Unplanned suburbs
Subtitle: Toronto's American tragedy, 1900 to 1950
By: Richard Harris.
Contributors: Center for American Places (Harrisonburg, Va.)
Series: Creating the North American landscape
Publisher: The Johns Hopkins University Press; Brand: The Johns Hopkins University Press
Published: Apr 02, 1996
Place of publication: Baltimore, Md
Number of pages: 356
Subjects: Suburbs -- Ontario -- Toronto -- History.; Toronto Suburban Area (Ont.) -- History.
Description: It is widely believed that only the growth of mass suburbs after World War II brought suburban living within reach of blue-collar workers, immigrants, and racial minorities. But in this original and intensive study of Toronto, Richard Harris shows that even prewar suburbs were socially and ethnically diverse, with a significant number of lower-income North American families making their homes on the urban fringe.

As early as 1900, Harris explains, the decentralization of blue-collar employment encouraged working-class families to leave the city, many of them taking advantage of lax enforcement of suburban regulations to build their homes themselves. In the short run, the advantages were obvious: a home of one's own, a garden, access to the surrounding countryside. But the unplanned - and therefore scattered - developments led to dramatic increases in the cost of needed services.

Inevitably, property taxes rose, in many cases beyond the ability of working-class families to pay. Harris concludes that even minimal planning might have helped retain the advantages of owner-built housing while reducing public costs, citing the success of European experiments in aided self-help for homebuilders. But in the United States and Canada, the lack of planning set the stage for a uniquely North American tragedy.
Notes: "Published in cooperation with the Center for American Places, Harrisonburg, Virginia"--P. facing t.p. Includes bibliographical references (p. [297]-348) and index.

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