music, food, architecture, and art all blend seamlessly together.
But that design didn’t occur by accident. There’s more than a few creatives behind the scene working to make it a daily reality.
The vision for the district incorporates the idea of “placemaking” – that is, an approach that focuses on creating spaces that promote community engagement, cultural identity, social interaction, and overall well-being.
Not a new idea, it’s gone by a few different names since urban designers started recognizing the interactions – both good and not so good – that come from people’s surroundings.
But this new group of people – designers, artists, planners, restaurateurs – is applying the strategies in one of the province’s fastest-growing cities. The results, visitors will notice, are remarkable.
Michael Ormston-Holloway, a landscape architect and urban designer, is one of the people behind The Planning Partnership. That’s a group of people collaborating with clients and communities to create complete and livable environments that prioritize innovation and excellence in design.
He’s just one of the talented minds adding ideas and insight into the Gaslight District, with the aim of fostering a human, livable neighbourhood that can make an imprint on generations.
“We need to foster environments where it's easier to engage each other,” Ormston-Holloway says. “There's something special about a place that makes us want to engage with someone who we don't know.”
If interacting with strangers as the basis of urban design sounds far-fetched, consider Central Park in New York City. In a metropolitan area of 1.6 million people, benches are placed in proximity to one another, not randomly, to facilitate chance meetings and the opportunity to engage with fellow residents.
Designers of Central Park knew – and continue to facilitate – day-to-day interactions that create a special bond between the city’s residents.
That’s the kind of planning Ormston-Holloway says is at the top of mind for the Gaslight District.
“There's no placemaking without people,” he says. “But the ideas have to be people-led.”
“We can have the best idea but it needs people to help decide what will foster richer social opportunities.”
Those opportunities – when people can interact with a neighbour, or meet someone new, or just rub shoulders with the diverse and interesting members of the community, “something beautiful happens,” he says.
But first, Ormstrom-Holloway says, the district – and the city of Cambridge – needs to figure out what stories they want to tell about themselves, and their own history.
The Planning Partnership, alongside Daily Tous Les Jours and Ken Greenberg are now in talks with Cambridge to see just how a group of thinkers, creatives and designers can help the city create places worth investing time in.
The historical aspect of that journey – looking into the area’s industrial, economic and immigrant past, for example – was part of Mouna Andraos’ vision for the District.
Andraos is the co-founder of Daily tous les jours, a Montreal-based art studio brought on board to add an interactive element to the district.
Visitors will notice several art installations blending into the Gaslight environment, including Hello Hello, a megaphone that invites people to send a greeting to new friends. Those messages climb the “Hello Arch” and morph into a sound and light show.
This installation is the perfect ritual for entering a public area designed to turn strangers into friends, something Andraos says art can play a role in.
Art, Andraos says, can be “another tool” in the realm of public space design.
“We need a diversity of experiences in the public realm that engage people in different ways,” she says. “This diversity creates a variety of invitations for people to come, to stay, to linger, then return to that place.”
Art, nature, food. These can all be elements that help people experience something new, even if they aren’t consciously aware of the effect.
“The more we diversify that experience, or what we can do in the public realm, the more we have chances to be inviting and welcoming to the largest group of people,” she says.
Art in the public space, Andraos says, becomes something people rally around.
“It helps create new routines, habits and attachments, and a sense of stewardship of a place,” she says. “It can become a landmark, something we identify with.”
“And that helps accelerate the process of identity building.”
Food also serves a role – another “tool” – designers can utilize to make a space more inviting.
The Gaslight District, visitors may notice, serves up several unique spaces that cater to the taste buds.
Jerrett Young, one of the owners of Equal Parts Hospitality was brought on board to make sure that those moments – when people are sitting down, catching up with some friends, celebrating a family milestone – are front and centre in the district.
It all comes down to intent, Young says. Intent in design, intent in hiring, intent in the creativity behind the restaurants.
“When you walk into a great restaurant, you forget about the outside world,” Young says. “You forget about the outside world, because there is this feeling of conviviality inside.”
“The sense of being looked after, being cared for, and the idea of getting to know one another.”
The interaction between staff and guests, for example, is another in the theme of interacting with others, engaging with neighbours, friends, and other diners.
And the key, Young says, is to be curious and not afraid to ask people questions.
“There’s so much technology and information right in front of us, it’s becoming more obvious that we’re losing our ability to ask questions, even if it’s about menu items, or striking up a conversation with people visiting your restaurant, asking what brings them to the Gaslight District?”
Curiosity about people around us, along with an interest in the place itself, helps build relationships, he says.
“Those relationships lead to returning guests, and returning guests leads to celebrating birthdays. anniversary celebrations, graduations, and baptisms.”
With exceptional restaurants, Young says, the place itself becomes part of that person’s journey. That transformative power is sometimes forgotten in today’s sped-up world.
“With great experiences, you might not be able to put your finger on why it was a great night, or a great occasion,” he says. “It’s subtle, because the experience itself was seamless.”
“The servers are attentive about the food, the music, the lighting, it’s all just right. You walk out of that experience saying ‘wow, that was amazing.’”
For Young, who hopes to bring some of that seamless magic to the restaurants in the Gaslight District, those moments are the best marketing tool a proprietor could ask for.
“With the right experience, people actually feel compelled to talk about them,” he says. “It's not driven by social media, not the website, not Instagram or TikTok.”
“We do it all the time,” he says. “We talk about restaurants, we talk about food, we talk about the whole experience.”
At the end of the day, Young says what he hopes to contribute to the Gaslight District is a sense of conviviality through food and the restaurant experience. And if people can share a few laughs, meet up with old friends, or start new relationships, food should have a seat at the table, so to speak.
“Being around people, while seated around the table, those are beautiful times, it’s really a beautiful thing.”
It’s part of our DNA, he says. We’re simply programmed to get together, break bread, and share stories.