Neighbourhood Watch

Deciding to move apartments is one of the last privileges a Toronto renter has. Changing neighbours is almost like a freebie holiday: you get all the perks of being a tourist (freedom, anonymity, rejuvenation) and none of the disadvantages of being a foreigner (getting lost, not speaking English, being confused by the archaic transit system). It’s like you’re a kid again: coming upon an abandoned red-brick warehouse in the next neighbourhood is on par with unearthing pirate treasure. Until, of course, you find an even more amazing gem in the next-next neighbourhood over.

You get that sense of discovery while reading Toronto’s Lost Villages, Ron Brown’s recently expanded eulogy for neighbourhoods destroyed or altered beyond recognition by a citizenry that was — and in many ways still is — in its infancy. Like a family photo album, this is not a book you should feel obliged to read cover to cover. There’s no consistent narrative thrust. The pages are...