Lots of people argue with the idea that the older city, with its compactness, mixed use and relatively high density of people, creates different social values than does the low-density sprawling suburb.
They might argue, but the support for the idea seems all around us. It was evident in the vote about the future of the eastern section of the Gardiner Expressway. Every one of the 13 councillors representing wards covering the former City of Toronto before the creation of the megacity in 1998 voted against spending an extra $450 million to keep this portion of the Gardiner standing. They were joined by eight councillors from the suburbs.
The 23 councillors who voted to keep it up—the mayor made that 24—all represent suburban wards.
It certainly isn’t the first time this difference in social values has been apparent. It has been there as long as the two different urban forms have existed, which in Toronto is since Don Mills was built in the early 1950s.
The most sustained example of the difference in values was from the mid-1970s until the mid-1990s, when the former Toronto City Council ran Cityhome, a large and popular affordable housing program, building and supporting tens of thousands of affordable and rent-geared-to-income units. Not one of the suburban councils in Metro Toronto had any kind of affordable housing program. The gulf between the social values of the two cultures was wide.
And it certainly won’t be the last time the differences are apparent, although they seem to be ignored by decision-makers.
One example of this is set to occur on Canada Day, when United Way Toronto merges with United Way York Region. This merger has been in the works for almost a year. It was publicly announced in January, and the final step is now being taken.
York Region is that vast area running north from Steeles Avenue up to Lake Simcoe: Markham, Vaughan, Richmond Hill, Aurora, Newmarket and some even lower-density suburban and rural areas such as King Township, Stouffville, East Gwillimbury and Georgina.
Those supporting the merger argue that the two organizations have the same mission, vision, core values and community priorities, and that might be true. They also argue that donors and volunteers cross Steeles Avenue everyday, so the division is artificial.
But the social values of the communities served by each organization are wildly different. The values that the compact, mixed use and dense older city enhance are about a sense of community and sharing, tolerance of differences and civility to others. The values that the low-density sprawling suburbs enhance are about a sense of individuality; a competition with others; and a distancing from others. Of course some individuals in each kind of community do not exhibit these values, but the majority do since urban form really does influence human behaviour and political decisions.
All of which means that the new United York/Toronto Way (or whatever it will be called), will become even more suburbanized in its thinking and actions than it already is. The older city already had a limited voice in the older United Way, two thirds of which represented the suburbs in the current Toronto. Now the values of the older city will be reduced to about one fifth or less of the new organization
This is an example of the increasing suburbanization of urban institutions. If you look at all urban areas in Canada, there is only a single one left where the older city—complex, mixed use, dense—has its own government and voice. That city is Vancouver, and most everyone would agree it is the most progressive city in Canada. Witness its support of the only safe drug-injection site in the country; a site which substantially reduces the death and disease of those addicted to drugs.
very other city, including Toronto, has a city council dominated by representatives of low-density suburban communities: Calgary, Edmonton, Winnipeg, Halifax, Montreal. The voice for city values is shrinking badly. All the figures about urban expansion in Canada show that more than 90% of new housing occurs in a low-density, auto-dependent, suburbanized form. Cities are being swamped by suburbs.
Suburbanization is coming in spades to United Way, our leading social welfare organization. This is not a step forward.
Increasingly we need to find institutions which give voice to the strong values held by those of us who live in the compact, mixed-use and dense city. We can be proud of our values about community, tolerance and civility, but as the places where they can find expression shrink, one has to wonder about the future of those values. The suburbanites, who are willing to spend a half-billion dollars to keep the Gardiner Expressway standing, are in charge.
John Sewell is a former Mayor of Toronto.