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 policingto 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 MoreComplete 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

After establishing a career in public funding and marketing communications, Jay Pitter earned a Masters in Environmental Studies at York University, where she investigated crime prevention through environmental design and urban place-making. She is also a writer and part-time professor.

Jay Pitter's profile page

John Lorinc is a journalist and editor. He reports on urban affairs, politics, business, technology, and local history for a range of media, including the Globe and Mail, the Toronto Star, Walrus, Maclean’s, and Spacing, where he is senior editor. John is the author of three books, including The New City (Penguin, 2006) and Dream States: Smart Cities, Technology, and the Pursuit of Urban Utopias (Coach House Books, 2022), and has coedited four other anthologies for Coach House Books: The Ward (2015), Subdivided (2016), Any Other Way (2017), and The Ward Uncovered (2018). John is the recipient of the 2019/2020 Atkinson Fellowship in Public Policy. He lives in Toronto.

Karon Liu has been a staff food reporter for the Toronto Star since 2015 and aims to link food with culture, history, identity, politics – anything you can imagine. He's also an avid home cook, and his favourite utensil is a pair of wooden chopsticks his grandma used to use.

John Lorinc's profile page