Cities are primarily collections of people. Beyond their glass and concrete exteriors there exists a collective personality- a personality that can be discovered.
Based on the belief that a healthy city life is possible, The Canadian City collected articles, stories and histories about the city and its people. By covering most aspects or urban living- human and social relations, art and architecture, urban planning, land development and the greening of the urban environment- it is able to offer some of the best insights toward advancing a distinctive and sustainable Canadian urban culture and identity.
In many respects, our cities are very young, still developing character and maturity. The Canadian City, by providing a critical forum on the modern city with a view to building a better understanding of its maladies and its possibilities, makes available various innovative initiatives and successes for creating new ways and forms of urban life.
A visionary theme is implicitly and explicitly evoked in this book. There are many insights to be mined. --Imprint
...a heady mix of thought-provoking essays examining this country's urban evolution (or devolution) over the past two decades...must reading for citizens' groups willing to face City Hall. --Canadian Book Review Annual
...this book makes for refreshing and often illuminating reading...it is honest and intelligent, and it is wide open to new ideas. --Books in Canada
Covering most aspects of urban living human and social relations, art and architecture, ruban planning, land development and the greening of the urban environment this collection is able to offer some of the best insights toward advancing a distinctive and sustainable Canadian urban culture and identity.
Table of Contents:
PART I: The Changing City. Barton Reid (editor, City magazine; associate, Forum for Planning Action, City of Vancouver; lecturer, Univ. of Manitoba): The Story of the New Middle Class; John Sewell (York Univ.; former mayor of Toronto): Old and New City; Lorne Foster (York Univ.): Small Talk in the Big City
PART II: Urban Theory. Harold Chorney (Concordia Univ.): A Critical Theory of Public Policy; Barton Reid: The Corporate city; Marcia Nozick (Univ. of Manitoba): Principles of Community Economic Development;
PART III: Urban Planning. Tom Gunton (Simon Fraser Univ.): Origins of Canadian City Planning; Rod Nasewich (Economic Development officer for rural Manitoba): Reordering of City Planning; Kent Gerecke (Former publisher, City magazine; Univ. of Manitoba), and Barton Reid: False Prophets and Golden Idols in Canadian City Planning;
PART IV: Urban Design. Jeanne Wolfe (McGill Univ.): The Saga of McGill College Avenue and the Montreal Symphony Orchestra. Carolyn Whitzman (City of Toronto Safe City programme; member, Women Plan Toronto): Community and Design: Against the Solution St. James Town; Kent Gerecke: The War Against the Street: William Whyte on the Blank Walls that are Killing the City;
PART V: Housing. David Ley (Univ. of British Columbia): Gentrification: A Ten-Year Overview; Hans Blumenfeld (holds the Order of Canada for his work as Canada's premier planner): Mismatch between Size of Households and of Dwelling Units; David Hulchanski (University of Toronto): Social Welfare versus Market Welfare;
PART VI: Green Cities. Kent Gerecke: Patrick Geddes: A Message for Today!; Kathryn Cholette (former leader of the Canadian Greens); Ross Dobson (broadcaster, Winnipeg community activist, MA in Urban Planning, Univ. of Winnipeg), Kent Gerecke, Marcia Nozick, Roberta Simpson (Green Community activist, Winnipeg); and Linda Williams (Community housing, policy development, and labour activist, Winnipeg): The Green City: An Introduction; Kent Gerecke: Empowerment, Architecture and City Planning: Is Integration Possible?
281 pages
Paperback ISBN: 0-921689-92-6 $19.99
Hardcover ISBN: 0-921689-93-4 $48.99
L.C. No. 91-71474
1991
