The Summer 2013 issue of Spacing is jammed packed with a slew of great articles, photos, and interviews focused on Toronto urbanism. This article appears in the issue in our Features section. For more unique articles focused on the public realm of Toronto and Canadian cities pick up a copy today. Find your copy in these stores.
Excerpt from “Suburban Dreams”
At the beginning of the 1964 NFB movie Nobody Waved Goodbye, a sleek new car drives through the winding, sidewalk-free streets of Etobicoke. The film follows the struggles of a teenage boy setting off from suburbia to make it on his own in gritty downtown Toronto, but it’s the shots of this central Etobicoke neighbourhood that are most memorable.
Today, these areas are often dismissed because they don’t impart an ideal sense of place. In fact, they’ve left a legacy we’re still struggling to deal with: low density, poor transit, and a lack of amenities. For better or worse, Etobicoke’s post-war neighbourhoods have come to define these dilemmas. While it would be a stretch to say that all architecture from the mid-century era is of a fine calibre, that doesn’t mean there aren’t worthwhile discoveries to be made. You just have to know where to look.
To read more of this article by Thomas Wicks pick up the latest issue of Spacing or subscribe.
Photo by Thomas Wicks