Comparison between
World Expo and Terra City
Excerpts from “Toronto International”, courtesy of the City of Toronto: 

                                http://www.toronto.ca/toronto_international/world_expo.htm (Avr 2006)

World Expo 2015

“Once every five years, a city gets the opportunity to step up onto the world stage and become the focal point of international attention and achievement. In 2015, that city could be Toronto. If awarded the right to host the 2015 World Expo, Toronto would join the elite ranks cities like Brussels, London, New York, Paris, Osaka and Shanghai who have earned this privilege.

What is a World Expo

World Expos, sometimes called World's Fairs or World Expositions, bring together the nations of the world to explore issues of shared significance, while showcasing participating nations' ingenuity, culture, achievements, excellence and leadership.

World Expos are regulated by the Bureau International des Expositions (BIE), headquartered in Paris, France. The BIE is made up of delegates from 98 member-nations, who assemble twice a year to review applications for new projects and review the progress of those already awarded. A Toronto World Expo in 2015 would be a "Registered" Expo similar in scope to Expo '67 in Montreal, and by definition, much broader in scope and depth than the "Recognized" Expo Vancouver hosted in 1986.

Not an Olympics

Hosting a World Expo differs significantly from playing host to a major international sporting event like the Olympics. The modern Olympic games have evolved to be primarily a short-duration, media-driven event. By contrast, a World Expo lasts for six months, is directly experienced by millions of visitors and results in large-scale built and cultural, social and scientific legacies, as well as growth in tourism and increased tax revenues.

Legacies

Examples of architectural achievements built in preparation for hosting a World Expo include the Crystal Palace in London, the iconic Eiffel Tower in Paris and Moshe Safdi's innovative Habitat for Humanity and Buckminster Fuller's Geodesic Dome in Montreal. A significant enhancement of transportation infrastructure is a frequent legacy, such as the creation of a new bridge and subway line in Montreal, LRT in Vancouver, and high speed rail and auto route links between Seville and Madrid, and similar developments in Osaka, Japan.

Cultural benefits are no less tangible. World Expos are a confluence of leading edge creative ideas and executions internationally, and provide artists and visionaries the opportunity to collaborate on innovative projects of global significance. For example, Dvorjak composed his "New World Symphony" for the 1893 World's Fair. A substantial portion of Chicago's waterfront today is a legacy of the configuration of the World's Fair site envisioned by landscape architect Frederick Olmstead (designer of Central Park and Mount Royal). At Expo '67, a group of Canadian innovators in media arts came together and showcased a new approach to filmmaking which later became the IMAX corporation.
Cities who have hosted World Expos have received incalculable boosts to their profile globally. Beyond the built and cultural legacies, previous host cities have enjoyed enhanced recognition among the international traveling public, and a favorable tourism impact. In addition to the massive tourism spike during a World Expo (which translates into billions in increased spending and tax revenues) there is evidence of a long-term benefit. For example, an analysis of the balance of payments on the travel account in Canada reveals that in the years following both the Montreal Expo and even the smaller Vancouver Expo, sustained tourism receipts were significantly higher than prior to hosting.

The Bid

BIE delegates will award the 2015 World Expo in February 2008 to the host city whose bid best captures the essence of a World's Fair. There are a number of important milestones prior to that point. Toronto City Council will receive and vote on whether to activate a formal bid in May of 2006.

The Vision for Toronto

The vision for Toronto to host the World Expo 2015 should be sweeping and bold. While it will be refined as the bid develops, and further shaped to reflect the Expo 2015's eventual theme, the vision will be dynamic and engaging.

We are inviting everyone in Toronto to tell us what types of legacies or benefits they would expect a World Expo to contribute to the City. We also want to hear about the challenges that we could expect, and ideas you have on how to address them:”

www.expo2015torontoconsults.ca  "
 

The Terra City Project 

The Terra City Project is a sustainable development project at the worldwide scale. At a glance and in rather simplified terms, the Terra City is a permanent international exhibition that will gather the fruits of the constructive creativity of nations worldwide relating to a unique criterion: their potential contribution to a better world on the planet.

Essentially, Terra City is a worldwide centre of creative synergy built by all nations of the world in a common effort to develop a humanitarian global conscience, to become aware of everything constructive discovered and created by mankind in its history, and to apply all this knowledge and accomplishments in a common effort to solve serious problems that affect our very existence on the planet: famine, diseases, insecurity, unemployment, limited energy and resources, violence, war…

This project is neither cyclical nor a temporary event. Terra City will be built and remain in the same place forever. Countries, states/provinces and cities worldwide are now invited to consider their candidacy for hosting this project. The final choice and decision for the Hosting City will be based on what each candidate has to offer in terms of human values, open-mindedness and genuine consideration for other people.

What is Terra City

Terra City is an environmental, humanitarian, and multicultural project as we have never created and experienced yet on our planet.

On its environmental side, Terra City will not only gather the most inspired artistic and architectural expressions of each nation, but it will actually be a concrete application of the most sound urban, energetic and environmental solutions known in each country of the world at present time.

On its humanitarian side, Terra City will allow people worldwide to become aware of the most creative, generous and inspiring ideas, gestures, artworks, projects and solutions generated by people from all over the world that can be applied to solve various problems in different parts of the world, thus contributing to a healthier, safer, more prosperous, enjoyable and fulfilling life for every human being on the planet.

On its multicultural side, the Terra City will allow people worldwide to enjoy the most beautiful and uplifting artworks created by artists from every corner of the globe in all forms of arts, literature, music, communications - organized in the most diverse forms: exhibitions, concerts, shows, courses, seminars, workshops, courses, roundtables, symposiums, conferences, as well as within the International University of Terra City.

The project will be a center of synergic creativity which will support multi-disciplinary and multi-national projects dedicated to researching, experimenting and implementing solutions to actual problems at an individual, regional, national and global scale.

People from all over the world will come to Terra City to share their life lessons and achievements, with sincerity and generosity, to help each other discover and stimulate their talents and allow their creativity to flourish. This is where people will discover the pure taste of genuine respect of a human being towards another human being - for the simple reason that we are all living creatures on the same planet. This is where people will sit down and listen to each other’s problems and use the power of their synergy - the power of thinking and acting together – to find true, long lasting solutions.

People will focus on real life priorities and find ways to spread knowledge and optimize resources worldwide, produce enough food for everyone on the planet, concert their efforts in search for cures to diseases that decimate us every year, and raise the level of education of our children, so they can take the Human Era to new heights.

Each constructive idea that can solve a problem somewhere on the globe, will always have an open door at Terra City and will be acknowledged, supported and promoted worldwide, thus allowing the world to fully share the benefits and the authors to enjoy the merited credit.

Size, Shape & Costs

The Terra City project will be developed on a piece of land of approximately 1000 acres and will have two parts: the International Village and the Hosting Village.

The International Village will be built in the central area of approximately 500 acres and will have a layout resembling the map of the world, with all the continents placed closer together and linked through a multitude of bridges.

Each country will be assigned a piece of land similar in shape and proportionate in size with the size and population of the real country - which will be generically called ‘Terra Country’, and will be invited to build a building representative of their culture, tradition, history, present reality and aspirations for the future.

The project is estimated to host around 150-200 Terra Countries, some of the smaller countries of each continent being grouped together in one common Terra Country. The average size of a Terra Country will be of approx. 10,000 square meters (100,000 square feet).

The Hosting Village will be situated on 500 acres around the International Village, and will consist of hotels, motels, residential buildings, houses, restaurants and shops that will provide accommodation services to visitors year-round.

The Terra City Project will be self-financed. The entire for the project land will be purchased by the Terra City Foundation (TCF) which will be the promoter and developer of the project. TCF will also finance the infrastructure works of the International Village: roads, electricity, water and sewer system, and communications.

Each country will be offered the land with infrastructure for their Terra Country at no cost. Each country will decide on the type, size and architecture of construction to be built on their Terra Country and will be responsible for the cost of construction.

The Bid

The Terra City Project was initiated by Human Wisdom, a Montreal-based publishing company promoting synergic creativity worldwide. Human Wisdom and TCF will gather the candidacies submitted for hosting the Terra City Project, analyze the concrete conditions of each proposal and organize the awarding procedure of the hosting assignment. It is estimated for the hosting location to be determined by the year-end 2008.

Making the world a better place can start with one idea inspired by many past and present initiatives worldwide. However, it will take the collective minds of many to take the project off the ground and the global synergy of millions to make it reality.

The Terra City Project could not, and should not, be designed by any one person alone, nor by a small group of people. Instead, this project will be detailed and refined through the constructive interaction of all nations of the globe in an open process that will also establish the specific roles and responsibilities of the host country/province and each participating country, timelines, financial and all other aspects.

The Vision for the Host City

Building Terra City may seem to some as a paramount undertaking. However, given the synergic nature of this project, the country and state/province that will convince the world that it is ready and capable of hosting Terra City should not be concerned of the financial burden or lack of experience in organizing an international event of this scale. Instead, its major focus should be to consult its citizens and determine whether their aspirations are high enough, their vision is broad enough and their credibility within the worldwide community is strong enough to be awarded the role of forerunners of a better world.

In return, Terra City will be a “blessing forever” for the host City, equaled only by the “blessing” that its daring initiative will bestow upon the entire world…