Shape of the Suburbs : Understanding Toronto's Sprawl / John Sewell.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Sewell, John, Author.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

City planning--Ontario--Toronto Suburban Area--History.

City planning.

Suburbs--Ontario--Toronto--History.

Suburbs.

Toronto Suburban Area (Ont.)--History.

Toronto Suburban Area (Ont.).

Physical Description:

1 online resource (273 p.)

Place of Publication:

Toronto : University of Toronto Press, [2020]

Language Note:

English

Summary:

It is now impossible to understand major North American cities without considering the seemingly never-ending and ever-growing sprawl of their surrounding suburbs. In The Shape of the Suburbs, activist, urban affairs columnist, and former Toronto mayor John Sewell examines the relationship between the development of suburbs, water and sewage systems, highways, and the decision-making of Toronto-area governments to show how the suburbs spread, and how they have in turn shaped the city. Using his wealth of knowledge of the city of Toronto and new information gathered from municipal archives, Sewell describes the major movements and forces that allowed for rapid development of the suburbs, while considering the options that were available to planners at the time. Discussing proposals to curb suburban sprawl from the 1960s to the recently adopted plan for the Greater Toronto area, Sewell combines insightful and accessible commentary with rigorous research on the debate between urban and suburban. Concerned not only with sprawl, The Shape of the Suburbs also demonstrates the ways in which suburban political, economic, and cultural influences have impacted the older, central city, culminating in the forced Megacity amalgamation of 1998. Rich in detail and full of useful visual illustrations, The Shape of the Suburbs is a lively look at the construction of the suburban era.

Contents:

1. Introduction : intimations of growth

2. Toronto in mid-century

3. Planning for the future

4. Building a superhighway system

5. Transit and commuting alternatives

6. Pipe dreams

7. Reshaping governance in the fringes

8. The challenge of unbridled suburban growth

9. The triumph for suburban values

10. The death of metro

11. Re-establishing a regional agenda.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (p. [251]-256) and index.

Description based on online resource; title from PDF title page (publisher's Web site, viewed 23. Jun 2020)

ISBN:

1-4426-9307-X

1-4426-8911-0

OCLC:

635459258