Sociological Aspects Of Urban Renewal In Toronto

This research project gives a complete description of the characteristics of a neighbourhood likely to undergo urban renewal to discover the attitudes of individuals toward urban and forced relocation, the determinants of attitudes toward relocation & determinants of a successfully asministered urban renewal programme. Citizen participation is particularly emphasized.

Urban Sociology in Canada, Second Edition introduces the fundamentals of the theoretical structure of Canadian urban studies. The book is comprised of 11 chapters that are organized into six parts. The text provides census data of various Canadian cities along with urban empirical studies to help illustrate the generalization and concepts. The book first covers the classical foundations of urban sociology, and then proceeds to discussing the growth of urban system. The third part talks about the process of entrance to the urban system, while the fourth part deals with the spatial shape of the urban system. The last two parts tackle urbanism and the regulation of urban system, respectively. The book will be of great use to social scientists who involve urban population as the main demographics of their research study.

English and the community functions on the basis of a variety of ethnic institutions that operate in the immigrant's own mother tongue. These include local stores and markets, churches, clubs, welfare agencies and other organizations that serve the needs of the local population. Frequently employment opportunities in occupa tions where English is unnecessary are also available to men and women in the neighbourhood. These ethnic neighbourhoods exhibit a high degree of functional interdependence which would be severely disrupted by urban renewal schemes involving widespread clearance. The proposed extension of freeways could give rise to problems in this respect. Even the "spot clearance" schemes of a more limited kind would have more serious social and human repercussions in such areas in view of the high incidence of "doubling". It is significant that certain planning areas in which urban renewal has already proceeded, such as the Don area including the Regent Park public housing scheme, have consisted predominantly of native-born Canadians of British origin. The experience gained in these schl~mes is not likely to be a useful guide to the probable consequen -;es of improvement and other schemes in those areas with a mt l"e heterogeneous population. An examination of the population .::haracteristics in those areas designated for renewal in the future suggests that the social effects and human implications of these plans may be somewhat different from past experience.

Drawing on a series of in-depth interviews among a segment of Toronto's inner-city, middle-class population, Caulfield argues that the seeds of gentrification have included patterns of critical social practice and that the 'gentrified' landscape is highly paradoxical.

This study, first published in 1968, was one of the first books on Canada’s urban development, bringing together the viewpoints of professionals who had studied various aspects of city growth – economic, social, geographic, political. The book demonstrates the effectiveness and potential of the cross-disciplinary approach and will prove useful to all those interested in the future of our cities.

Critics have long voiced concerns about the wisdom of living in cities and the effects of city life on physical and mental health. For a century, planners have tried to meet these issues. John Sewell traces changes in urban planning, from the pre-Depression garden cities to postwar modernism and a revival of interest in the streetscape grid. In this far-ranging review, Sewell recounts the arrival of modern city planning with its emphasis on lower densities, limited access streets, segregated uses, and considerable green space. He makes Toronto a case history, with its pioneering suburban development in Don Mills and its other planned communities, including Regent Park, St Jamestown, Thorncrest Village, and Bramalea. The heyday of the modern planning movement was in the 1940s to the 1960s, and the Don Mills concept was repeated in spirit and in style across Canada. Eventually, strong public reaction brought modern planning almost to a halt within the city of Toronto. The battles centred on saving the Old City Hall and stopping the Spadina Expressway. Sewell concludes that although the modernist approach remains ascendant in the suburbs, the City of Toronto has begun to replace it with alternatives that work. This is a reflective but vigorous statement by a committed urban reformer. Few Canadians are better suited to point the way towards city planning for the future.

This report, through personal interviews with 100 reasonably well informed people, gives consideration to the appropriate role of citizens in neighbourhood improvement programs.