The Toronto Urban Region: Community, Environment, and Planning
Course description
This course is a study of Toronto since the postwar era - a period of rapid growth and change through which the city and its surroundings became the diverse, sprawling, and conflicted urban region that it is today. With a focus on the everyday impacts of planning and policy, we will analyse how ordinary Torontonians have made a living, created community, and responded to inequity over the past seven decades. Topics include diversity, competitiveness, gentrification, the downtown / suburban divide, local popular culture, and the significance of Toronto in regional and global contexts.
In the process, students will conduct original ethnographic research, enrich their perspectives on local social and political issues, and refine their analytical and communications skills in preparation for further studies and/or professional contexts.
