It's the year 2000 and 36 year old Eddie Rama has just been elected mayor of Tirana, the capital of Albania.

He's not a politician. It's the first time he's been elected to anything.

On his walk to City Hall, he passes

mazes of illegal kiosks where city parks used to be.

He steps around heaps of uncollected trash, rotten food, broken furniture,

who knows what else.

Tirana has run out of money.

Most depressing of all, everything is gray.

Under communist rule,

Tirana tore down its Turkish baths and bazaars and erected endless rows of Soviet-style apartment buildings.

They're boxy and drab and Rama can't help but think that they match the city's mood.

Sure, the iron curtain may have been lifted, but life

in Toronto is gloomier than ever.

As mayor, it's his job to set things right. He has little experience and no funds to work with.

But he does have one trick up his sleeve.

He has an eye for color.

In a TED Talk, Rama told the audience.

In my previous life, I was an artist.

I still paint.

I love art.

I love the joy that color can give to our lives.

So Rama turns to what he knows best.

...