Condoland

The Planning, Design, and Development of Toronto’s CityPlace

By James T. White & John Punter
Categories: Geography, Human Geography, Urban Studies, Planning & Architecture, Architecture, Planning (urban & Regional), Political Science, Canadian Political Science
Publisher: UBC Press
Paperback : 9780774868396, 352 pages, May 2023
Ebook (PDF) : 9780774868402, 352 pages, May 2023
Ebook (EPUB) : 9780774868419, 352 pages, May 2023

Table of contents

Introduction

Part 1: Planning, Urban Design, and Condominiums in Toronto

1 Planning and the Tools of Design Governance

2 The Central Area Plan and Reformist Planning and Urban Design

3 Urban Intensification, Flexible Planning, and Vertical Urbanization

4 "Condo-ism" and the Impacts of Vertical Urbanization

Part 2: Designing and Developing the CityPlace Megaproject

5 Visions for Toronto’s Railway Lands

6 "Vancouverism" in Toronto

7 The Condominium Megastructure

8 CityPlace and the Affordable Housing Conundrum

9 A Tale of Two Halves on the Wittington Blocks

10 Completing CityPlace

Conclusion

Appendix: Railway Lands/CityPlace Planning, Design, and Development Timeline

Notes; References; Index

Description

Condoland casts CityPlace – a massive residential development of more than thirty condominium towers just outside Toronto’s downtown core – as a microcosm of twenty-first-century urban intensification. Built almost entirely by a single private developer, this immense neighbourhood took decades to plan, design, and develop, but the end result lacks a sense of place and is not widely accessible to those who need homes: only a small number of its 13,000 units constitute affordable housing, and public amenities are limited. In this richly illustrated volume, James T. White and John Punter reveal the stories behind the design, architecture, and planning of CityPlace. They also consider the tools used to shape Toronto’s built environment and critically assess the underlying political economy of planning and real estate development in the city. Condoland raises key questions about the long-term sustainability and resilience of cities that acquiesce to the rapacious development industry.