You don’t have to love the movies to love the Toronto International Film Festival. Even before the first flick was screened Thursday night, TIFF had made the city a better place. Simply by closing King St. from Peter to University Ave., even temporarily, it gave Torontonians another glimpse of their future.

The daily closure — Thursday to Sunday, 10 a.m. to midnight — comes at a time when King St. has become the source of much anxiety. The King 504 streetcar is so busy, passengers routinely wait for two, three, even four to pass before there’s enough room to board.

With its mix of office and condo towers, stores, bars and restaurants, King rivals the city’s most famous thoroughfare, Queen St. The evolution of Liberty Village has brought thousands of new residents to the west end of King, as the West Don Lands have in the east.

Many are urban types likely to walk, ride bikes or take transit to get around. For example, David Mirvish’s Frank Gehry-designed complex at King and John, with 1,950 living units, will have parking for 2,000 bicycles and only 670 cars.

Still, the city treats King like any other major Toronto artery, with street parking, little in the way of meaningful bike lanes and deliveries being made at all hours. No wonder that many argue King should be closed permanently from, say, University to Spadina.

Urban guru and former councillor Richard Gilbert is one of them. “King Street should be mostly grassed over between University and Spadina,” he says, “with streetcars going through (slowly) at all times and limited access for commercial vehicles, allowed weekdays from 4 to 10 a.m.”

What an idea. Drivers wouldn’t like it, but for the rest of us, the chance to shed stress would be hugely welcome. Besides, once the TTC’s new low-floor streetcars are fully in service — sometime later this millennium — there won’t be enough room for cars.

The backlash will be noisy and desperate — just listen to Rob Ford — but the same things were undoubtedly heard when horses and buggies were muscled out by the automobile. Not everyone benefits from progress, even when it’s in the best interests of the majority. More than any other part of Toronto, King is where the battle for civic equality is being waged.

Thanks to TIFF, we have an opportunity to see what the city might look like if people enjoyed the same freedom as cars. For a few days, at least, this is the promise of King.

Before the film festival, of course, there was Open Streets, which barely survived city hall’s hostility in one piece, and the dozens of festivals that briefly allow the mantle of civilization to descend upon this self-benighted burg.

Four days won’t be enough to satisfy the skeptics; they will demand more reports and further study. Asked about Open Streets, leading mayoral candidate John Tory was very reluctant to offer an opinion until he had all the “facts” — whatever they are.

That may sound sensible, but given how poorly King functions now, surely our fears should be tempered by the possibilities of change. What is there to lose? What is there to fear?

Our planners wring their hands over density, but have yet to make any serious suggestions for how to deal with it. The best thing they’ve come up with so far is shorter towers.

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All the talk about the strain on the infrastructure overlooks one thing: a good part of that strain comes from vehicular traffic. Get cars off King, there will plenty of infrastructure left over for the rest of us.