A quick history of Toronto's urban development...

I just read a really interesting paper for my urban environments class. The article was written by a Trent Professor. It is all about Toronto’s urban development from 1940 to 1970. Importantly however, the article discusses the role that urban expertise played in developing the city.

Because Toronto was growing so rapidly in these thirty years, it was vital to draw on the knowledge of planners, engineers, scientists and property developers to find ways that were economically productive and environmentally sound. This thirty year period was also quite tumultuous for the city as certain professions were favoured over others. Over time however, cohesion was better reached.

Historically, we have witnessed a clash between expert authority and political authority. Take the example of the urban planner in the 1950s. The urban planner might have said that bringing about a green space in an urban community can have health and aesthetics benefits. However, it may be challenging for them because they lack political authority to get these decisions passed by a municipality.

This has changed ever since, but it must have been so frustrating for planner then, who had good ideas for community improvement but was neglected because of the infrastructural solution proposed by the engineer. The city government always approved the solutions in which they perceived had immediate economic benefits. As the progressive environmental era emerged, city planners and scientists were given more voice.

The conventional view to resolving environmental problems in the 1950s and 60s was engineering solutions. Making sewers and water supply systems more efficient for example. But, a key point of the article that I wanted to share with you is that rapid urban development creates the impetus to draw on diverse expertise. Urban problems are far too complex to solve for any one profession. Floods for example, require diverse response teams for adequate remediation.

Toronto’s urban development approach was different than many of its American counterparts. Toronto for example, realized the importance of creating highways to allow suburban residents to travel from home to work. The construction of these roads and highways did not obliterate or destroy neighbourhoods (mainly low-income) while being built- something that has happened in the U.S. Take the cross-Bronx expressway in NYC for example.

The amalgamation of such expertise led to the creation of the metropolitan Toronto council. This represented a diverse body and helped find practical solutions to deal with Toronto’s rapidly growing population. Even the creation of suburban developments like the famous Don Mills suburb, was carefully thought out in design to avoid severe environmental damage and providing populations with a chance to settle in non congested areas.

Key message: The history of city development is interesting. Rapid urban development in Toronto not only led to more cohesion amongst professions (and expertise) but led to practical environmental and economic solutions.