How do we build cities where we aren't just living within the same urban space, but living together?
Greater Toronto is now home to a larger proportion of foreign-born residents than any other major global metropolis. Not surprisingly, city officials rarely miss an opportunity to tout the region's ethno-cultural neighbourhoods. Yet there's strong evidence that the GTA is experiencing widening socio-economic disparities that have produced worrisome divisions. We say that 'diversity is our strength,' but has a feel-good catchphrase prevented us from confronting the forces that seem to be separating and isolating urban communities?
Through compelling storytelling and analysis, Subdivided's contributors - a wide range of place-makers, academics, activists and journalists - ask how we can expand city-building processes to tackle issues ranging from transit equity and trust-based policing to holistic mental health, dignified affordable housing and inclusive municipal governance. Ultimately, Subdivided aims to provoke the tough but pressing conversations required to build a truly connected and just city.
CONTENTS
Introduction - Jay Pitter
Identity and the City: Thinking Through Diversity - Beyhan Farhadi
Doing Immigrant Resettlement Right - Doug Saunders
Wasauksing-Vancouver-Toronto: My Path Home - Rebeka Tabobondung
How We Welcome: Why Canada's Refugee Resettlement Program Undermines Place-making - Sarah Beamish and Sofia Ijaz
Finding Space for Spirituality - Fatima Syed
Navigating the City with an Invisible Illness: The Story of Dorothy - Denise DaCosta
Culture and Mental Illness - Karen Pitter
Neighbourhood Watch: Racial Profiling and Virtual Gated Communities - Asmaa Malik
Accessing Education: An Immigrant's Story - Nicholas Davis
Policing and Trust in the Hyper-Diverse City - Nana Yanful
Three Questions about Carding - Idil Burale
An Overburdened Promise: Arts Funding for Social Development - Ian Kamau, Paul Nguyen and Ryan Paterson, with John Lorinc
Designing Dignified Social Housing - Jay Pitter
Walking Through Loss: A Critical Visit to an Old Neighbourhood - Photography by Taha Muharuma
Reconsidering Revitalization: The Case of Regent Park - Jay Pitter in conversation with Sandra Costain
Model Citizens - Andrea Gunraj
A Tale of Two - or Three - Cities: Gentrification and Community Consultations - Mariana Valverde
Mobility in the Divided City - Eric Mann
Toward More Complete Communities: Business Out of the Box - Alina Chatterjee
Going Beyond Representation: The Diversity Deficit in Local Government - John Lorinc
Brampton, a.k.a. Browntown - Noreen Ahmed-Ullah
Life in the City In-Between - Shawn Micallef
Conclusion - J. David Hulchanski