# Book Review

Canadian Planning and Policy /
Aménagement et politique au Canada,
Volume 2022
Creative Commons Attribution 4.0
International License
ISSN 2562-122X

Brian Doucet ID & Michael Doucet

*Streetcars and the Shifting Geographies of Toronto: A Visual Analysis of Change*, University of Toronto Press, 2022; 320 pp. 260 colour illustrations, 10 b&w illustrations and maps, 10 b&w tables; $49.95 (paperback or e-book). ISBN 9781487500108.

**Reviewed by:** Dr. David L.A. Gordon ID, FCIP RPP AICP P.Eng. Professor, School of Urban and Regional Planning, Department of Geography and Planning, Queen's University david.gordon@queensu.ca

<figure><img src="image_1.png" /></figure>

*Streetcars and the Shifting Geographies of Toronto* is a book that needs to be read twice. The authors, Brian and Michael Doucet, suggest that readers review the background chapters before diving into the rich portfolios of images that are the core of the book. Good luck trying that method. Many planners

with knowledge of Toronto or an interest in transit may not have that level of self-control, since the 230 luscious colour photographs in the book are a guilty pleasure that are simply too delicious to ignore.

The book combines scholarship with two popular urban book types - a transit history illustrating Toronto's iconic streetcars and a visual history of the city's urban change using before-and-after photographs. It is a thoroughly researched and deeply personal account of urban change by two native Torontonians: Michael Doucet, emeritus professor of geography at Toronto Metropolitan University (formerly Ryerson) and his son Brian Doucet, a Canada Research Chair in University of Waterloo's School of Planning. The book is also the result of "slow science" since the two authors are lifelong streetcar enthusiasts who have photographed the Toronto system over six decades and carefully

observed the changes in the city during the same period.

The authors had two objectives for their research presented in this book. The first was to analyze how the forces of change that shaped Toronto were visually manifested in its uneven geographies. The second was to bridge between academic interests and policymaking, which is facilitated by analytic chapters that are succinct, extensively-researched, well-written and mercifully lacking social science jargon. The main research method was analysis of repeat photography, with images of similar viewpoints separated by 50 to 60 years. The authors refer to the primary research area as the pre-1945 "Streetcar City", which is compared to the post-war suburban development in the "Automobile City".

The first chapter is a compact and informative outline of Toronto's changing geographies; reinforced with census data from 1961 to 2016. It is also a brief history of the changes to the Toronto Transit Commission (TTC) network in the post-war era. Although it may be difficult to believe today, Toronto was once considered a model for transit planning in the post-war era. Most North American cities built freeways, replaced their streetcar systems with buses, and saw their transit ridership plummet in the 1950s. Toronto replaced its two busiest streetcar routes (Yonge and Bloor) with subways, kept most of the remaining tram network and even added a few Light Rail Transit (LRT) lines, starting
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with the 1990 Harbourfront LRT. Toronto's red and cream streetcars became civic icons.

The second chapter places Toronto in a global context, documenting its rapid post-war growth from a provincial city in Montréal's shadow to Canada's financial capital and a second-tier world city. De-industrialization saw the region's remaining manufacturing migrate to the automobile suburbs, while employment in the 19th century core city moved to finance and knowledge sectors. Neo-liberal political policies accelerated these economic trends and set the stage for the gentrification of former working-class neighbourhoods that were served by the streetcars. Chapter 3 critically examines changes to these Toronto neighbourhoods and the growing divide between the Streetcar City and the Automobile City's inner suburbs. It describes how Toronto, following Jane Jacobs' ideas, narrowly avoided many of the mistakes made by American cities in the 1960s by stopping urban renewal, abandoning expressway projects, expanding its transit network and developing affordable housing in the St. Lawrence Neighbourhood. The early phases of the massive suburban expansion included numerous rental apartment buildings and public housing projects, setting the stage for a Divided City, with low-income inner suburbs contrasting gentrifying neighbourhoods in the Streetcar City.

Chapter 4 is a detailed explanation of the authors' visual analysis methods, using repeat photography to document urban change. Other scholars considering photography for urban analysis will find this chapter to be a useful addition to their discussion of research methods. The next chapter will delight railway photography enthusiasts with a detailed description of methods for capturing images of streetcars in urban settings, illustrated by similar images from other cities in the Doucets' collection. Chapter 6 is a short history of Toronto's streetcars that will be useful for readers who are unfamiliar with the TTC.

<figure><img src="image_3.png" /><figcaption>**Figure 1.** Downtown redevelopment on Dundas Street near the Yonge and Dundas Square, 1977-2020.</figcaption></figure>

Photographers: Harvey Naylor (top); Brian Doucet (bottom).
Used with permission.

It contains the basic information on the different streetcar types and routes, with extensive references to the many popular and scholarly books on the subject.

The core of the book are three portfolios of repeated images for 68 carefully-selected locations within the Streetcar City. These portfolios are arranged thematically for analysis of urban change, in contrast to most trolley books, which are organized around streetcar types or routes. The first portfolio focuses on downtown Toronto (Figure 1), where the changes have been dramatic and continuous for the
past 60 years. Behind the streetcars, we see how the Central Business District has expanded as the region's economy has been transformed by the financial sector and knowledge economy.

The second portfolio illustrates de-industrialization, starting with the waterfront in the 1980s, assisted by the Harbourfront LRT (Figure 2). Mixed medium and high-rise redevelopment of the

"Two Kings" (King-Spadina and King-Parliament) on the shoulders of the CBD is covered well, and the transformation of several more distant industrial is illustrated.

The final portfolio covers Toronto's distinctive streetcar neighbourhoods. The city contains many kilometres of commercial streets lined with local shops and tree-lined residential neighbourhoods beyond. It is a minor miracle that this fabric survived, in contrast to the decay in most North American inner cities after their trams were removed in the 1950s. These streetcar neighbourhoods now have such a good quality of life that they are highly valued by many new knowledge workers in post-industrial Toronto. Both middle-class and working-class streetcar neighbourhoods have gentrified, increasing polarization in the Divided City.

These streetcar corridors have been proposed for mid-rise intensification for decades, but the authors show that redevelopment has been painfully slow, due to resistance from the low-rise neighbourhoods on adjacent streets. In comparison, the downtown, waterfront and brownfield sites have seen explosions of high-rise offices and condominium apartment buildings.

The final two chapters bring insights from the visual analysis to current debates about the Divided City. Chapter 7 explores the differences between the Streetcar and Automobile Cities, highlighting the difficulties caused by poor transit service for the low-income inner suburbs. The book's final chapter outlines street improvements to improve transit service, such as St. Clair Avenue and King Street in the Streetcar City and bus network improvements in the Automobile City. The authors are acutely aware that transit improvements can lead to gentrification and conclude the book with many suggestions on how to increase the supply of affordable housing in the Streetcar City and beyond.

<figure><img src="image_4.png" /><figcaption>**Figure 2.** Waterfront redevelopment at Queen's Quay West and Spadina Avenue, 1990-2018. The iconic PCC streetcar in the top image was rehabilitated to run on the waterfront line as a tourist attraction. It is a pity that the book does not include an image of Queen's Quay as the more complete street recently reconstructed by Waterfront Toronto.</figcaption></figure>

Photographers: Edward Wickson (top); Brian Doucet (bottom).
Used with permission.
Conclusion

Thanks to lower costs of colour reproduction, a scholarly book such as *Streetcars and the Shifting Geographies of Toronto* is now available at an affordable price. As a result, this book may be irresistible to the general public and scholars who are interested in Toronto's redevelopment and/or transit. Its scholarly content also deserves to be part of any university library.

So please go ahead and dive into the beautiful colour photographs that illustrate the changes in Toronto's urban fabric and streetcar fleet. But please don't forget to give the book a second read to absorb its scholarly content. The streetcar photographs will be even more fascinating the second time around.