Why Canada's Culture is 'Boring'.

 This could and maybe will be the subject of book; so, forgive any necessary gaps in thinking, here.

Note: This is full of generalizations that may better apply to more sprawled cities than Victoria, but still apply. 
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A great conversation with an Iranian, today.

Why is it that Canada has efficient infrastructure, strong education and health care systems, pristine environments, relatively limited social problems, but somehow suffers from a 'lack of' or boring culture?

A very subjective sentiment, yet one often expressed by Canadians and visitors, alike.

Culture is based on the shared traditions and attitudes of social group. As such, I believe that a primary cause of this 'lack of' (debatable concept, but easiest way to express it) culture is a lack of two types of public, social interactions.

First and most obviously, we lack good cafe culture.

That is, we lack vibrant public spaces (e.g., plazas, patios, parks) full of life -- aka people.

To me, this is almost exclusively down to our auto-oriented as opposed people-oriented and human-scaled built environments. Simple as that.

(p.s., Name a vibrant public space in Victoria. Once a year doesn't count.)

Second and less obviously, we lack casual 'sidewalk' culture.

Jane Jacob's was a huge proponent of urban design that facilitated healthy sidewalk culture:

[There is] an almost unconsciously enforced, well-balanced line... between the city public world and the world of privacy.

This line can be maintained, without awkwardness to anyone, because of the great plenty of opportunities for public contact in the enterprises along the sidewalks, or on the sidewalks themselves, as people move to and fro or deliberately loiter when they feel like it, and also because of... meeting places [e.g., business]... where one is free to either hang around or dash in and out, no strings attached.

 Under this system, it is possible in a city street neighbourhood to know all kinds of people without unwelcome entanglements, without boredom, necessity for excuses, explanations, fears of giving offense, embarrassments respecting impositions or commitments, and all such paraphernalia of obligations which can accompany less limited relationships.

Let's return to Canada. Some say that North Americans are 'obsessed' by privacy. I don't think this is the case; I think this is an inevitable behavioural reaction to our pod world.

Pod world: Go from house to garage to car to parking structure to elevator to cubicle/office to elevator to parking structure to car to garage and back into the house. 'Hi, neighbour!'

In a pod world, one struggles to develop a healthy sidewalk culture. Therefore, exposing ourselves to strangers -- particularly neighbours -- threatens the possibility of those unwelcome entanglements.

Back to Jane:

[The] more common outcome in cities, where people are faced with the choice of sharing much or nothing, is nothing. In city areas that lack a natural and casual public life, it is common for residents to isolate themselves from each other to a fantastic degree. If mere contact with your neighbors threatens to entangle you in their private lives, or entangle them in yours... the logical solution is absolutely to avoid friendliness or casual offers of help. 

As a practical result, the ordinary public jobs -- like keeping children in hand -- for which people must take a little personal initiative, or those for which they must band together in limited common purposes, go undone.

As a result, we are left with what The Missus and I now call Revolutionary Road Syndrome.

Revolutionary Road Syndrome is -- oversimplified -- a symptom of (primarily) suburbanites so isolated from any opportunity for healthy casual public interaction that all social interaction has to be made 'by reservation'.

And, thus, suffers are actually 'happy' to remain in their pods and ever-convey to neighbours that they are 'fully booked', when in fact they are both just watching the same TV show.

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I think we greatly underestimate the effect of our built environment on our behaviour and so way of life and so culture.

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Yes, people live -- and live -- on this street, too.