Urban Sociology 01/24/2024

Readings:
LEC2: Dynamics of Canadian Urbanization in the Global Context & The Case of Toronto
Overview:
Chapter 2: Dynamics of Canadian Urbanization

 More Recently Dominant

o Urban restructuring due to globalization – “cities are increasingly related to the
world system”
 Always Relevant
o The political economy perspective – Different patterns of urbanization are the
result of human action and purposeful decisisions, not just the result of natural
processes
o Has taken different forms over time….
 European settlers greatly influenced early Canadian urbanization
 Two main functions of European settlements:
o 1) as collection and distribution points for the staple resources
o 2) as military outposts
 Colonialism helped establish particular pattern of urban settlements
o Port cities and location along water was critical
o Halifax, Montreal
 After 1850, railroads and industrialization became key factors that transformed the role of
cities
o Solidified the dominance of cities like Montreal and Toronto *those in central
Canada) while weakening others
o Winnipeg: Chicago of the North
 By the end of World War II, there was a well-established settlements pattern for Canada
o 1) urban centers and settlements were originally the result of colonial interests, so
were located along bodies of water to facilitate commercial interests and
demonstrate colonial power
o 2) the role of the railway facilitated the development of agricultural settlements
and aided Central Canadian cities
o 3) Central and Western Canadian Cities were also aided by political decisions
(Bank Act of 1871; National Policy of 1879)
 Factors in the rate of Canadian urbanization
o Technological factors
 (i.e. streetcar, electricity replacing steam power, automobile  allow
residents to live father from the core ((suburbanization of residence), also
international air access, etc.))
o External factors
 (i.e. American’s direct investment through creating Canadian subsidiaries
in central Canada, i.e. automobile industry; Hong Kong’s interest in
development Vancouver, entry of immigrants, etc.)
o Internal factors
  (rural-urban migration or rural depopulation and inter-urban
migration((move from smaller cities to larger cities) to search
employment opportunities.)))
 Changes in the Urban systems and hierarchy among Canadian cities
o E.g. Population: Througb 1971, Montreal was always #1, now it’s Toronto: why?
 Montreal used to be the ideal place – critical location for water
transportation (trade with Europe): but now, most trade is with US
 Opening of St. Lawerence Seaway, rail links, shift of finance, out
migration from Montreal, more immigrants choosing to live in Toronto
o Other Cities:
 Vancouver
 Canadian gateway to Asia; climatological urbanization effect
(mild climate attracts both internal and international migrants)
 Alberta, Calgary and Edmonton
 Oil and gas (staples in high demand) as well as important
medical, education and supply centre for those in Northern
provinces
 Immigrants settle in ‘gateway cities’ (Toronto, Vancouver, Montreal) 
high concentration of visible minority people
Chapter 16: Toronto – The Form of the City

 How city fabrics reflect urban economy

 The role of corporations in shaping urban space today
 The ongoing reproduction of city’s often transitory fabric
 The influence of modernist and postmodern planning and architecture on the
contemporary city
 The dialogical nature of urban forms
Explained by examining 4 areas in Toronto
- The Distillery

Phase Urban Function Power over Place

A. Pre-industrial phase Entrepots (staple goods, fur, fish
1. Mercantile Period lumber), administrative or
(1700s) military outposts
2. Commercial Period Regional trade and services
(1831-1861) (Gov’t, bank, hospital), amid
colonial settlement
Officials of the imperial state
and its colonial agencies
(Toronto-capital of Upper
Canada) Entrepreneurial and
professional colonial-immigrant
class

B. Industrial Phase Small-scale industry mainly for Colonial patrician class (much
1. Early Period local and regional markets like the commercial period)

2. Later Period Larger-scale manufacturing and Company owners, business

extractive industries elites of the industrial economy
C. Post-Industrial Phase Business, financial, professional Multinational corporations and
and personal services elites of the service economy
(Toronto-metropolis)

- Holy Trinity church

o Church built in 1840s: conflict in 1950 around corporatisation of the city
o Shift of urban form and urban function and meaning around the church
 Consider: Good or bad?
- Regent Park
o Canada’s largest public housing project  has 3 roots
 1) a view shared by many people and social agencies that life chances of
low-income city dwellers would be significantly improved if they had better
housing
 View of growth-minded civic officials and business groups the clearance of
'slums' would help generate development investment in Toronto
 Design ideas of an architectural movement called modernism
 Example of modernism (clean sweep urban renewal, a “superblock,”
residential use only, project design strictly utilitarian (functional
efficiency)
- Farewell Oak Street
o 1953 Vantage of Postwar Problems on Oak St. Toronto
 Dirty, cold, crowded, unsafe, unhappy, privacy issues
o Focusing on the material, Regent Park was in improvement
 5 rooms, space for everyone
 Bathrooms, nicer kitchen,
 Clean, new
 Better entrances/exits
 Assumption that social problems would evaporate with better housing
o What would today’s video “Farewell Regent Park” be like?
 Many demographic and social changes to the residents
 Gender roles, family composition, ethnic and racial diversity, role of
television and internet in time-use
- St. Jamestown
o 15,000 people in 16 high rise towers
 Unlike Regent Park, most buildings are not public housing
 Mostly built for profit by private-sector companies, instead are most
tenant – managed (non-profit housing co-operatives)
o Most densely populated are in Canada
o Compared to City of Toronto, St. James Town has a significance higher p% of:
 One parent family, seniors living alone, person whose home language is not
English or French, recent immigrants, low-income individuals and families,
people on social assistance, birth to teenage girls, low birth weigh babies,
deaths (age adjusted)
 Key issues faced in neighbourhood
  Immigration adjustment and services, crime, policing, poverty,
housing quality and affordability
Canada (2 zones in urban form).
- Inner zone
o Canada’s older cities: morphology and forms were in place in 1950s; high density of
people, mix of residential, commercial and other kind of land uses
- Outer zone
o Lower densities of people, more segregated.

Negotiating Change: Development

 Changes in urban forms require negotiations among different parties (i.e. urban economic
development groups versus anti-modernist movement groups)
o Post-modern urbanism characteristics
 Construct new buildings that imitate tradition urban forms (i.e. style of 19 th
Century Victorian homes
 Maintain old urban forms with their original uses (i.e. Toronto’s old railway
station that is still a train terminal)
 Adaptive reuse of old structure (i.e. Distillery District
o New Urbanism
 Suburban neighbourhoods resembling older parts of city with higher densities
that most new suburban, houses built close to sidewalk (i.e. Vaughan)