Growing up in a suburb of Toronto, I’ve seen the problems of
suburbanization and of “the big city”. The city has poverty, crime, and
infrastructure issues. One urban development issue I’m really interested in is
gentrification. Basically, gentrification is when a poorer area of a city is
revitalized and becomes richer. The biggest problem with gentrification is it
makes the area unaffordable for the low-income/poor residents who lived there. Think
of Queen Street West, or Regent Park.
It’s scary to think that almost half of Toronto lacks
adequate social services such as transit. Half the city are renters, most of them
living in old high-rise apartment buildings. The area of the city with raising
incomes are being invested in and rehabilitated. Living costs are increasing and
driving people out of the downtown core. Should a city shut out the poor like
that? Is it right that Toronto, or any city for that matter, is so divided? I
think gentrification is a huge problem, on many levels. Integration of poor and
rich is constantly cited as a way to deal with economic, social and political
problems. Of course there’s also the core issue of misspending public money.
You would think that tax money would go to improving public services and helping
those in need… not towards investing in the rich part of town. Gentrification
is a problem of the wrong voices being heard in decision making in my opinion. Maybe
if those in power heard the stories of the poor affected by gentrification,
then they would think twice before investing in the newest up and coming neighbourhood.
Another solution to gentrification might be creating policy which forbids it…
which would require serious advocacy. You could also keep the rent of current
residents at the same rate so they aren’t bought out. You could provide the
poor in these revitalized neighbourhoods with services, employment, and options
for relocation. But these solutions are band-aid, they don’t deal with the core
issue of inequality.
Gentrification isn’t just a problem a North American problem
of course. Johannesburg in South Africa is experiencing it too… by trying to revitalize its downtown Central
Business District. The area was known for high crime rates and being a “whites-only”
area during apartheid, which deterred businesses and people. Buildings remained
empty, and people were leaving for the suburbs. The city wanted to fix that,
and bring people back to the area by revamping it. Not to mention the added
pressure of being hosts of the World Cup. Historical buildings have been turned
into condos, which will hopefully bring in new residents.
The underlying causes and problems of gentrification in Johannesburg are fundamentally different than Torontos. Johannesburg’s gentrification is
meant to bring people back to an area that they were once afraid of. In Toronto
though, gentrification is driven by profiting developers and attracting the
wealthy to a previously poor area. Whereas gentrification in Johannesburg is
trying to bring people in, it’s pushing people out in Toronto. Does this mean
Johannesburg is getting gentrification right, and Toronto isn’t? Could we learn
from their urban planning? What experience do you have with gentrification, and
what do think could be done about it?
I suppose one thing that could be done is making sure that all areas of the city are seeing some redevelopment but not too much at once. Perhaps visualizing on a map how much money is being input into each region of the city for infrastructure refurbishing would show which areas are receiving more?
ReplyDeleteIt seems to be a balance between redevelopment and stability. If they do nothing, the area will become run down and poorer, but if they develop too much, it will become unaffordable.
I think that the Global South has a chance to develop their cities properly now and some seem to be on the right track. Speaking as a suburbanite myself, I know that the commute to Toronto is only getting longer and that the city continues to increase its prices on public transportation. I think we can learn from the Johannesburg example as they seem to be using what they already have. For Toronto this means brownfield redevelopment which has been successful in places like B.C. Do you know of any North American cities in a similar situation and how they have dealt with it?
ReplyDeleteThat's a very good point Darrelle, I haven't really considered that. Not developing would just leave the area degraded. A map is good idea, because it would allow you to visualize the rich and poor area. As for your question Anna, I didn't know BC was doing Brownfield redevelopment. I'll have to look into cities that are doing redevelopment, but I believe New York has had some success in revitalizing older neighbourhoods!
ReplyDeleteHi,Thanks a lot and really happy to see such a wonderful comment.
ReplyDeleteTax Consultants in Johannesburg