Comment 14689

By CitiJoe (anonymous) | Posted November 29, 2007 at 01:36:45

A friend moved from Cabbagetown in Toronto to the real inner city. a block from Young St. & Shuter.

Now she is afraid to go outside. There have been 2 murders within a block of her building in 3 months. When she goes outside she is beset by panhandlers, & people who are quite obviously sick from drug use skulk around. People raid the trash bins at night. (& this is a building for those of limited income so there are no 'jewels' in that trash.)

Both Cabbagetown & Young & Shuter would be defined as inner city, but there is a world of difference between the 2 areas. One is a neighbourhood, & the other is a 'nice place to visit, but you wouldn't want to live there'.

This is one problem that I see with the maximum urban density = high rises only theory. It looks fine in pure statistics, but it doesn't make for a pleasant environment, or create 'neighbourhoods'. It creates isolation, disconnection, & to some degree, fear.


Little by little older neighbourhoods in larger cities are destroyed for high rise canyons & the most bang for the buck for the developers. Water fronts get built up for 'the view'. (In spite of the fact that these condos & high rises are an eyesore to people living near the water front or visiting the area.) Recently visiting Harbourfront for a concert made me claustrophobic.

There is no real plan for urban development in most cities. Plans can go out the window with each local & provincial election. New plans may not connect with what already exists, but mostly there is no actual plan at all. Things just happen, & money/profit is generally the only thing that makes these things happen.

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