Neighbourhood Project

Tell a story of a downtown Toronto neighbourhood in transition. You have a list of neighbourhoods to choose from and a list of essential references for information that should be included in the project. It is possible to choose a neighbourhood not on the list with approval from your instructor.

General Comments

Toronto has been able to regenerate and sustain its downtown neighbourhoods in the second half of the twentieth century, during the time when the biggest story was the rapid development of suburbs. Many American cities had downtowns that were devastated by the flight to the suburbs during the same period.

The redevelopment and intensification (increased population) of the downtown has accelerated in the last decade. Although greater density is a solution for making cities sustainable (able to support good transit, services and investment in environmentally sound infrastructure), there are also problems associated with theses changes.

Often there are winners and losers. Lower income individuals are driven out of the neighbourhoods they have lived in by higher prices. Diversity of the population is reduced and buildings where people used to work are converted to other uses. Sometimes new buildings are badly designed and not flexible in terms of being used differently when the population changes again.

Group Tasks

This is a group project but the marks are individual. Each group is to provide two presentations of the same material (same presentation in two forms).

Each group is to produce a ten page report with citations and bibliography and a fifteen minute presentation to the class. There is a rubric at the end of this text that addresses what is expected in each part of the presentation. The overall goal is to tell a clear story - introduction, points supported by evidence and conclusion.

A private discussion will be created for each group on BlackBoard and the project should be built there. This serves a number of purposes. First of all it is where your project is due. Finished PowerPoint or Prezi link and research paper must be posted there by the beginning of the class when the project is due. It is available to group members from any computer connected to the web and it is the way for members to document their contribution. Transparency is the first criterion that I look at when marking. Who did what and where did the info come from. If these things are not clear everyone's mark will be affected.
Written material must be documented in APA style (see APA document in this Assignments section). A bibliography for the paper is essential. Most sources will be internet sources. Web addresses must be accurate so that I can click on the web link and go directly to the page that you used.

Components of the Story

Each neighbourhood is unique and the elements that are crucial will vary. Certain aspects should be included in all projects. The questions below are less important than a discussion with the instructor about what is important in the particular neighbourhood you are looking at. Project outline and division of work should be based on those specifics.

• Historical summary - this is a minor part would likely be condensed in your own words 150 to 200 words in your 2500 research paper. The fact that it is first on the list does not indicate significance. Not a history project - you are talking about the neighbourhood today. History may come up when you are talking about other issues.

• Some well used questions - what are the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats in the neighbourhood. I would like to add delights. This is a short instruction but a significant part of the project. Things you are presenting here are issues of the functional design of the neighbourhood as a whole, health of the main street, easy access to shopping, transit, advantages for bikes and pedestrians as well as cars, variety of buildings and land uses and good or bad architecture. Are there any cool street corners? What would Jane Jacobs say?

• Say something about the reputation of the City Councillor(s) who have been elected and impact of the councillor on your project neighbourhood. They do have considerable influence in terms of many aspect of the story you are telling - particularly which developments are approved. This information should come from newspaper articles. Do not copy out the biographical details from the Councillors website. We do not want to know where they went to high school.

• There are often tensions between homeowners and tenants, between higher and lower income residents in most downtown neighbourhoods. These issues are usually associated with gentrification. Gentrification can have positive and / or negative aspects. Talk about examples in your neighbourhood. Negative aspects of development are often about displacement. That does not apply everywhere. There were only 600 people living in the Entertainment District before the condo boom. Now there are over 10,000 and in a few years there will be 20,000 but very few people were pushed out or displaced.

• What are the hot button issues? There may be overlap with the next paragraph. Many of the big conflicts in urban politics often have to do with a phenomenon called NIMBY - ‘not in my backyard.' Torontonians, and this is true in most places in Canada, generally support the idea of fairness and good housing for lower income families; they want treatment centres, shelters, halfway houses, garbage transfer stations, power generation and alternatives to the absurdity of prisons for minor offenses. They just often don't want any of this next to their house.

• Related to the last question. Developers have been successful in Toronto in all kinds of building projects - residential and commercial. Some say that the developers have had too much say in shape of the city and that there are too many bad buildings.
Are there developments in the neighbourhood that residents, the City or politicians are opposing? We have tried to choose neighbourhoods where there are controversies around development. That is the intended focus of the assignment so please emphasize this aspect in your work.

• Talk about stakeholders. Business Improvement Associations - is there one in the neighbourhood you are reporting on and what has it accomplished? What are the community, neighbourhood, tenant, environmental and other groups active in the neighbourhood? Are there service organizations, neighbourhood centres, parks and park staff, hostels, shelters, drop- ins, or employment assistance organizations in the neighbourhood? How is this neighbourhood organizing itself?

This is a list of neighbourhoods I am asking you to choose from. They are all going through rapid change. As I said above other areas are possible but have to be cleared by me.

Leslieville and the box stores and TTC facility CAMH and Queen and Ossington
West Queen West Triangle and Active 18 Dovercourt to Dufferin Kensington Market - artists versus development
Junction Triangle / Bloordale - (West End Rail Path and electric trains) Entertainment district and the death of the clubs
Liberty village and the end of the Front Street extension, Strachan Ave Bridge, Casino at the Ex Parklawn and Lakeshore condo mania - Humber Shores Mr. Christie, Mimico plan Scarborough Subway and Downtown Relief line
Harbourfront, the Island and the Island Airport

Group Strategies

College databases are the best source for articles from local newspapers and magazines. I will talk about why in class - jumping the pay wall. I have posted a list of Toronto websites that will be important to the project. There are also websites important for individual neighbourhoods and I will provide information on those sites.

There will be time in class for me to talk to groups - attendance and participation will be very significant during the time we are doing the project.

As I have said in class, marks for the project are individual and the best way for both the group and individual members to take care of business is to use your private Blackboard discussion to communicate and to build your project.