Blog round-up
- Upper Toronto (Toronto, Canada) on Chapters 3 & 4: Learning from Third Spaces
- The Urbanist (Melbourne, Australia) on Chapters 1–6: Is “eyes on the street” straining it?
- A City Guy (Chicago, USA) on Chapter 6: Chicago neighborhoods: sparking parties, secession and uproar since 1832
- City Love (Brisbane, Australia) sketches Chapter 6
- A City Guy (Chicago, USA) on Chapter 7: How cities (and suburbs) foster diversity
- Andy Boenau (Virginia, USA) shares a Flickr photo set illustrating concepts from Death & Life
Elsewhere
- pro(vo)cation (Provo, Utah, USA): Jane in the Jungle: Jane Jacobs and Parks 101
- Rethinking Childhood (Tim Gill, UK): Care about cities and children? You must read this book
- The Planning Issue (Australia): A Book Club for City Builders
Next week: Chapters 8 & 9
- Monday: Steven Dale on The need for primary mixed uses
- Tuesday: Aslam Shaikh on The need for primary mixed uses
- Wednesday: Gillian Mason on The need for small blocks
- Thursday: Stephen Wickens on The need for small blocks
Find more information on neighbourhoods and diversity at the Toronto Public Library
The Toronto Reference Library at 789 Yonge St. now houses the collection of the Urban Affairs Library, formerly located at Metro Hall. As a specialized collection devoted to all aspects of urban planning and local government, the library contains far more than the materials cited here.
Titles were selected by librarian Cynthia Fisher to give you an overview of some new and some old books and reports that you can find at the library to complement (and perhaps contradict) some of Jane Jacobs’ views. When viewing the catalogue records for the books, click on some of the subject headings to give you a broader range of materials.
The uses of city neighbourhoods
Shaping neighbourhoods : for local health and global sustainability 2nd ed.
by Barton, Hugh. Contributors: Grant, Marcus, 1958- ; Guise, Richard.
Responds to a changing agenda in government policy and planning practice. Will help you:
- understand the underlying principles for planning healthy and sustainable neighbourhoods and towns
- plan the collaborative and inclusive processes needed for multi-sectoral cooperation
- develop know-how and skills in matching local need with urban form
- discover new ways to integrate development with natural systems
- design places with character and recognise good urban form
- guide communities, and advise developers, in the creation of successful and sustainable places for living.
Neighbors and neighborhoods : elements of successful community design
by Brower, Sidney N.
Explains how a neighbourhood’s design lays the groundwork for the social relationships that make it a community. Blending social science with personal interviews, Brower shares the lessons of planned communities from historic Riverside, Illinois, to archetypal Levittown, New York, and Disney’s Celebration, Florida. Borrow it from the library!
Pocket neighborhoods : creating small-scale community in a large-scale world
by Chapin, Ross.
Looks at and defines what a pocket neighborhood is through case studies and site plans; learn about innovative zoning codes, discover tools to improve community dynamics and decision-making, and link to related publications, organizations and online resources. It is pattern of housing that fosters a strong sense of community among nearby neighbors, while preserving their need for privacy. Examples can be found across the spectrum, from small towns, to suburbs to urban areas. Borrow it from the library!
Measuring Neighbourhood Vitality : final report
by GHK International (Canada) Ltd.
The Neighbourhood Vitality Index, a tool that gives an in-depth portrait of neighbourhoods guides the collection of specific kinds of data about neighbourhoods and provides a method for gathering and tabulating that data into a meaningful portrait of local service needs and gaps. It serves as a basis for getting residents involved in setting their own neighbourhood priorities and can be used to assess progress toward collectively set goals. Read it online or borrow it from the library!
Strong neighbourhoods : a call to action, 2005
by United Way of Toronto. Strong Neighbourhoods Task Force.
The Strong Neighbourhood Task Force was formed in April 2004 to take up the challenge of Enough Talk. A joint initiative of United Way Toronto and the City of Toronto, and with the support of the Government of Canada and the Province of Ontario, the goal of the Strong Neighbourhood Task Force was to build an action plan for revitalizing Toronto neighbourhoods.
Toronto has an incredible opportunity to learn from the experience of other countries, and take action to enhance its reputation as a “city of neighbourhoods.” We must seize this opportunity, and ensure our struggling neighbourhoods do not slip into decline. Toronto can be a city of inclusive, welcoming, cohesive and participatory neighbourhoods, a city where no one is disadvantaged because of where they live. The Task Force was confident that the will to act on this vision exists at all levels, and that a formal commitment to strengthen Toronto’s neighbourhoods can be won. To this end, they made 10 recommendations within the report.
Read it online or borrow it from the library!
The generators of diversity
The diversity of commercial locations in the Greater Toronto Area
by Simmons, James W., 1936-
Contributors: Kamikihara, Shizue.
This report continues the investigations of retail location strategies in various parts of the Greater Toronto Area which began 15 years ago. Borrow it from the library!
Landscapes of the ethnic economy
Contributors: Kaplan, David H., 1960- ; Li, Wei, 1957-
Nineteen international academics contribute 13 chapters examining the ways that inner cities and suburbs are being transformed into areas of new ethnic economic activity as immigration increases throughout the world. The text contains a series of case studies exploring the role that location plays in helping, hindering, or shaping ethnic economies; the relationship between ethnic business networks and other geographically identifiable phenomena, such as residential segregation, underserved markets, or institutional distributions; and the impact of ethnic business activity in shaping the urban landscape. For scholars and students in ethnic studies, urban studies, economic development, geography, and sociology. Borrow it from the library!
