{"id":23666,"date":"2011-11-11T09:00:35","date_gmt":"2011-11-11T14:00:35","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/spacingtoronto.ca\/?p=23666"},"modified":"2013-01-21T14:52:18","modified_gmt":"2013-01-21T19:52:18","slug":"torontos-current-urban-planning-conflicts-rooted-in-the-past","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/2011\/11\/11\/torontos-current-urban-planning-conflicts-rooted-in-the-past\/","title":{"rendered":"Toronto\u2019s current urban planning conflicts rooted in the past"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/p>\n

The seeds of Toronto\u2019s modern-day political discord, as it pertains to urban development, were planted in the 1950s.<\/p>\n

According to Stephen Bocking<\/a>, one thing that\u2019s become prevalent here over the last 20 years is the notion that urban planning has become an intensely political activity. That belief would be false in his view.<\/p>\n

Bocking, professor & chair of environmental & resource studies, Trent University in Peterborough, Ont., made a Nov. 7 presentation, \u201cBuilding Postwar Toronto: When Planning And Politics Collide<\/em>\u201d, at the Toronto Public Library\u2019s Annette Street branch in the Junction neighbourhood. His talk was part of the library\u2019s \u201cHistory Matters\u201d lecture series.<\/p>\n

With respect to the origins of the challenges Toronto faces presently in terms of planning, many trace it back to the Conservative Mike Harris provincial government\u2019s so-called Common Sense Revolution in the mid-1990s. That horrific scheme imposed amalgamation and the downloading of all kinds of costs on T.O.<\/p>\n

Others may go further back to the 1980s when basic investments in transit expansion, after the initial development of the subway system, was essentially abandoned. But Bocking suggested the need to rewind even further.<\/p>\n

\u201cGo back to the 1950s when much of the shape of Toronto as we see it today was just emerging. It was an intriguing time in the history of Toronto. The city was expanding rapidly via the postwar era and it was a time when enormous investment was being made in the city,\u201d he said. \u201cIt was also a time when the seeds were being planted that would lead to a breakdown in Toronto city planning.\u201d<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Consider the city\u2019s 1943 master plan. Though it was never implemented, it shows an interest in government circles of the comprehensive planning of cities. <\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cThis plan\u2019s key features are reflected in contemporary Toronto like the importance of expressways for example,\u201d he explained. \u201cThere are others as well such as the notion of a green belt encompassing the ravines of the Don and Humber Rivers and especially the overarching idea of expanding on the outskirts of the city. That might seem obvious now but in the 1940s, this was a fairly revolutionary idea in urban planning circles.\u201d<\/p>\n

The creation of the Metro Toronto government in 1953 aimed to solve the fundamental challenges of developing this city, namely the financial variety.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Metro Toronto government itself was largely an instrument to make possible those engineering investments that were way beyond the capability of the existing city governments in the area,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

Bocking named what he called three key aspects of investment made during that era: The activities of the Metro government to extend urban services; the process involving the development of new communities especially by private developers; and the task of managing nature.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe state of the sewer system in Toronto in 1949 was in a word, terrible,\u201d he said. \u201cThe fundamental idea behind (improving) the sewer system was to enable private investment in housing development throughout the Toronto area.\u201d<\/p>\n

He then highlighted Don Mills as a classic postwar suburban development in the region, likening it to America\u2019s first suburb in Levittown, Pa.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe structure of suburban development at this time was seen as corresponding to the preferred structure of the heterosexual family,\u201d he said. \u201cUrban architecture and planning had to be supportive of that preferred family structure . . . the notion of large-scale homebuilders, which was very much encouraged by the Canadian Mortgage & Housing Corporation, was considered quite radical.”<\/p>\n

And then came Hurricane Hazel in 1954, a storm that dumped 285 millimetres of rain in 48 hours, killed 81 people, and left an estimated 1,868 families in T.O. homeless. Hazel mobilized the need for managing watersheds on a regional basis.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was an event from which lessons were readily drawn including obvious ones such as not to build houses on flood plains,\u201d Bocking said. \u201cFrom now on, conservation authorities would help ensure that private investment would not be put in danger by disruptive nature.\u201d<\/p>\n

Still, urban planning at this time was not considered a political argument. It was considered a technical issue to be sorted out by the experts.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe essential function of city planning was to enable private development and to serve individual choice,\u201d he continued. \u201cFor example, instead of determining what transportation options would be available, the preference was given to cars and highways because that was seen as the purest expression of individual autonomy.\u201d<\/p>\n

So when did urban planning become a highly politicized affair in Toronto? Bocking suggested political discord began to emerge following the establishment of the Gardiner Expressway that irrevocably altered the neighbourhood in south Parkdale. But he cited the influence of folks like Jane Jacobs for ratcheting it up to another level by railing against the extension of the Spadina Expressway.<\/p>\n

\u201cShe helped galvanize significant debates in Toronto about the shape and future of the city,\u201d he said. \u201cThere was also an increasing sense of discomfort about what was happening to certain neighbourhoods. For instance, people were beginning to respond in a visceral way about what was happening in St. James Town.\u201d<\/p>\n

By the late 1960s, urban planning and politics began to collide with regularity.<\/p>\n

\u201cDeveloping Metro Toronto in the 1950s and 1960s represented a particular idea about how we build cities,\u201d he added. \u201cThe debates framed in the 60s and 70s have been with us ever since. There hasn\u2019t been any clear resolution as to what Toronto should be in the future.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The seeds of Toronto\u2019s modern-day political discord, as it pertains to urban development, were planted in the 1950s. According to Stephen Bocking, one thing that\u2019s become prevalent here over the last 20 years is the notion that urban planning has become an intensely political activity. That belief would be false in his view. Bocking, professorContinue reading “Toronto\u2019s current urban planning conflicts rooted in the past”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4079,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[24,20],"tags":[810,18821,6374,18820,5539,2676,570,2520,504,12177,18819,18817,636,1284,8335,12,18823,995,18816,19,4322,11898,13403,18818,18822],"class_list":["post-23666","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-history","category-urban-design","tag-america","tag-canadian-mortgage-housing-corporation","tag-common-sense","tag-conservative-mike-harris-provincial-government","tag-date","tag-don-mills","tag-gardiner-expressway","tag-humber-river","tag-jane-jacobs","tag-levittown","tag-metro-government","tag-metro-toronto-government","tag-ontario","tag-pennsylvania","tag-peterborough","tag-planning","tag-professor-chair","tag-spadina-expressway","tag-stephen-bocking","tag-toronto","tag-toronto-public-library","tag-transportation-options","tag-trent-university","tag-trent-university-in-peterborough","tag-urban-services"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nToronto\u2019s current urban planning conflicts rooted in the past - Spacing Toronto<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/2011\/11\/11\/torontos-current-urban-planning-conflicts-rooted-in-the-past\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Toronto\u2019s current urban planning conflicts rooted in the past - Spacing Toronto\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The seeds of Toronto\u2019s modern-day political discord, as it pertains to urban development, were planted in the 1950s. 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