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Social Science Urban

The Heart of Toronto

Corporate Power, Civic Activism, and the Remaking of Downtown Yonge Street

by (author) Daniel Ross

Publisher
UBC Press
Initial publish date
Apr 2022
Category
Urban, Ontario (ON), Urban & Land Use Planning, Human Geography, Post-Confederation (1867-)
  • eBook

    ISBN
    9780774867030
    Publish Date
    Apr 2022
    List Price
    $32.99
  • Hardback

    ISBN
    9780774867009
    Publish Date
    Apr 2022
    List Price
    $89.95
  • Paperback / softback

    ISBN
    9780774867016
    Publish Date
    Apr 2022
    List Price
    $32.95

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Description

From the 1950s to the 1970s, downtown North America was reconfigured for the suburban age. Municipal officials planned renewal schemes, merchant groups lobbied for street improvements, developers built bigger and taller. Everywhere, attention turned to the problems and possibilities at the commercial and civic heart of cities.

 

The Heart of Toronto follows one such example of reinvention: downtown Yonge Street. Efforts to keep pace with, or even lead, urban change included the street’s conversion into a car-free public space, a clean-up campaign targeting the sex industry, and the construction of North America’s largest urban shopping mall. These revitalization projects were all connected to wider trends of postwar decentralization, economic restructuring, and cultural transformation.

 

Interweaving histories of development, civic activism, and corporate clout, The Heart of Toronto widens our understanding of the actors and power dynamics involved in remaking downtown in Canada’s largest city – a process that is far from over.

About the author

Awards

  • Winner, Heritage Toronto Book Award

Contributor Notes

Daniel Ross is an associate professor in the Department of History at the Université du Québec à Montréal. His research on cities, urban culture, and local politics in Canada has been published in the Urban History Review/Revue d’histoire urbaine, BC Studies, the Bulletin d’histoire politique, and Spacing magazine.

Editorial Reviews

"Daniel Ross’ Heart of Toronto is a much needed analysis of a critical aspect of downtown Toronto’s postwar development."

Ontario Historical Society Review

"In The Heart of Toronto: Corporate Power, Civic Activism, and the Remaking of Downtown Yonge Street, historian Daniel Ross reminds us how streets provide a unique and critical lens into urban growth and development."

Journal of the American Planning Association