Tim grew up in London (Ontario), a small city between Detroit and Toronto. He had a happy childhood, but needed to live a closeted existence as his environment was hostile. After moving to the big city as a young adult, he quickly began to flourish.

He lived a life surrounded by art and the artistic endeavour and lived within the irreverent energy that it exuded. Not considering himself an ‘artist’, this early adulthood life experience shaped his ambitions to the core nonetheless. He soon began to understand how irreverence in the arts brought people together, created culture and helped changed beliefs.

Over his career, he has become a globally recognized social entrepreneur in this space. We discuss how modernism in architecture began to focus away from people and give way to towers, plazas – and the car – and how we lost our way in creating places for people and stories and the emotional connection to both. We chat about the “activation” of a place, multisensorial dimensions and art as urban acupuncture.

In line with our discussion with the late Hazel Henderson (episode 61), Tim talks about focusing on a bigger pie – not a bigger slice of what we already have.