Every year, the Architectural Conservancy of Ontario’s Toronto Branch hosts a symposium exploring current heritage ideas. Past themes have included Housing and Heritage, Main Streets, Modernist Schools, and Demolition. The theme for this year’s symposium will be about the phenomenon of Intangible Heritage, or heritage that is separate from a built form.

Intangible Heritage has diverse meanings, its narratives being complex, intersectional, and in motion. It can relate to traditions, activities, commerce, communities, identities, and storytelling; all heritage has intangible elements. While there is a clear physical and spatial relationship, what distinguishes Intangible Heritage from built heritage is that its significance lies outside traditional evaluations of architectural merit; it is use, not aesthetics, that defines Intangible Heritage. Through a close look at its presence across Toronto—from Kensington Market to Little Jamaica to Suburban Banquet Halls—this year’s symposium aims to highlight what the term Intangible Heritage may be defined as and why.

This year, the symposium will host a series of panels featuring a variety of leaders in cultural topics pertaining to urbanism in Toronto, including a senior editor at Azure, Stefan Novakovic, who will appear as a moderator. The event will have opportunities for engaging discussions and networking.