Just around the corner from my office on the edge of downtown Toronto is a gnarled old apple tree, last remnant of the orchard that once flourished there at the 19th-century city limits. It still produces some grudging fruit every year, but the green fields in which it was born have long ago fled 20 or 30 kilometres out to the ever-expanding urban edge, where subdivision bulldozers and ribbons of asphalt threaten them still.
What causes urban sprawl, and what to do about it, and whether it really is a problem at all, has been a constant subject of attention in all big cities. With good reason: the world is rapidly urbanizing, Canada no less so. This past census marked a significant moment in the life of the nation when more than half our citizens were listed as residents of the four big urban regions—Greater Vancouver, Calgary/Edmonton, Greater Toronto and Greater Montreal. Their dominance will only increase as domestic demographic growth and immigration focus on...
Joe Berridge is a partner at Urban Strategies Inc. and the Bousfield Distinguished Visitor in the Program in Planning at the University of Toronto.
Advertisement
Advertisement