INSTITUTIONEN FÖR GEOVETENSKAPER

Examensarbete i Hållbar Utveckling 38

The Role of Community Engagement in Urban Sustaiability -

Investigation of Three Neighbourhoods in Toronto

Mabel Chow

THE ROLE OF COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT IN URBAN SUSTAINABILITY

Investigation of three neighbourhoods in Toronto

Master thesis in Sustainable Development Mabel Chow

Institutionen för geovetenskaper Uppsala Universitet

2011

Contents 1. Introduction .................................................................................................................................................. 7

1.1. Historic significance of communities .................................................................................................... 7 1.2. Mode rn-day communities; from the ego-citizen to the eco-citizen ....................................................... 7

2. Literature Review ......................................................................................................................................... 8 2.1. Neighbour hood empowerment .............................................................................................................. 8

2.1.1. Meanin gful spaces ........................................................................................................................ 8 2.2. Neighbour hood engagement .................................................................................................................. 8

2.2.1. Place of Dwelling .......................................................................................................................... 9 2.3. Neighbou rhood utility ............................................................................................................................ 9

3. Question ........................................................................................................................................................ 9 3.1. Aim ........................................................................................................................................................ 9

3.1.1. Objective ....................................................................................................................................... 9 4. Methods ....................................................................................................................................................... 10

4.1. Data Sources ........................................................................................................................................ 10 4.1.1. Qua ntitative Analysis .................................................................................................................. 10 4.1.2. Qualitativ e Analysis .................................................................................................................... 10

4.2. Neighbour hood selection ..................................................................................................................... 10 5. Background Study ...................................................................................................................................... 10

5.1. City of Toronto ................................................................................................................................ 10 5.1.1. Ur ban growth .............................................................................................................................. 11 5.1.2. Em ployment situation ................................................................................................................. 11 5.1.3. Burgeoning income gap between rich and poor .......................................................................... 11 5.1.4. Educa tion profile ......................................................................................................................... 11 5.1.5. Sum mary ..................................................................................................................................... 12 5.1.6. Definition of a neighbourhood .................................................................................................... 12

5.2. Neighbourhood decay/failed social opportunities (no. 72 Regent Park) ............................................. 12 5.2.1. Political boundaries ..................................................................................................................... 12 5.2.2. Residen tial profile ....................................................................................................................... 12 5.2.3. Population composition .............................................................................................................. 13

5.3. Up-a nd-coming neighbourhood/abundance of social opportunities (no. 76 Bay Street Corridor) ...... 13 5.3.1. Political boundaries ..................................................................................................................... 13 5.3.2. Residen tial profile ....................................................................................................................... 13 5.3.3. Population composition .............................................................................................................. 13

5.4. Neighbourhood vitality/balanced social opportunities (no. 78 Kensington-Chinatown) ..................... 14 5.4.1. Political boundaries ..................................................................................................................... 14 5.4.2. Residen tial profile ....................................................................................................................... 14 5.4.3. Population composition .............................................................................................................. 14

6. Discussion .................................................................................................................................................... 14 6.1. Real crime in Toronto .......................................................................................................................... 14 6.2. 51 and 52 Police Division .................................................................................................................... 14 6.3. Crim e rates per neighbourhood ........................................................................................................... 15 6.4. Neighbour hood disempowerment and prevalence of crime ................................................................ 15

6.4.1. Crime and the psychology of space ............................................................................................ 15 6.4.2. Neighbour hood degradation and opportunistic crimes ............................................................... 16 6.4.3. Socio-ec onomic vulnerability and crime .................................................................................... 16 6.4.4. Culture of fear ............................................................................................................................. 17

6.5. Decreasi ng engagement in ownership ................................................................................................. 17 6.5.1. Deface d facades .......................................................................................................................... 17 6.5.2. Hom eownership .......................................................................................................................... 18 6.5.3. Prope rty crime............................................................................................................................. 18

6.6. U tility ................................................................................................................................................... 18 6.6.1. Role of speculative real estate: red herring v. real estate boon ................................................... 18 6.6.2. Gent rification/invested interest in community: business interest utility ..................................... 19 6.6.3. Social capital ............................................................................................................................... 19 6.6.4. Jane Jacobs, ‘urban drama’, and community activism ................................................................ 20 6.6.5. Renewed interest: increasing house prices and gentrification ..................................................... 20 6.6.6. Neighbourhoo d value: waiting out the shock value .................................................................... 21 6.6.7. Crime and social control ............................................................................................................. 22

6.6.8. Neighbourh ood accountability: local business claims on neighbourhood security ..................... 22 7. Conclusion ................................................................................................................................................... 23 8. Acknowledgement ...................................................................................................................................... 24 9. References ................................................................................................................................................... 24

THE ROLE OF COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT IN URBAN SUSTAINABILITY Investigation of three neighbourhoods in Toronto MABEL CHOW Chow, M., 2011: The Role of Community Engagement in Urban Sustainability; Investigation of three neighbourhoods in Toronto. Master thesis in Sustainable Development at Uppsala University, No. 38, pp, 30 ECTS/hp

Abstract: This paper considers the quantitative and qualitative observation-based assessment of neighbourhood health i n t hree Tor onto neighbourhoods. In so doing, t he pa per addresses prevailing c hallenges an d opportunities in a rang e of forms o f neighbourhood health. Th e Bay Street Co rridor, Kensington-Chinatown, and R egent Pa rk were studied as e xemplar cases o f nei ghbourhoods i n vary ing degrees of degradation. The research i nvolved a robust e valuation of ra w statistical analysis, census data, a necdotal evide nce, a nd annual reports to demonstrate the spatiality of cri me, real est ate, and s ocio-economic opportunity. R esults from this analysis have demonstrated that certain neighbourhood characteristics are prone to hi gher or lower crim e rates, structural neglect, real estate speculation, and proprietary action. ‘Fear proves itself’ in as far as neighbourhood action provides impetus to create defensible spaces to increase neighbourhood engagement and ownership and to protect agai nst neglect a nd crime. What is clear from th ese descri ptions is th at neighbourhood health is significantly associated with endogenous behaviour; positing the important role that community advocacy plays in stew arding neighbourhood h ealth. Understanding neighbourhood health r equires an appr eciation of lo cal social assets, and how these in digenous resources artic ulate o pportunities for sustain able u rban d evelopment. The long evity o f cities in volves building n eighbourhoods fo r people an d providing a stab le stru cture th at promotes and perpetuates sustainable c ity living. By exploring them es in urban sociology, psychology of place, and place bel onging, t he inve stigation highlights the intrinsic value of civic acc ountability, utilit y, and empowerment in sustainable urban development.

Keywords: Sustainable Development, urban engagement, utility, empowerment, neighbourhood health, proprietorship, neighbourhood decay

Mabel Chow, Department of Earth Sciences, Uppsala University, Villavägen 16, SE‐ 752 36 Uppsala, Sweden

THE ROLE OF COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT IN URBAN SUSTAINABILITY Investigation of three neighbourhoods in Toronto MABEL CHOW Chow, M., 2011: The Role of Community Engagement in Urban Sustainability; Investigation of three neighbourhoods in Toronto. Master thesis in Sustainable Development at Uppsala University, No. 38, pp, 30 ECTS/hp Summary: T he sustaina ble city em bodies a movement for m aking cities liveab le and sustai nable: reducing emissions, demand-side m anagement, a nd t ransforming the u rban l andscape. Notwithstanding, t he m oniker implies a much more extensive framework than for the implementation of superficial upgrading programs like recycling paper, designing g reen parks, an d co nstructing gree n r oofs (Mega 1999). The longevity o f th e sustainable city movement involves building cities for people and providing a stable structure that promotes and perpetuates sustainable city liv ing. With an in -depth comparison of several lo cal neighbourhoods, this research project serves to illustrate the tenuous relationship between urban sociology and sustainable development within neighbourhoods in the City of Toronto. Urban sociology inherently explores the psychology of place and place belonging. The investi gation will probe a t the intrin sic value of civic accountability and em powerment i n sustainable urban development. The expected results are to underscore community advocacy and ownership as cornerstones for sustainable urban development.

 

Keywords: Sustainable Development, urban engagement, utility, empowerment, neighbourhood health, proprietorship, neighbourhood decay

Mabel Chow, Department of Earth Sciences, Uppsala University, Villavägen 16, SE‐ 752 36 Uppsala, Sweden

1. Introduction The satellite image of the world at night is striking. The de nse clusters of electrified ‘’beac ons’’ that indicate occupied urban areas are starkly juxtaposed by t he smaller vo ids o f non- or under-serviced rural areas. In comparing historical images, the differe nce bet ween urba n a nd rural occupation are even sharper.

 Satellite image taken from http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/Features/CitiesAtNight/

Besides ex hausting re sources, ene rgy being just one o f t hem, cit ies pr oduce other wast es exacerbating the phenomenon known as the ecological f ootprint. C onceived by Wackernagel and Rees th e ecological foo tprint is a q uantitative measurement of how much la nd a nd water resources need to be consumed in order t o sustain an area based on its current infrastructural demands (Global Footprint Network, 2009). Used widely by urban econom ists and acade mics, the ec ological footprint is used as justification for criticism o f urban areas which ha ve chosen t o pursue a n unsustainable urban lifestyle. Realising th is, so me c ities h ave alread y increased efforts to e ncourage citizens to e mbrace a more sustainable lifestyle. Th is transfo rmation i s significant to the longevity of urban cities. Ind eed, considering a further Malth usian-like dilemma o f increasing urb anisation and decrea sing food resources, th e co ncept of urban su stainability – living ‘’greener’’ – is an app ealing altern ative to resource shortages and overcrowding. Achieving urban su stainability o r, in other word s, ‘’the passage from ego-citizens to eco-citizens and socio-citizens, will certain ly requ ire sign ificant amounts of m obilisation, education a nd c ulture’’ (Mega, 1999). Ac hieving sustain able liv ing requires deeper psychological understanding of the complexities asso ciated with co mmunity engagement an d particip ation as th e im petus for urban sustainability.

‘’Only b y in corporating th e so cial d imension in to the sustain ability co ncept can we exp ect th e concept to fu lfil its p otential as a too l to allow for community developm ent a nd s ocial welfare in harmony wi th t he en vironment and based o n cohesion and social justice’’ (Ga rces’ et al., 2007, p. 166). This res earch expl ores t he br oad t opic of urban sustainability v ia co mmunity en gagement b y investigating th ree th ematic p rinciples: civ ic engagement, empowerment, and utility. Th e study area – T oronto, Canada – was selected because of the author’s intimate knowledge of the city but also for its si milarities with o ther urb an areas. Th e results of th e stu dy are meant to be used as recommendations fo r o ther cities, wh ich have experienced similar scale growth, to promote urban sustainability through community engagement. Volumes of contemporary urban literature ex ist on the theoretical role of space and urba n ownership. The task in this research paper is two-fold which is to fastidiously educate the reader on existing urban theories and s econdly to apply th ese th eories in to the findings. The organisation of the paper reflects this direction.

1.1. Historic significance of communities The ad vantages o f ‘living commu nities’ reflects a primordial af finity for sha red heritage, fam ily bonds, kinship, and duty to fellow neighbours that dates back to earlier successful urba n civilizations (Kitto, 1951; Mumford, 1937). Active citizenship, community stewar dship, l ocal en gagement, ci vic accountability, and se nse of bel onging were important su rvival t echniques t hat hel ped communities t o flourish and su stain th emselves even d uring t imes of st ruggle an d st rife (Stren & Polèse, 2000; Parés & Saurí, 2007; Berg, 2009).

1.2. Modern-day communities; from the ego-citizen to the eco-citizen The persuasion of a coll ective voice, from Russia to China, shows that public ownership of space can precipitate, wh ether positive or negative, ch ange. Public engagement has already yielded more than a few s uccesses in the European Union, including cities from Valencia to Reggio Emilia, such that the CEMR, C ouncil of European M unicipalities and Regions, declared participation as:

A precond ition fo r t he con struction of th e political identity of the European Union…. Urban regeneration is not about places; it is

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about people. These types of ev ents unlock creative individuals, co-articulate a sense of vision and create a momentum, a t hrust for the future. (Mega, 1999).

The l ongevity of t he s ustainable ci ty movement would i nvolve bui lding ci ties for people and providing a stab le stru cture t hat pr omotes and perpetuates gr een city living. Part of w hat has made g reen cities l ike Freibu rg, Germany; Copenhagen, Denmark; an d Van couver, Canada successful is the willingness to e ngage citizens t o continue generating a m ore sust ainable l ifestyle (O’Hare, 2010). In t hese cities, th e m omentum from transforming the ego-citizen to the eco-citizen has had a rooted val ue i n t he growth a nd s ocial development of the urban society.

2. Literature Review: Theories about the social city: community empowerment, engagement, and utility The followi ng theories form the concept ual framework upo n which th is research is p remised. The sociological implications associated with these three will th en b e further elab orated wit hin th e discussion se ction. T he or ganisation of t he research stru cture is su ch so th at th e reader will first be introduced to the broad themes and then be enabled to associate the particular m eta-theories with the results. The meta-theories are cate gorized in three themes: neighbourhood em powerment, e ngagement, a nd utility.

2.1. Neighbourhood empowerment For Milun (2007), s pace a nd subjectivity, or how one intera cts with spac e, is a d ialectic interdependency. M ichel de C erteau i n his essay , Walking in the City, argued further t hat the u nion between the mappable and unmappable city is to be evaluated as a whole. The mappable city describes the readable space which can be navigated through fixed co ordinates and st reet si gns (M ilun, 20 07). The unmappable city is th e un readable city wh ere ‘’walking n arrates in terests and desires t hat are neither determined nor cap tured by th e syste m o f signification used to codify them’’ (Milun, 2007, p. 241). In ot her words, how the city is experienced, and s ubsequently ho w o ne resp onds t o it, i s as important as how it is structured. The normative model of the healthy neighbourhood is based on considerations made by the United Way of Toronto report on neighbourhood vitality:

If our city is to remain strong, vibrant and competitive in the years to come, then its neighbourhoods m ust be places where people want to live. Parents must feel that neighbourhood str eets are s afe f or their children to walk , and that local p arks are safe places for their children to play. They must be assured that there a re places for their teena gers to m eet and get invol ved in sports and social events (Meagher, n.d., p. 1)

Whether act ive or pas sive, s uch res ponse exhibits the degree of entitlement a commu nity as such has over its urban surroundings. The resea rch findings discussed later sho w th at even sm all v ariations i n the ur ban i nfrastructure manifests di fferent responses often t o t he det riment of c ommunity health and structural integrity. 2.1.1. Meaningful spaces Cultivating m eaningful co nnections in a ho stile environment whe re t he n orm i s for a nonymous social transactions makes it increasi ngly harder for one to ‘know their place’ (Meyrowitz, 1985, p. 308). With this realig nment o f the human psyche inwards, the social contract that once bonded public individuals ‘’on t he basis of ci tizenship an d therefore to ack nowledge and res pect each other’s equal ri ghts’’ was br oken (M eyrowitz, 1985, p. 303). The det erioration fr om insider to outsider; fro m active p articipant to p assive ob server, t herefore diminishes the individual sense of age ncy over his or her own urban surroundings. The term agency is used here to mean the capacity of an agent to act in a world of his or her o wn volition. Sense refers to both perception and logic and place refers to both social position and p hysical lo cation (Meyrowitz, 1985). The distortion of th e fou r meanings su bverts t he fortitude of d welling and u ndermines the social security of community living. This apathy weakens community bonds and does nothing to invoke pride of where one l ives or wi th whom one s hares their community with . As th e fin dings will in dicate, eroded m eaningful space c an be a gateway for neighbourhood disintegration.

2.2. Neighbourhood engagement The power of informal control and neighbourhood engagement is significant to perpetuating an image of security and safety. Jacobs’ urba n dram a reinforces this psychology and the role of dwellin g in building communities.

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2.2.1. Place of Dwelling A place of dwelling is the ce ntral figure for whic h all social transactions re volve a round (Sea mon, 1983). Th e ‘permanency of dwelling’ is a pivotal fixture i n p henomenological di alogue whe n discussing the urban city. A dwelling, most often a built structure, with its inert properties accentuates its p otential fo r ‘pouring in’ m emories and meanings. The city is an apparat us for sus taining human contact (Alexa nder, 1977). Th e abstraction of re ality in the ‘im agined’ city suggests hidden opportunities to create a unique urban narrative that is both personally significant and socially unifying. Milun (2007) argues th at the ‘b lank st ory boo k’ metaphor can al so im bue feel ings of i solation, anomie, and disengagement. Once esta blished through speec h an d p rose, the social na rrative of the city is self-p erpetuating: ‘’ (social) sp ace is a (social) product’’ (Milun, 2007, p. 26).

2.3. Neighbourhood utility The psy chosomatic expression of having established one ‘’r oots’’ c orrespond t o a s ense o f belonging to t he city wh ich is in deed tied with urban ci tizenship, em powerment, and en gagement (Hiss, 1 990; Relph, 1976). The se nsation of belonging to a space, t he urban city, c omes from much more than entitlement via property ownership (Relph, 1976). To illu strate th is effect, Milu n poses th e contradictive t hat ‘’i f pe ople do n’t know a nd feel where they are , they don’t know who they are. ‘A space of e verywhere being described as a s pace of nowhere creat es an urban commons of general cognitive confu sion’’’ (2007, p . 135). Depth of place is directly proportional to the degree of social attachment and e ngagement wi thin an d f or a particular place. Depth of place descri bes ‘’people’s id entity of and with place’’ (Seam on, 2007). For Relph, identity with place is the crux of lived in tensity o f which is d efined t hrough th e concept of insideness. Finally, placelessne ss is a residual conse quence o f pl ace voi d o f depth of place or insideness (Relph, 1976; Seamon, 2007).

Places may be experienced authentically or in au thentically. An au thentic sen se of place is ‘a direct a nd genuine experience of the entire complex of th e identity of pl aces—not m ediated and distorted t hrough a se ries of quite arbitrary social and intellectual fashions about how that expe rience should be , nor fo llowing stereo typed co nventions. (Seamon, 2007).

Common urban maladies, most if not all with social underpinnings, involve high crime rates, vandalism, isolation, anxiety and apat hy. Indee d, such soci al

malaise in the urban environment is e mblematic of the message their city is sending their residents.

3. Question The question as to the state of neighbourhood well-being m eans ev aluating civ ic en gagement, u tility, and accountability as barometers of neighbourhood vitality. In wh ich ways do es th e u rban environment influence civic engagement? How can social net works em power c ommunity resi dents t o action a nd what are the c onsequences? In which ways can civic empowerment be achieved to foster urban su stainability? How is su stainable u rban development achievable?

3.1. Aim This research is in fluenced by th e nascent work produced by eminent urban theorists on themes of urban s pace, place bel onging, urban e ngagement, sociability, and accessibility. The aim is to critique the eth os of u rban liv eability as red ucible to building pa ved piazzas, food m arkets, a nd c offee shops (Biddulph, 2000). Jacobs (1992) and Relp h (1 976) r ecognised the primacy over the built environment by the genuine architects of s pace: urba n ci tizens (Jac obs, 1992; Relph, 1976). U nderstanding t he ef fect of neighbourhood so cial dynamic on civic engagement and s ocial co hesion a re p rominent discourses thro ughout th e investigation. Th e investigation is a multifaceted approach t o understanding t he ur ban envi ronment whi ch involves n arrative d iscourse and case st udies. . Finally, th e ro le o f m y stu dy is to ex amine th e urban t rifecta: har dware, s oftware, an d heartware (Mega, 1999). 3.1.1. Objective The study proceeds by contrasting the differences in u rban st ructure between three study area s in an effort to elucid ate p otentialities an d areas of stability. The study has the following objectives: -to describe t he ch allenges an d opp ortunities th at neighbourhoods face; -to u nderscore ci vic enga gement and p ride as an invaluable asset for urban sustainability; -to s uggest st rategies t o c ounter neighbourhood decay; -to d etermine a b aseline f or f uture n eighbourhood health studies; and A f undamental prem ise of t his st udy i s m anaging and promoting com munity pri de as a cruci al dimension t o preserving t he vitality of neighbourhoods. In t his sense, neighbourhoods ought to be recognised as public spaces that shoul d

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be m anaged and stewarded t o ens ure continual vitality in the face of change.

4. Methods The resea rch param eters are delineated by the neighbourhood units defined by the City of Toronto (City of T oronto, 2010e). The findings a nd analysis are presented in two subsections. The first presents key characteristics of the selected neighbourhoods th at I have id entified as representative o f various stag es of n eighbourhood health. Fro m th e en suing d escriptions, clearly neighbourhood h ealth is significantly associated with endogenous beha viour; t herefore un derlining the si gnificant rol e o f c ommunity advoca cy pl ays in stew arding n eighbourhood h ealth. Understanding neighbourhood h ealth r equires an appreciation of local soci al assets, and how these indigenous r esources ar ticulate o pportunities f or sustainable u rban de velopment. The secon d section em ploys b oth qu antitative an d qu alitative analysis.

4.1. Data Sources Neighbourhood vitality and decay is explore d in depth by re-v isiting h istorical neighbourhood trends which are th en supplemented with narrativ e analysis and current ev ents. Where possible, congruity bet ween st udy ar eas was m anaged by minimizing t he di screpancy bet ween st udy si ze, location, a nd geogra phical distance. E xtensive investigation i nto t he pursuant t hemes i nvolved a pragmatic conclusion from quantitative data and on which qualitative analysis served to strengthen data lapses or discrepancies.  

4.1.1. Quantitative Analysis Raw d ata sources were so ught fro m Statistics Canada, the archives of th e City o f To ronto, and other or ganisational ann ual repo rts. Se condary data so urces in t he f orm of st atus reports an d progress s ummaries were s ought where primary data were lacking. Comparable variables across all three neighbourhoods were identified such as crime rates, land value, real estat e trend s, ownership structure, neighbourh ood decay, and service opportunities to demonstrate statistical sig nificance between neighbourhood ch aracteristics an d exogenous factors. Sup erfluous observations were made base d o n a dditional re pository of demographic surveys and di stribution maps w hich graphically ill ustrated serv ice av ailability, so cio-economic scales, and neighbourhood stability. Unless ot herwise indicate d, any refe rence of currency henceforth refers to Canadian currency.

4.1.2. Qualitative Analysis Qualitative co rroboration was g athered fro m anecdotal evidence including media reports , photo survey, and indigenous accounts.

4.2. Neighbourhood selection I selected t hree neighbourhood areas t o represent different characteristics and sta ges of neighbourhood decay, base d on a com bination of anecdotal evi dence a nd statistical data. The selection of a third area , which cha racterised a median betwe en polar e xamples, wa s elected for the pu rpose of est ablishing a base line of comparison. I n this w ay, th e third study area, Kensington-Chinatown (n o. 78 ), is used as a barometer of neighbourhood health against the two others. B ased u pon i ndigenous k nowledge a nd scholarship, each neighbourhood was then selected as th e ar chetype on a scale o f neighbourhood health: -Neighbourhood decay/failed social opportunities (no. 72 Regent Park); -Up-and-coming neighbourhood/abundance of social opportunities (no. 76 Bay Street Corridor); and -Neighbourhood vitality/balanced social opportunities (no. 78 Kensington-Chinatown).

5. Background Study Toronto has a po pulation of appr oximately 2 .48 million pe ople and i s res ponsible fo r p roviding a range of m unicipal serv ices to th ese co nstituents, including wel fare, homes for the a ged, c hild care, parks and recreation, arts and culture, tourism and heritage, an d ur ban pl anning (City of Toronto, 2011c; City of Toronto, n.d.). The City of Toronto was f ormed i n 1998 by t he am algamation of si x adjacent m unicipalities: Old To ronto, Etobicoke, York, No rth Yo rk, East Y ork, and Scarborough (City of Toronto, 2010b).

5.1. City of Toronto The C ity of Tor onto, h owever, i s not t o be confused with the Great er Tor onto Area and the Toronto Cen sus Metrop olitan Area, CMA, wh ich both inv olves co nstituency b oundaries beyond those of t he City of To ronto. B esides already including t he 6 boroughs o f The C ity o f Toronto, the Gre ater T oronto Area i ncludes Halt on, Peel, York a nd Durham. The Tor onto C ensus Metropolitan Area is a co mmonly used designation employed f or st atistics and col lecting a ggregate regional data and i ncludes t he C ity o f T oronto as well as 2 3 o ther su rrounding m unicipalities

(Strategic & Corporate Policy Division 2004). For the pu rposes of th is st udy, an d in term s o f scop e and breadth, t he use of ‘ Toronto’ i s use d i n i ts equivalency to the City of Toronto.

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Graphic presentation showing relationship between the three study areas. Modified from http://www.toronto.ca/demographics/profiles_map_and_index.htm 72 (in red) Regent Park 76 (in green) Bay Street Corridor 78 (in purple) Kensington-Chinatown

5.1.1. Urban growth Since 2 001, t he p opulation of T oronto has experienced a p opulation growth e quivalent t o 2,503,281 with half of those identifying themselves as a visi ble minority. In com parison, the non-visible m inority pop ulation i n T oronto ha s decreased by almost hal f fr om the peri od 20 01 t o 2006 (C ity Pl anning Division, a nd t he Soci al Development Fi nance & Administration D ivision, n.d., para. 1; City Planning Division, and the Social Development Fi nance & Administration D ivision, 2008, para. 1 ). Fore seeing a dem and i ncrease on urban in frastructure and serv ices, th e City o f Toronto adopted a st rategic growth plan called the Official Plan Strateg y which id entifies certain areas, with app ropriate cap acities, fo r i ntensified urbanisation. Further urban growth is thus palpable in these rec ognized a reas: Do wntown and Central

Waterfront, t he Cen tres, th e Av enues, th e Employment Districts whi ch has subsequently experienced s ignificant gr owth i n t he periods following th e Plan’s i nauguration. On th e whole, these strate gies bisect com pletely one neighbourhood area – No. 76 Bay Street Corridor. These plans ha ve als o been inst rumental in approximating the build-up of service areas around certain parts of the city. 5.1.2. Employment situation In a rem arkable co ntrast to th e larg e pop ulation growth, the City of Toronto experienced three years of declining employment from 1.29 million in 2000 to 1.25 m illion in 200 3 (Toronto C ommunity Foundation, 2004, p. 16 ). Unemployment remains

high am ongst youth a nd visi ble minorities. The youth u nemployment rat e i n 2003 was almost double that of the Toronto average. In l ight of an increasingly div erse ethn ic an d you thful p rofile, Toronto is clearly d eficient in p roviding th e economic resources necessary to support a furthe r immigration wave. Thi s i s co nsidering t hat Toronto h as th e h ighest prop ortion in th e Greater Toronto A rea of pe ople wi thin t he 25 t o 44 y ear age group wit h 1 percent of that betwee n the ages of 15 an d 24 ( City Plan ning D ivision, and th e Social De velopment Fi nance & Adm inistration Division, n.d.). 5.1.3. Burgeoning income gap between rich and poor Toronto c ontinues t o e xperience a wi dening gap between polar economic strata with the rich getting richer and the poor getting poorer. The percentage of T oronto h ouseholds wi th ann ual i ncome over $100,000 increased when, within the same period, the n umber of lo w-income families ex perienced also a parallel increase. And while a fe w households have achi eved a n an nual i ncome over $100,000 t his i s si gnificantly count erbalanced by the m uch l arger p roportion of l ow-income households which accommodates also the 4.7 percent decrease in households of median incomes (City Planning Division et al., n.d.). Holding a job now, as com pared to in the past, is less stable. In 2003, the average length of time at a job was 8 7 m onths i n t he T oronto R egion compared t o 98 m onths across C anada (C ity Planning Di vision et al., 20 08a). Afford ability additionally co ntinues to b e a g rowing co ncern in Toronto with alm ost hal f o f r enter h ouseholds spending 30 percent or m ore of th eir inco me f or rent. With this, th e n eighbourhood in come g ap continues to be d istinctive. Between 1 998 and 2002, the median income for families with children in T oronto’s 1 2 poorest neighbourhoods i ncreased 3.6 percent, from $32,574 to $33,750. Meanwhile, the same median income for families with children in Toronto’s 12 wealthiest neighbourhoods rose by 7.8 pe rcent fr om $14 4,868 to $ 156,100. Poverty rates were greatest among visible minority families. In 2001, t he po verty rat e fo r vi sible m inority families with children was 3 7.8 percent u p from 31.5 percent in 1991 (City Planning Division et al., 2008a). 5.1.4. Education profile The wo rk fo rce is lar gely well educated wit h approximately 60 percent ha ving had postsecondary educat ion qual ifications; a percentage t hat i s about 4 p ercent hi gher t han t he Ontario average (Toronto Community Foundation, 2004, p. 8) . The cost of post-secondary education in T oronto, h owever, c ontinues t o become m ore

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expensive c omparative to rates ac ross ot her Canadian pr ovinces. In th e period between 1995 and 1996, post-secondary tuition rose by 58 percent while in co mparison, ov er the sa me p eriod, first-year tu ition at universities in Vancouver rose only 42 percent and, in Montreal, actually decreased by 18 percent. 5.1.5. Summary The t rend seems t o su ggest a pre judiced concentration of eco nomic opportunities in h igh income-earning gr oups. This bi as, h owever, is crucial to understanding utility of social assets as a proxy whe n fa ced wi th a so ur ec onomic o utlook. In fact, a recent study on the effect of gentrification in T oronto neighbourhoods i ndicates t he value of neighbourly ob ligation and co mmon in terest in sustaining neighbo urhood health in the face of economic decline (Walks & Maarane n, 2008). A study by t he C ity of Toronto on st rong neighbourhoods also id entified th e i mportance fo r active com munity involvem ent; dem ocratic processes; st rong sen se o f bel onging; and a welcoming community (Freiler, 2004).

Policies and p ractices pu rsued m ore broadly al so have l ess ca pacity t o ful ly engage t heir cl ients. In co ntrast, neighbourhood-scale o rganizations ca n root th emselves with th e people th ey serve an d imp rove th eir sen sitivity to clients and their capacity for sustainability. As a resu lt, local p rograms have an a dded a dvantage i n producing their intended results. (Meag her, n .d, p . 2).

There are 140 neighbourhoods i n th e City o f Toronto. With the efforts of the 1993 Action Plan, developed b y the To ronto City Su mmit Allian ce, Toronto i dentified a nd a dvanced t angible eff orts towards making healthier neighbourhoods (Toronto City Su mmit Allian ce, 2 003). Th e major contribution of the Pla n wa s the endorse ment for

the b enefits of neighbourhood v itality and civ ic engagement to Toronto (City of Toronto, 2010d). 5.1.6. Definition of a neighbourhood The g eographic bo undaries of To ronto neighbourhoods ar e an ad aptation of th e criteria provided by St atistics C anada. Th us, neighbourhoods ha ve borders t hat a dhere t o recognizable physical f eatures, h ave a popu lation size bet ween 2500 an d 8 000, an d ha ve a mostly homogeneous soci o-economic community profile (Savoie et al., 20 01). Th e City o f To ronto established bou ndaries as such to help d etermine where public services would better serve the unique needs o f a sp ecific dem ographic profile. In deed, there are an estimated 240 dis tinctive neighbourhoods with in th e l imits o f t he City o f Toronto which require, to some ex tent, specialised services t hat cater to s pecific needs (City of Toronto, 2000). Inadequate provisioning of public resources and services is a recurring theme in urban sustainability and will be further discussed in detail as a factor in achieving a healthy neighbourhood.

5.2. Neighbourhood decay/failed social opportunities (no. 72 Regent Park) Regent Park seems to exhibit the worst case of the three of neighbourhood decay. Regent Park is characterised by a younger, low-income, and less educated population. 5.2.1. Political boundaries The ph ysical b oundaries fo r the n eighbourhood of Regent Park are delineated by Gerrard Street to the North, Parliament Street to the West, the Don River to th e East and Qu een Street East to th e Sou th. The neighbourhood is m ade up of higher r enter households, a y ounger t ransient p opulation, a higher tha n avera ge pe rcentage o f vi sibly minorities, post 1940’s block houses, low ren t, and the lower income earning bracket. Rege nt Park is considered one of the city’s neglecte d areas housing the majority of the City’s low-income new immigrants (City of Toronto, 2010c). 5.2.2. Residential profile The nei ghbourhood i s ol der and i s marked by a higher p ercentage o f visible minorities with lo w internal population ch ange. Resid ential stru ctures were predominately const ructed du ring t he l ate 1940s un til 19 60 with m ost ex hibiting need fo r major home reparations. T here are com paratively fewer new stru ctures with less th an 1 p ercent having been bu ilt b etween 2001and 20 06. Moreover, the rate of renter to home ownership is significantly higher wi th 89 pe rcent rent ed

Graphic presentation of neighbourhood, Regent Park, http://www.toronto.ca/demographics/pdf4/cpa72.pdf

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compared to 11 pe rcent owned. T he average gross rent is also sign ificantly lower than for the rest of Toronto at $54 8 w ith an av erage sale pr ice of $394,853 (‘’Graph illu stration of 20 06 Reg ent Park’’, 2 008; Tor onto Li fe, 20 11). All th ese variables wo uld seem to su ggest a no ncommittal outlook for future neighbourhood growth in Regent Park. 5.2.3. Population composition The nei ghbourhood dem ographic p resents a much younger population of youth ages 5 to 24 relative to the o lder ag e co hort of 64 an d above. Th is is supported by the fact that the working age group, of ages 25 to 64, represent little more than half of the demographic pr ofile. The sec ond l argest represented d emographic, wi th o ne-third, are children ag es 0 to 14 . At th e sam e ti me, th e incidences of l ow income for individuals 15 years and over have i ncreased si nce 20 01 t o 2006. I n contrast t o t he rest of T oronto, t here i s a hi gher portion of y outh wi thout a hi gh sc hool di ploma with sim ilar d ifferences wit h you th not holding a post secon dary ed ucation (‘’Graph illu stration of 2006 Regent Park’’, 2010). For the age cohort 20 to 24, the percent of unemployed youth is 6 percent higher t han i n Tor onto with t hose wh o are employed ear ning less th an $10,000 an d primarily in blue collar professions.

5.3. Up-and-coming neighbourhood/abundance of social opportunities (no. 76 Bay Street Corridor) The B ay St reet C orridor e xhibits fe wer of t he vulnerabilities ch aracteristic o f Reg ent Park and enjoys a b etter econ omic sit uation than all th ree. For t his r eason, th e neighbourhood is also m ore amenable to upgrading and regular maintenance.  

5.3.1. Political boundaries The Bay Street Corridor limits are defined by Bloor Street West to the North, along University Avenue to the west, Front Street to the south, and Yonge Street to the east. The area encapsulates many functional Toronto structures including the Financial District, the University of Toronto, medical research centres, the Mount Sinai Hospital, and several entertainment facilities including the Four Seasons Theatre. As a result, the percentage of upwardly mobile single young professionals in this neighbourhood is disproportionately higher than for the rest of Toronto. The area is characterised by a higher total population change, younger and more homogenous demographic and educated working class (City of Toronto, 2010a).

5.3.2. Residential profile Residential structures are relatively new with most constructed b etween 19 81 to 1 990 and 19 91 to 2000 with th e latter p eriod bu ilt most lik ely to accommodate the wave of immigrants from 1991 to 2006. Owi ng to a hi gher po rtion of newer apartment buildings of five st ories or hi gher, the area requires far fewer, compared to the other two neighbourhoods, major house repairs. 5.3.3. Population composition The age distribution curve for the neighbourhood is normal wi th a pea k dominated by 20 t o 3 4 y ear olds a nd a plateau at 45 to 69 years of age. Youth bet ween 20 t o 2 4 y ears of age without a high schoo l diploma i s substantially lower th an the Toronto average at 2.6 percent. Again, the num ber of youths wi th post-secondary degrees i s higher t han average with 56.8 pe rcent compared to the average of 39.2 percent with the work fo rce engaged primarily i n white co llar occupations (‘Graph illustration of 2006 Bay Street Corridor’’, 20 10). The l anguage a nd et hnicity of the Bay Street Corridor is mostly homogenous with percentage of immigrants and recent immigrations a b it lo wer compared to th e rest of To ronto. Th e composition i s m ade of m ostly m arried co uples without children but biased towards younger people earning $100,000 an d ov er an d w ith t he median income hover around $45, 000 (‘’Graph illustration of 2006 Bay Street Corridor’’, 2008). The average rent is $ 1,250 with average sale p rice of $367,374 (Toronto Life, 2011).

Graphic presentation of neighbourhood, Bay Street Corridor, http://www.toronto.ca/demographics/cns_profiles/2006/pdf3/cpa76.pdf

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5.4. Neighbourhood vitality/balanced social opportunities (no. 78 Kensington-Chinatown) Kensington-Chinatown has a more ecl ectic pr ofile than the previous two neighbourhoods attributing to its two ethnic districts. As such, the neighbourhood is also more diverse but also exhibits an older and more stable profile.

5.4.1. Political boundaries The nei ghbourhood of Kensi ngton-Chinatown contains t wo of T oronto’s m ost di stinctive communities; on e is Toronto’s larg est eth nic marketplace a nd the other catering to a m ore characteristically bohem ian an d al ternative lifestyle. Th e neighbourhood is en closed from the north by College St reet, from the west at Bathurst Street, fr om t he So uth by Queen Street West and University Avenue to the East. 5.4.2. Residential profile The 2006 profile shows an aging age gr oup with a higher po rtion of working age ad ults1 ( ‘’Graph illustration of 200 6 Ken sington-Chinatown’’, 2007). Resid ential bu ildings were primarily constructed b efore 19 46 with a fair representation also estab lished b etween 1971 and 19 90. Despite this fact, m ost o f th e st ructures, unlike t hose in Regent Park , requ ire only regu lar m aintenance work wi th m ajor repai rs representing only 9 percent of the cases. Furthermore, the a rea around Queen Street West has also been receiving renewed interest in dev elopment e specially a mong the higher, bu t smaller, h igh in come b racket with 10 percent of buildings bei ng const ructed between 1991 and 2006 . Th is b ias is r eflected b y th e 60 percent averag e in 2006 for low in come in

                                                            1 15-64 years of age

individuals a ges 15 a nd o ver w hen, at t he sam e time, 11. 5 pe rcent o f p rivate ho usehold i ncomes averaged $ 100,000. T he average gross rent is higher t han f or R egent Pa rk at $ 892 with an average sale price at $369,864 (Toronto Life, 2011). 5.4.3. Population composition The languages predominately spoken is Chinese at 86 percent, with th e rest j ust ab out equally distributed among Vietnamese, Portuguese, Arabic, and Spanish. The disproportionately higher ratio of Chinese to other langu ages is co rrelated to th e area’s notoriety as Tor onto’s bi ggest C hinatown. The area is a djacent to a post secondary institution so it is n ot su rprising th at th e average postsecondary deg ree holder between ages 20 and 24 i s hi gher, 41.1 percent t han t he 3 9.2 perce nt Toronto a verage. The pe rcentage of y outh i n unemployment is p roportionately lower than th e Toronto average with 12.6 percent to 14.5 percent.

6. Discussion The discussi on that follows involves a closer investigation of the causes of neighbourhood health of the investigated study areas.

6.1. Real crime in Toronto Overall, the City of Toronto has experi enced a decrease in violent, proper ty, sexual assa ults, other crimes and criminal code offences from the period 2005 to 2 008 ( Toronto Po lice Ser vice, n.d, p . 4 ). Violent cri mes, h owever, h ave ex perienced t he least steep decline with 34,820 in 2005 to 32,782 in 2008, an overall decrease of abou t 6 per cent, compared with all others. The number of break and enters in apa rtments ha ve also decrea sed while break a nd e nters i nto homes ha ve i ncreased from 3,442 in 200 5 to 5,384 in 2009. This paradox is partly explained by an i ncreasing t rend for having security pres ence at the concierge area in apartments. Neighbourhood data also sh ows a linear relationship between percentage of university graduates an d property crime rat es. ‘ ’In neighbourhoods with low property crime rates, half of t he residents have a u niversity degree , whereas this p ercentage drops to one th ird in neighbourhoods w ith high pr operty cr ime r ates’’ (Charron, 2009 ). Ot her studies ha ve al so sh own that othe r s uch nei ghbourhood c haracteristics can be sufficiently linked to crime.

6.2. 51 and 52 Police Division Policing coverage o ver To ronto is di vided into units called Divisions which then have jurisdiction over one or more neighbourhoods. Deeper analysis of neighbourhood ch aracteristics o n cr ime r ates among th e three neighbourhoods is h enceforth

Graphic pr esentation o f nei ghbourhood, Ken sington-Chinatown, http://www.toronto.ca/demographics/cns_profiles/2006/pdf5/cpa78.pdf  

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based on st atistical dat a p rovided p er Division. Division 51, characterised by a higher incidence of criminal co de offences except for th eft ov er, th eft under, f raud a nd other, c overs t he neighbourhood of R egent Pa rk. Di vision 5 1 co vers a p opulation area of 94,738 in an area of 8.6 square kilometres. Both Kensington-Chinatown and t he B ay St reet Corridor fall under the jurisdiction of 52 Division. Division 52 covers a p opulation a rea of 42,527 in an ar ea of 9.2 squ are k ilometres ( Toronto Po lice Service, n.d, p. 11).

6.3. Crime rates per neighbourhood The factor of p ropinquity, th e d omination of location on marketability, is a source of fru stration that can give im petus to act up on physical surroundings A report on neighbourhood crime in Toronto by Statistics Canada indicates that crimes are m ore likely to be in areas wh ich provide conditions m ost co nducive for d eviant activ ities such as proximity t o i nfrastructure, high hum an density, less educated, low income status, structural degradation, and lack of soci o-economic opportunity ( Charron 2009). N ot so su rprisingly then, th e area of downtown east si de, wh ich includes t he R egent Par k nei ghbourhood, i s considered a crim e h ot sp ot in Toron to (St atistics Canada, 2 006b). W orking under this p reamble, the n eighbourhood of Regen t Park , wh ich was earlier identifi ed as the least advanta ged of all studied neighbourhoods with lower socio-economic opportunities, would b e lik elier to exp erience a higher rate of real crim es th an th e t wo (City o f Toronto, 2010c). In fact , a n ex amination of worker de nsity, et hnic settlement, in come d istribution, and homeownership gat hered from St atistics Canada also m ake a strong correlatio n between sp atial distribution and geography of crime. Characterised by fewe r econ omic opt ions, R egent Park neighbourhood is less lik ely to have a high worker density, l ower i ncome earne rs, a nd have a hi gher ethnically-diverse an d m obile po pulation. The research article Neighbourhood Characteristics and the Distribution of Police-reported Crime in the City of Toronto argues further:

Neighbourhoods wi th a h igh rat e of violent crime are more densely populated and have a higher percentage of residents living i n m ulti-unit dwellin gs. Th ey also have t he highest perce ntages o f chi ldren (under the a ge of 15), re nters, single-parent fam ilies and visible min orities. The residents of these neighbourhoods are also less lik ely to h ave a u niversity degree, more likely to earn a lower wage,

and m ore lik ely to liv e i n low-income households. (Charron, 2009). … In contrast, in the north area along Yonge Street, where reside nts ea rn a hi gher income, th e violent crim e rate is m uch lower than avera ge. The busi ness district—the B ay Street area whe re m ost of the workers in the finance a nd insurance industry are em ployed—has a violent crime rate well below th e average for the city of Toronto. (Charron, 2009).

Both R egent Par k an d Kensington-Chinatown exhibit co mparable ethn ic settle ment patterns despite both having similar higher visible minority profile (Statistics Canada, 2006c). The rea son for lower crim e rates in th e Kensington-Chinatown area than Regent Park, despite similar demographic profiles, fal ls u nder t he preceding, an d first theoretical conce pt, sect ion: neighbourhood disempowerment.

6.4. Neighbourhood disempowerment and prevalence of crime The malevolence of deviant crimes is proportionate to th e p sychology o f sp ace (Caldeira, 2000). Neighbourhood empowerment, as discussed earlier, engenders s pace and subjec tivity together. The outcome o f th e in teraction can produce self-ownership and en titlement. Co nversely, th e erosion of either can perpetuate a heighte ned state of f ear and d isorientation w ithin one’ s ow n environmental su rroundings. Such m isgivings instigate a vicious cycle of isolative defensive techniques that leaves s pace for opportunistic crimes and community integrity vulnerable. 6.4.1. Crime and the psychology of space Defensive t echniques l ike di sengagement an d introverted behaviour a re ad optive measures against th e th reat th at is b elieved t o ex ist o utside the do orstep (W ilson et al., 19 82). Wilson et al (1982) describes th is disassociation with the ur ban environment as symptomatic of why people fail to acknowledge or help pe rsons being attacked or seeking help; ‘’t he ca use i s not ’a pathy’ o r ’selfishness’ but the abse nce of som e plausible grounds for feeling that one must personally accept responsibility’’ (p. 275). This anonymity begets a breaking down of com munal barriers, or, the sense of m utual regard fo r th e obligations o f civility, which th en all see ms to sig nal th at ‘n o one cares’ and s ending a message t o residents ‘ not t o get involved’ (W ilson et al., 1982) and what also breeds c onditions am enable fo r o pportunistic crimes.

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6.4.2. Neighbourhood degradation and opportunistic crimes Specialists generally agree that, ‘’i f a window in a building is brok en an d remains un repaired, all the rest of th e windows will soon be broken’’ (Wilson et al., 1 982, p. 269). A n environment in w hich latent territoriality and sense of community can be translated in to respon sibility for en suring a safe, productive, an d well-maintained liv ing sp ace (Newman, 19 72). In fact, t he devel opment of propriety feelings i ncreases ‘’the e xtent to which the activity observed is understood to be occurring in an area within t he s phere of influe nce of t he observer’’ (Newman, 1972, p. 79). The proportion of dwellings req uiring m ajor rep airs ‘’might g ive the im pression of am bivalence and m ight refl ect local co mmunity d isorganization’’ (Statistic s Canada, 2006b). Sustainable urban development as well as ‘’ind ividual wellbeing is d ependent on the health and resilien ce o f th e th ings we share and must provide together’’ (Warburton, 1998, p. 34). This so rt of ap athetic app roach to m arginality is analogous to Durkheim’s social anomie and Klein’s subject fo rmation ( Milun, 2007; Dunman, 19 99). Social d isillusionment with city liv ing, a product of ‘have all or nothing scale of conditions’, prevails in deteriorating civility from society where ‘’people regard each other only as useful objects ; each exploits the o ther, and the end of it all is, th at the stronger treads the weaker under foot’’ (LeGates et al., 20 03, p. 60 ). Fo r Emile Durkheim, these circumstances made it clear that the city was no longer wo rking in th e way t hat it was p lanned t o. Durkheim dev eloped t his f urther wi th his soci al anomie as one of the primary causes for the gradual disintegration of the urban social fabric. Anomie is ‘’a condition where social and/or moral norms are confused, unclear, or simply not present ’’ (Dunman, 1999). R elieved from the social control imposed on him via moral norm "man is the m ore vulnerable t o sel f-destruction t he m ore he i s detached fro m an y co llectivity, th at is to say, th e more he lives as an egoist" (Dunman, 1999). 6.4.3. Socio-economic vulnerability and crime Statistics Can ada sh ows th at resid ents liv ing with limited access to socio-ec onomic resourc es are more lik ely th an tho se liv ing under better conditions to b e in volved in a cri minal act (Statistics Canada, 2006d). Th e Report shows that the demographics are correlated to crimin al behaviour i n nei ghbourhoods wi th a hi gher proportion of you ng disadvantaged adu lts associated with m otor ve hicle theft, c ommon assault, h arassment rates, u ttering threats, major assault an d dr ug offences ( Charron, 20 09).

‘’Violent crime rates have been found to be more concentrated i n nei ghbourhoods whose residents have limited access to soci oeconomic resources. Violent crime rates are also higher in more ‘urban’ neighbourhoods, i.e. neighbourhoods w ith h igher population densities an d h igher resid ential mobility’’ (Charron, 2009). In ge neral, the repo rt provides further ev idence that d o no t ‘’con tradict theories that social co hesion, whi ch would be measured i ndirectly by acce ss to socio-ec onomic resources, favours s ocial control of crim e by the local community’’ (Charron, 2009). Youth i n R egent Park a re si milarly di sadvantaged in p ursuing an d attain ing a Un iversity-level education with 15 percent o f youth aged 20 t o 24 attaining a Univ ersity-level education compared to 50 percent a nd 34 pe rcent i n t he B ay St reet Corridor an d K ensington-Chinatown (‘’ Graph illustration of 2 006 Reg ent Park ’’, 201 0; ‘’Graph illustration of 20 06 Bay Street Corridor‘’, 201 0; ‘’Graph illu stration of 2 006 Ken sington-Chinatown’’, 2 010). Coupled with h igher incidences of l ow income, Regent Par k r esidents become more l ikely and predisposed t o physical criminal activ ity as an o utlet o f in stitutional frustration an d so cio-economic v ulnerability (Cusimano et al., 2010). I n a pr evious r elated study, Kim and Pri demore ‘’usi ng e pidemiologic techniques, also found st rong correlation between violence (i n t his case, homicide in Russia) and social dep rivation, i ncluding poverty, fam ily instability an d neighbourhood i nstability in a national-level study’’ (Cusimano et al., 2010). The higher number of dispatched calls in Division 51 with 47,329 t o 34,626 in D ivision 5 2 is emblematic o f prev ailing social v ulnerabilities o r inequities th at h ave sou ght crim e as an ou tlet (Toronto P olice Ser vice, n.d.; Ka szor, 20 10). Violent offences are c onsidered by the Tor onto Police Serv ices as ‘’crimes in volving the application or t hreat of application of force to a person. They include hom icide, attempted murder, sexual assault , non-se xual assault, ot her sexual offences, a bduction a nd r obbery’’ (T oronto Pol ice Service, n .d., p. 2). C rime in Di vision 52, on t he other han d, is characterised by pr operty crime, other crim e, a nd crim inal c ode tra ffic offences 2. Statistics Can ada found similar resu lts to be otherwise consistent ‘’ with pre vious r esearch studies t hat have found t hat a lack of ac cess to socio-economic resources and the ‘urban’ character of neighbourhoods impede so cial con trol of cr ime by l imiting soci al co hesion a nd s ense of belonging’’ (Charron, 2009).

                                                            2 Cri minal code traf fic offences: in cludes dan gerous dr iving, impaired dr iving, r efuse br eath/blood sam ple and failur e to remain at the scene of an accident (2009 Ann ual Statistical Report).

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Socio-economic fru stration can in stigate crimes o f opportunity. This is e xacerbated by the upgrading of public services, like the subway, which tends to advantage adjoining neighbourhoods more than the rest. In deed, ge ntrification, a s ub-set of neighbourhood upgra ding process, received an early bo ost fr om subway d evelopments (Wal ks &Maaranen, 2008). Accessibility describes the extent to which a feature of , in this case, the u rban environment that is available to as m any people as possible. A higher de gree of accessibil ity and availability o f pu blic goods and services, lik e public transportation, to a neighbourhood increases social cohesion and community integration. 6.4.4. Culture of fear ‘Fear proves itself’ in the m agnification of surveillance an d security, d estruction of p ublic spaces, and the pri vatisation of t he public realm which in creasingly ‘m ilitarises’ city life (Dav is, 1990). T hese are all sym ptoms o f a m alaise th at isolates and in tensifies d istrust with in th e neighbourhood. Mean while the exaggerate d presence of vandals begets the heightened presence of m ore co ps beget s heightened s ecurity t hat obscures t he ge nuine cha racter of the neighbourhood and, at a br oader l evel, ‘ ’influence the quality of life in local communities by limiting interaction and trust among residents’’ (Fitzgerald, 2008, p. 7). Instead, creating de fensible spaces which involves greater citizen engagement in order to p rovide so cial co ntrol and n atural surveillan ce can prove to be much m ore effective, and productive, t han a m ilitary application of surveillance ca meras (N ewman, 1972 ; Jacobs, 1992). Previous rese arch s uggest that it may also be important ‘’to consider the neighbourhood context in atte mpting to understand patterns of fear of crime in Can ada’’ (Fitzgerald, 2008). An individual’s perception o f fea r, for instance, could be influenced by the level of ‘social disorder’3 and ‘social incivilities’ in the neighbourhood. A 2 004 Statistics Can ada surv ey sh ows th e pred ilection to increased fear of cri me, am ong urban C anadians aged 15 y ears and older, i s st rongest am ongst people i n th e lowest i ncome qu artile, t hose with less than secondary education, those who have been victimised in the past year, and those where a social disorder w ould be co nsidered a pr oblem i n t he neighbourhood (Fitzgerald, 2008). Significantly, the data showed and strongly support a negat ive image of Regent Park which has led to its biased m edia portray al. Indee d, in a local newspaper, t he To ronto St ar unfa vourably

                                                            3 Such as prostitution, drug addicts, loitering, vandalism, etc.

described R egent Pa rk as a ‘’ scuzzy st rip cl ub-hotel, all in t he m ost v iolent q uarter of the city’’ (Doolittle, 2 009, p ara. 2). Those wh o had b een victimised in the past year were more likely, at 21.7 percent, than those who had not, at 16.1 percent, to report a fear of c rime. F ear of crime is also m uch higher, 32.2 percent and 42.2 percent respectively, in n eighbourhoods with a p roblem o f so cial disorder a nd wi th hi gher cri me t han ot her neighbourhoods (Fitzgerald, 2 008). Mo reover, an informal su rvey o f m edia an d In ternet in quiry forums m entions R egent P ark as ‘a dangerous Toronto nei ghbourhood’. Neither Kensington-Chinatown no r th e Bay Str eet Co rridor w as mentioned at all in these reports. These prejudices demonstrate that the im agery of space is as detri mental to n eighbourhood stability as it is ph ysical in tegrity. Rath er th an only structural im provement, future re development f or the area of Regent Park seems to be better spent on a two -part strateg y th at tac kles th e p sychological bias while also building up neglected spaces. Building m eeting halls an d p arks is a fo rtuitous venture considering that there is no guarantee these spaces would be occ upied in t he way it was intended for. Howe ver, omitting these spaces of potentialities would be missing the point altogether. The point is to provide pu blic sp aces fo r neighbours t o gat her a nd ge nerally e ncourage citizens to ta ke owne rship of their s pace and therefore accountability of where they live.

6.5. Decreasing engagement in ownership Areas with the highest rate of m overs si nce 2001 tend to be locations whe re ne w housing development h as o ccurred an d n eighbourhoods with older ren tal ap artment bu ildings (City Planning Di vision et al., 2007). Th e v arious manifests of t his psy chosomatic p sychosis demonstrate the dynamism between neighbourhood stability, en gagement, o wnership, co mmunity an d sense of place (Lorinc, 1963; Seamon, 2007).  

6.5.1. Defaced facades A nei ghbourhood e xperiencing a n i ncreased l evel of activ ity co uld sign al eith er a declin ing or expanding community but one that, nevertheless, is still in flu x. Lo rinc argu es fo r t he merit o f homeownership to th e h ealth o f cities. ‘’Th ey create so cial stab ility a nd i nvest i n th eir neighbourhoods. Fo r m ore o f us, ou r homes ar e our primary asset, a nest egg for the fut ure, a place to raise children, and a source of financial certainty in an uncertain world’’ (1963, p. 71). In fact, studies by BOSTI, the Buffalo Organisation for S ocial a nd Tec hnological In novation, have

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shown a d istinctive relatio nship b etween ‘’how people experience the offices they work in and their productivity level on the job’’ (Hiss, 1 990, p. 17). The study delineates the association between experience and u tility. Instead, ‘’we are producing marginalization, di sempowerment, alienation, pollution and degradation’’ (Harvey, 1997, p. 229). These fact ors, com bined with th e tran sient characteristics inhe rent in a rent-driven environment, do not ‘’ favour t he devel opment of cohesive l ocal co mmunities ab le to ex ert so cial control over be haviour, pa rticularly criminal behaviour’’ (Charron, 2009). The division between ownership and accoun tability is thus more distinctive in such areas of high residential mobility and th e fact th at ren ters m ay feel less j ustified to become attached to t heir place of residence (Charron, 2009). A h igher p roportion of ren ter to owner households m ay correlate to increased likelihood o f deviant be haviour. A closer examination of the three study areas re veals that Regent Par k exhi bits t he hi ghest pe rcentage o f renters within their neighbourhood with 89 percent of a t otal of 3630 residences rented. Kensington-Chinatown h as the n ext largest ratio with 70 percent r ented to a t otal of 7640 . Bay Str eet Corridor has th e least with 68 p ercent renter sh ip (‘’Graph illu stration of 2006 Reg ent Park‘’, 20 08; ‘’Graph illustration of 2006 Bay Street Co rridor‘’, 2008a). 6.5.2. Homeownership Buildings that require more major than perfunctory maintenance work are no t o nly in dicative o f th e building’s age but al so indirectly points at neglect on the pa rt of the hom eowner or re ntee. This causal rel ationship bet ween co nstant s tate-of-disrepair a nd owner ne glect i s st ronger a nd m ore significant i n areas t hat have bee n co nsistently established at a comm on period in tim e. These areas inci dentally, due to their neglecte d state, provide oppo rtunities for cri minal b ehaviour and thus are more crime prone. In fact, Regent Park, in comparison t o t he ot her two nei ghbourhoods, maintains th e h ighest p ercentage of 1950s-era buildings in need of major repair at 22 percent. The rates of bu ildings in n eed o f m ajor rep air in Kensington-Chinatown and the Bay Street Corridor are respectively 9 and 4 percent. Buildings in both neighbourhoods ar e also c omparatively younger with many b uilt b etween 1970 an d 1990. In deed, with i ts bl end of housing pr ojects, 1950s-era structures, a nd aid age ncies, potential inve stors seem reluctant, either private or public, to revitalise Regent Pa rk a nd t herefore c ontinually a cy cle of structural neglect and crime (‘’Graph illustration of 2006 Reg ent Park ’’, 200 8; ‘’Graph illu stration of

2006 Bay Str eet Co rridor’’, 2008a; Tor onto Lif e, 2011). 6.5.3. Property crime Property cri me, de fined by t he T oronto Pol ice Service,

Includes unlawful acts committed for the purpose of at taining or interfering wi th the use of pr operty, bu t do es not inv olve the use or t hreat of violence agai nst an individual. P roperty cri me incl udes act ual and at tempted motor ve hicle t heft, ot her theft, actual and attem pted brea k-and-enters, po ssession of stolen property, mischief and fraud. (2009 Annual Statistical Report).

Statistics Can ada repo rts th at d wellings ‘’requiring major rep airs and eco nomic v ulnerability are associated with v iolent cri me, wh ile centrality is associated only with property’’ (Charron, 2009). In effect, the tot al property crime is much highe r in Division 52 than in Division 51. However, the rate of crime, measured per 100,000, is inversely higher in Division 51 than Division 52 demonstrating that, although, Division 52 has a higher total of property crime the propensity for that crime to occur is much higher in Division 51.4

6.6. Utility Toronto’s mea culpa treat ment of t he c ity as a place of opportunisms rather than opportunities has also been l ambasted by City of T oronto Poet Laureate Pier Giorgio Di Cicco. These:

[s]trips m ay be rec ognized as publ ic spaces that m ust be protected from exclusionary practices comm only associated with rising property values. This an alysis of patterns of co mmercial change, then, is concerned primarily with the processes by which commercial space is pro duced for progressively more affluent users, a phenomenon identified in this report as ‘commercial gentrification’. (Rankin, 2008).

6.6.1. Role of speculative real estate: red herring v. real estate boon Speculative real estate p lays a ro le in determining the price scale for property i n T oronto. H ow bi g this ro le is i ndeterminable bu t th e relatio nship exists p artially b oosted b y av ailability o f lifestyle amenities an d a p ositive neig hbourhood i mage. This discrimination is reflected in the average rent-sale price for each nei ghbourhood in which the

                                                            4 Rate of crime per 100,000 population

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average gro ss rent in th e Bay Street Co rridor will often c ommands higher p rice o n t he m arket t han that in Regent Park. For comparison, mortgage and rent-related payments made, as a perce ntage of income spent, is h igher in Regent Park than in the Bay Street Corridor. This shows that, although the rent-sale pri ce i s l ower i n Regent Par k, residents still spend a large proportion of household income, already w ithin th e lo wer range of $1 0,000 to $19,999, o n house pay ments t han residents i n t he Bay Street Corrid or who, in comparison, are b etter positioned to make payments. It also invo lves m ore f avourable cond itions fo r neighbourhood repai r a nd m aintenance fo r properties that are m ore highly sought aft er. T he average gr oss r ents ar e $12 50, $892, and $5 48 respectively for the Ba y Street Corridor, Kensington-Chinatown, an d Regent Pa rk ( ‘’Graph illustration of 2 006 Bay Street Co rridor’’, 2 008a; ‘’Graph illu stration of 2 006 Ken sington-Chinatown’’, 2008; ‘’Graph illu stration of 20 06 Regent Park’’, 2008). This discrepancy des cribes t he e xtent o f opprobrium to which Regent Park is regarded with compared to the other two neighbourhoods studied. Ostensibly, the wider perception of prevalent crime and nei ghbourhood decay unfavoura bly marks the area as a ‘re d herring’ for private i nvestment (Walks & M aaranen, 2008). Und oubtedly, th e interest in th is fo rm o f p rospective real estate involves evaluating likely investment return as well as proximity to social amenities. 6.6.2. Gentrification/invested interest in community: business interest utility The cac het value of the Bay Street Corri dor, with its higher incidence of high income earning young adult p rofessions c orrelates favoura bly for investment retu rns. So cio-economic v ulnerability is fu rthermore f uelled i n t he R egent Par k area by investors who, wary of investment risk, do little to re-invest and regenerate the area. Whereas, the area enc ompassed withi n th e Bay Street Corridor involves 6 Business Improvement Areas and three in Kensington-Chinatown, there are zero within the confines of Regent Park except for two which only run p arallel to th e areas bo undaries but d o not maintain a su bstantial serv ice area i n th at neighbourhood (City of Toronto, 2000). Developed by the City of Toronto in recognition of its in fluence for est ablishing distinctive neighbourhood im age and as catalysts for civic improvement, t he Business Improvement Area is ‘’an ass ociation of c ommercial/industrial property owners and tenants within a speci fied district who join together with official approval of the City in a

self-help program aim ed at st imulating bus iness’’ (City of Toronto, 2011a). Research by R obert Sampson determines that the aesthetic q ualities o f a n eighbourhood, even if minute, such as absence of sidewalks, green space, litter, an d vandalism ‘’h ave a p ersistently ad verse impact o n p erceived qu ality o f life an d o n th e conditions lik e so cial co hesion th at are alread y known to con tribute to neig hbourhood effects’’ (Raudenbush & Sam pson, 1999). So me as pects o f this, m ost n otable th e prov erbial “brok en windows”, have received considerable attention of late (Meagher, n.d.). The C ity of Tor onto de veloped t he B IA, a n abbreviation of B usiness I mprovement Area, designation a s an ass ociation of ‘’com mercial property owners and tenants within a defi ned area who wo rk in partnership with th e City to create thriving, co mpetitive, an d safe bu siness areas th at attract sho ppers, diners, t ourists, a nd new businesses’’ an d ev entually as catalyst agents for civic improvement (City o f Toronto, 2011a). Th e designation p rovides a n o fficial fram ework f rom which local businesses and organisations can gather for comm unity advocacy a nd upgrading. Othe r funded pr ograms in clude the comm ercial faça de improvement program and streetscape improvement program . Indeed, the prospective investment interest in the neighbourhood will likely pre-empt façade and im provement progra ms that would make the area m ore attractive for real estate speculators. 6.6.3. Social capital The BIA model is in a better position to manipulate the horizontal social tie s that are reproduce d through su ch a n eighbourhood asso ciation for effective c ommunication and inform ation campaigns (Weeni g et al., 199 0) sh owed t he efficacy of inform al social networks for information ca mpaigns. Social cap ital is an important resource t hat g athers fam ilial b onds of ‘’social t rust, norms and net works that people can draw upon to solve common problems…the denser these networks, the m ore likely that members of a community w ill coope rate for m utual benefit” (Freiler, 2004). ‘’The dim ensions of s ocial capital can include: empowerment (pe ople f eeling l istened t o); participation (p eople tak ing p art); asso ciational activity and c ommon purpose (people c ooperating with each o ther); co llective norm s and values (people sha ring c ommon v alues a nd n orms of behaviour); and t rust (people feel ing that they can trust their nei ghbours and or ganizations i n their community) (Freiler, 200 4). Without th e add ed benefit o f a B IA estab lishment, a n eighbourhood

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could det eriorate from l ack of business i nterest o r public funding. I n fact, Regent Park, with no such BIA interest, manifests th e influe nce of social capital and its ability to draw in future funding. 6.6.4. Jane Jacobs, ‘urban drama’, and community activism Jane Jacobs’ The Death and Life of Great American Cities (1992) alludes that the social complexities of the sidewalk ‘economy’ and st rong neighbourhood attachments a s social dete rrents to urban decay. Neighbourhood decay could possibly also indicate a pr oportional r elationship to neighbourhood vitality. Jaco bs reflects t his ethic when lamen ting that:

They re gret t hat t he neighbourhood has changed. Yet the fact is, physically it has changed rem arkably little. Peop le’s feelings a bout i t, rat her, have cha nged. The neighbourhood s hows a st range inability to update itsel f, e nliven itself, repair itself, or to be sou ght after, out of choice, by a ne w generation. (Jac obs, 1992, p. 198).

In he r na rrative, Jaco bs ( 1992) i s em phatic for resident’s proprietorship over the street. The more intense t he attachment; t he m ore willing an individual would be t o act upo n c ommunity activities. Th ere m ust b e tan gible ev idence of economies of sidewal k, for practical everyday use, and ‘ eyes upo n th e str eet’ th at ser ve t he dual function of social surveillance and opportunities for casual public encounters (Jacobs, 1992). Indeed,

Evidence f rom t he 19 91 World Values Survey demonstrates the following: across the 35 countries in this survey, social trust and civic e ngagement are st rongly correlated; the great er t he densi ty of associational membership in a society, the more tru sting its citizen s. Tru st an d engagement are two facets of t he sam e underlying f actor – soc ial capital. (Putnam, 1995, p. 111).

6.6.5. Renewed interest: increasing house prices and gentrification The housing market cannot be fully explained with a supp ly-demand m atrix. Co nditions of ho using, including m aintenance, cr owding an d t enure not only h ave an impact o n th e q uality o f life o f its residents, b ut al so on t heir perce ption of t heir community an d th eir desire to rem ain th ere and become m embers of t he community. Thes e variables, i n c onsequence, a ffect the t urnover and pricing trend of housing co sts in a n eighbourhood is in dicative o f its pull f actor (t o st ay) and

economic sta nding. The 2003 Rental Market Report, produced by the Toronto Real Estate Board MLS, re vealed city-wi de re nts for condominiu m apartments that avera ged $1,077 per m onth f or a bachelor sui te t o $2,038 per m onth for a t hree-bedroom unit (Toronto Real Estate Board, 2003). The ave rage rent for th e entire Central area, including al so R egent Park , Ke nsington-Chinatown, and the Bay Street corridor, was $1,073 monthly for a bachelor and $1,370 monthly for a 1-bedroom. The aver age rented-to-listed ratio i s 50 percent. The average rent in Kensington-Chinatown and the Bay Street corridor, clustered within the C1 district designation, i s not surprisingly higher than for the rest of the Central are a. The m onthly rent for a bac helor was $ 1,111 per m onth with a 5 0 percent ratio comparable for th e en tire Central district w hich showed a stable homeownership-to-rentee relationship. The average monthly rent for a one b edroom was si milarly higher at $1,423 pe r month. The re ntee appeal for t he Regent Park area, however, fare d m uch lower than ave rage with a 37percent rented-to-listed t otal. Th at th e C8 district also had the lowe st average m onthly rent for bachelors at $983 across the Central area and an

average monthly rent for one-bed condo apartment lower than the other two neighbourhoods at $1,389 indicates lower hou sing desirability (Toro nto Real Estate Board, 2003).

Graphic presentation of real estate divisions: C1-Kensington-Chinatown/Bay Street Corridor C8-Regent Park Taken from, http://www.torontorealestateboard.com/consumer_info/market_news/rental_report/2003/pdf/Rental_%20report_2003.pdf 

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 The t rend c ontinues i nto t he 20 10 R ental M arket Report with th e C1 d istrict ex hibiting si milar rented-to-listed ratio to th e Central area av erage with 58 percent and 56 percent resp ectively. Th e average m onthly rent for a bac helor a nd one-bedroom continues to be stronger than for the total average C1 district at $1, 250 average monthly rent for a bachelors and increase in rental for one-bed at $1,584. No twithstanding, the listed -to-rented ratio is the same in C8 as for C1. Nevertheless, the total numbers o f r ented an d l isted co ndo apa rtments show a clear bias for C1 at 2,431 listed and 1 ,413 listed to C8 with 60 6 listed and 344 ren ted units. The av erage monthly r ent for a b achelor is a lso discriminately lower than for the rest of the Central area at $1,227 for a bac helor unit and $1,584 for a one bed c ondominium apartm ent (Tor onto R eal Estate Board, 2010). 6.6.6. Neighbourhood value: waiting out the shock value In 2001, Alan Black and Philip Hughes conducted a review o n i ndicators o f co mmunity st rength. I n their results, they found that community well-being, resiliency, and health ‘’all point to the ‘capabilities’ of communities to maintain and enhance outcomes … maintaining outcomes in the face of shocks and stresses which m ight ot herwise diminish t he capacity of a com munity’’ (Meagher, n. d., p. 1 6). ‘’Numerous st udies o f organizational i nvolvement have sho wn that resid ential stab ility an d su ch related phenomena as hom eownership are clearly associated with greater civic engagement’’ (Putnam, 1995, p. 111). Measured i n out- a nd i n- m igration numbers, t he demographic composition i s cl early i ndicative of the degree o f cohesiveness and sat isfaction within the com munity. Hi gher fre quencies o f h orizontal mobility, lik e rep eatedly re-po tting of plants, ‘’tends to disrupt root systems, and it takes time for an u prooted i ndividual t o p ut do wn new root s’’ (Putnam 1 995:111). Sim ilarly, Raud enbush and Sampson (1999) co ined t he term ‘’collectiv e efficacy’’ to ‘’describe the condition of robust social control and social cohesion that c orresponds to an increase in behaviours that are more aimed at collective benefit’’ (R audenbush & Sampson, 1999). A higher ‘c ollective efficacy’ would mean that p eople wo uld b e m ore lik ely to in tervene for the ‘well-being of their neighbours’. The persistence of place is ce ntral to understanding why place has significa nce, without which one ‘’would find it difficult to describe why a particular place is s pecial and im possible to know how t o repair e xisting places in nee d of mendi ng’’ (Seamon, 2007 ). Relp h (1 976) describes th is phenomenon as topophilia; an encounter with place

that i s i ntensely pers onal and pr ofoundly significant. However, the present urban landscape is now something quite apart in form and structure from the cities of yesteryear.

We live in a highly complex s ociety which, to a great extent, ha s loosened the individual citizen from traditional controls - a society in whic h the i ndividual has greater free dom to choose m any alternative schemes of behaviour, l eads a highly seg mentalized life, b elongs to numerous groups whose members are scattered th roughout th e city, is characterized by extreme m obility, and seldom form s attach ments to specific localities. (Biddulph, 2000, p. 74).

Lower i ncome t enant households which a re l east able to bear higher rents are more mobile and t end to m ove to areas with lower ren t. In co ntrast, higher income households are least l ikely to move frequently an d i nstead en joy m ore ec onomic security and higher inci dences of homeownership. For example, neighbourhood change between 1996 and 2001 in the Bay Street Corridor found an 11.9 percent i ncrease i n n umber of households wi th a 96.1 pe rcent i ncrease i n h ouseholds ear ning $100,000 or mo re. At th e same ti me, th e nu mber of t enant households dec reased 0.2 pe rcent wi th a further 7.1% deduction in households earning $30, 000 or less (‘’Graph illustration of 2001 Bay Street Corridor’’, 200 4). Th e Kensington-Chinatown neighbourhood ch ange b etween 19 96 and 2 001 demonstrated a similar demographic stability with a 10.5 pe rcent i ncrease i n households a nd a smaller 1.4 percent increase in tenant households. Families with low inc ome have decreased also 11 perce nt (‘’Graph illustratio n of 2 001 Ken sington-Chinatown’’, 2004). Indeed, a r eport pub lished by th e Un ited Way of Greater T oronto shows t hat, since Sam pson first described this phenomenon,

[s]several st udies ha ve s hown t hat high collective efficacy is a very good predictor of l ower lev els of crim e an d violence in a community, and that it is more accurate than m ost other measures. It appears that people who perceive their community as worki ng for the m and that their neighbours will su pport t hem are more likely to act in ways the sup port an effective c ollectively benefi cial syste m. Also, p eople who feel like it’s 'everyone for them selves' are more likely to act in ways th at ben efits t hemselves, ev en criminal ways, u ndeterred by the overall negative c onsequences fo r t he

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neighbourhood as a whole. (Meaghe r, n.d., p. 22).

The constant upheaval of a neighbourhood may just as easily lea d to ano nymity, in difference, and frustration t hat one no l onger k nows m uch abo ut their neig hbours a nymore. In co ntrast, the phenomenon descr ibes th e co ngenial suppo rt and obligation t hat p eople are more willin g to m ake under a dense web of relationships. 6.6.7. Crime and social control This can occur wi th or ganised nei ghbourhood watch groups but also in the physical design of the urban environment (Newman, 1973; Cozens et al., 2001). Jaco bs’ ( 1992) ‘eyes on t he street’ relies just on this form o f social surveillance where both the hei ght an d width o f buildings provide t he optimal vantage p oint fo r n eighbours to obs erve, listen, an d watch th e activ ities o n th e street; literally h aving th eir eyes on th e street. ‘’Th e presence a nd nature of the user of space is an important issu e in th e d esign-affects-crime debate...familiarity with an area and the anticipation of in tervention can nu rture a sen se of safety i n envi ronments defi ned as bei ng architecturally m ore hazardous’’ (N ewman, 19 73, p. 143). Toni Sachs P feiffer, best k nown fo r he r desi gn improvements to drastica lly increase the numbers of people going to one of Frankfurt’s major central public spaces: the Hauptwache, found:

that people’s sense of security in a p ublic space is ‘s patially anchored’: Each use r has to be able to fi nd some space within that place - a l ittle niche whe re he or she can stand or sit without being bothered by other pe ople and without get ting i n anyone’s way...if you can ’t find su ch a space, you’ll start to feel insecure and as a result threate ned by t he other people around you , seco nd, people need r easons for going to a place, and the more reasons they have, the more secure they feel …the heightened feeling of sec urity seem s t o have permanently sap ped any will to besmirch. As so on as people be gin t o spend ti me reg ularly in a sp ace, th ey begin to take care of it. (Hiss, 1990, p. 87-91)

Familiarity b reeds an unspoken, yet commo nly recognized, o bligation to secure s pace and existence in o rder to liv e h armoniously in communal ex istence with adjoining n eighbours (Alexander, 1977; Jacobs, 1992). In City of Walls Teresa Caldeira invoke public sociability as a fo rm of informal and formal social exchange ‘’that gives

life t o a nei ghbourhood a nd m akes p ublic space meaningful….In other word s, safety is m aintained by enga gement, not by i solation’’ ( 2000, p . 31 3). Yet, ‘’co llective life an d political act ivities h ave weakened’’ and there is an e nsuing sense of re gret for th e lo ss of co mmunity and so cial so lidarity (Caldeira, 2000, p. 313; Jacobs, 1992). 6.6.8. Neighbourhood accountability: local business claims on neighbourhood security In May 2009, Anthony Bennett stole approximately $60 worth of produce from the Lucky Moose Food Mart i n t he Kensington-Chinatown area . The shopkeeper, D avid C hen, al ong with t wo ot her employees, al so of relation, we re cha rged wi th assault and forcible confi nement after c hasing, restraining, and c ontaining M r. B ennett i n a delivery van after Ben nett returned ag ain in t he same hour (‘’Citizen’s arres t bill announc ed by Harper’’, 2011). T his incide nt seem s egregiously out of place except for the fact that, one day before the incident, Mr. Chen had waited five hours when he called the police ab out a th eft (‘’Dav id Ch en, hero gro cer, was lef t on h is o wn’’, 2010). Th e existing law requires ‘ ’a t hief to b e caught in th e act for a citizen’s arrest to be justified’’ (‘’Citizen’s arrest bill announced by Harper, 2011). The actions precipitated by Chen in the incidence at the Lucky Moose Food Mart were not motivated by errant vi gilante be haviour. Rather, C hen reacted against a threat to his shop and to his vested interest in safety and b usiness within th e co mmunity whereupon he t ook u pon himself t o prot ect hi s communal o wnership. In acqu itting Chen in October 2009, the presiding judge, Ramez Khawly, declared the case an illustration of the ‘brok en windows’ t heory. ‘ ’Tolerance of pe rceived m inor crimes breeds disrespect for the law. Da vid Chen tried to fill the void where the justice system failed. It's an upsi de-down wo rld i n whi ch p olice do n't show up to arrest thieves but come quickly and take away the mercha nts who m ake the arrests themselves’’ (‘’Davi d Che n, her o g rocer, was l eft on his o wn’’, 2 010, para. 5) . The a mended Citizen’s Arrest leg islation, subsequently d ubbed the ‘Lu cky Moose’ Bill, was ann ounced on February 2011 (Kuitenbrouwer, 2011). The inci dence dem onstrates the som etimes heuristic experiences of ci vic engagement in or der to ‘’fill the void where the justice system failed’’ to serve them (‘’David Chen, hero grocer, was left on his o wn’’, 2010, para. 5). B ut rat her t han vigilantism th e literatu re on lo cal prop rietorship shows th at th e formation of informal co alitions of concerned m embers, out t o protect t heir i nvested interests with in th e co mmunity. Th ese t ypes o f groups em power i ts m embers t o e ngage i n an d

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become accountable for th e well-being of their community (Rankin, 2008). In addition, the lack of integration in to th e econ omic syste m and t he resulting stigmatizat ion com promise ad herence to the beha vioural norm s hel d by soci ety i n gene ral. The despondence ove r a st ate of disrepair, apa rt from com munity ne gligence, i s prompted by feelings of disempowerment and apat hy. As o ne independent v ariety st ore proprietor p ut i t, “It ’s a tough a rea wi th m any rou gh-looking people fr om outside the a rea selling drugs. It c reates crime. We are all suffering here’’ (Charron, 2009).

7. Conclusion Quite obviously, th e task of integrating principles of urban su stainability is n ot a o ne-step pro cess. From th e research findings, urb an su stainability would best be serve d wi th a bot tom-up a pproach engendering aut hority and e ngagement i n communities a s a b arrier to o pportunistic cri mes and discriminatory social positioning. Th is multi-pronged ap proach i s be st adm inistered i n an environment whe re c ommunity m embers ha ve spaces t hat provi de the opport unity to gather. As the resea rch has s hown, thes e pl aces of opportunity, f ar f rom t he f raternized i magery of ancient forums and bazaars, are familiar spaces like homes and s hops. T hrough r outine asso ciation, these innocuous s paces sequester t hemselves i nto the com munity hi story and p opulate t he neighbourhood spi rit. Al exander ( 1977) t ouched on th is t ransiency of place of dwelling and th e psychological effect on building, or breaking apart, communities. Ev en th e non-descript n ature of a broken wi ndow can be en ough t o ‘’ break’’ t he community spirit. And alth ough the results for Re gent Park are markedly worse than fo r Kensi ngton-Chinatown and the Bay Street Corridor, the neighbourhood has potential. The on us wou ld fall resp ectively o n neighbours and th e m unicipality to tak e b ack th e community and o wnership of t he com ings a nd goings of the neighbourhood. As t he research was being c onducted, redevelopment ha d al ready bee n undertaken be gun by t he City to im prove t he infrastructure an d facilities in the n eighbourhood. The efficacy of the se supe rficial upgrades will ultimately fall-b ack on th e community to tak e up ownership and defe nd thei r space. And so fa r, availability of social services and agencies has not experienced a respective increase. Misgivings of crimin al ‘’h otspots’’; th e negative imagery instigated us ually by media hearsay, has a profound ef fect on t he imagination of a safe community. The psychological un derpinnings o f safe communities go hand-in-hand with real crime. The in ability a nd reluctance of neighbours to step out o nto s uch ‘’m ean’’ st reets mire effo rts to

reclaim the community. Suc h adaptive apathy may be a so cial co ndition of liv ing in a city b ut its effects on the m etaphysical health of the community and on civic soul is great. Indeed, one hurdle fo r th e City o f Toronto is th e ju mp from treating places as s paces of opportunism s rathe r than of opp ortunities (Di Cicco , n /d). Th e centralised servicing of the Bay Street Corridor is a case-in-point wh en prej udicial offering of community a menities p erpetuate th e cachet v alue of a san ctuary of saf ety, n eighbourhood ‘’stability’’, and socio-economic seclusion. These prejudices demonstrate that the im agery of space is as detri mental to n eighbourhood stability as it is ph ysical in tegrity. Rath er th an only structural im provement, future re development f or the area of Regent Park seems to be better spent on a two -part strateg y th at tac kles th e p sychological bias while also building up neglected spaces. Building m eeting halls an d p arks is a fo rtuitous venture considering that there is no guarantee these spaces would be occ upied in t he way it was intended for. Howe ver, omitting these spaces of potentialities would be missing the point altogether. The point is to provide pu blic sp aces fo r neighbours t o gat her a nd ge nerally e ncourage citizens to ta ke owne rship of their s pace and therefore accountability of where they live. It i s wort h c onsidering t hat i t is t he phy sical environment, and not people, t hat are inert. Movement am ong an d be tween neighbourhoods can bolster diversity, as is the case in Kensington-Chinatown, or can degrade community integrity, as in th e h igher-than-average tran sient ren t ratio in Regent Park. Like re-potting plants, indiscriminate residential movement li mits the ab ility to build a foundation an d g row i nto a comm unity’s social network. Eroded m eaningful s paces are opportunities, in th e ab sence o f inform al c ontrol, for de viant behaviour. R egent Par k i s a case i n point of how reluctance for community engagement warrants a buse of physical su rroundings. Lucky Moose Mart stands as a n exam ple of citizen engagement and t he e ffects of proprietorship spilling out fro m th e sho ps into th e public street (fruit st ands are o ften st ationed o utside on t he pavement). The sy ndrome of t he ‘broken w indows ef fect’, whereby a few broken windows are given to show neglect an d apathy, provides o pportunities for deviant be haviour a nd vandalism. Thi s i s pronounced in n eighbourhoods, su ch as in Regent Park, which has fe wer s ocio-economic opportunities compared t o more favo urable and better ke pt areas like the Ba y Street Corridor and Kensington-Chinatown. ‘ Fear pr oves i tself’ i n as far as n eighbourhood actio ns pr ovide imp etus to

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create defensible spaces t o increase neighbourhood engagement and ownership and t o p rotect agai nst neglect and crime. N eighbourhood utility, a v alue unit, describes th e co ngenial p roprietorship an d obligation that people are more willing to make for a nei ghbourhood t hat i s percei ved a s m ore desirable. The events th at precipitated the ‘Lucky Moose’ Bill i n Ken sington-Chinatown exe mplify the p ower o f ow nership and l ocal act ion t o protecting neighbourhood goodwill. To this extent, speculative real estate values can both forec ast and perpetuate, as i n R egent Park, neighbourhood desirability or decay. The i nsidious ur ban cha racter of Toronto i s disheartening. The re i s a l ack of urban dialogue that i s chara cterised i n ot her E uropean urbanised centres. So cial d isillusionment is a p roduct of social di senchantment and di ssociative behaviour between pr otecting one ’s o wn interest and acting within th e interests of th e p ublic g ood. Strengthening so cial n etworks lik e lo cal BIAs empower community residents to take ownership of the s pace the y occupy. T herefore, future urba n sustainable development sho uld i nclude a strategy that involves creating spaces of opportunity, participatory com munity pro grams (such as neighbourhood f airs and sid ewalk markets), environments co nducive t o i nformal co ntrol (whether through strategic planning of buildings or neighbourhood policing), and somewhat stable rent market. The spatial analysis of crime, real estate, and socio-economic opp ortunity am ongst t he B ay St reet Corridor, Kensington-Chinatown, and Regent Park illustrates th e co rrelation between neighbourhood characteristics an d vitality. Resu lts fro m th is analysis ha ve dem onstrated that certain neighbourhood ch aracteristics are prone to higher or lower crim e rates, stru ctural neglect, real estate speculation, and proprietary act ion. The correspondence of physical neighbourhood decay was f ound al so t o have a hi gher psychological effect o n the p erception o f a safer neighbourhood and subsequently on prevalence of real c rime. The effect of n eighbourhood d isempowerment, th e feeling that one has no powe r to effect change, was shown t o be st rongest i n R egent Par k whe re spatiality an d p sychology o f crim e were more prominent.

8. Acknowledgement I am h eartily thankful to my su pervisor, Christer Bengs, w hose pat ience, g uidance, di rection, an d support from the initial to the final revision enabled me t o devel op f urther m y t rain o f t hought a nd argument. For her patience and coordination role, I am grateful to my coordinator Karin Högdahl. For endless hou rs of cer ebral con versation, goo d

company, an d go od wine, whi ch su bsequently reinvigorated my acade mic spirit, I tha nk Silvia Fedrizzi, Sadhb h B ourke, Bill To , an d Gio rgina Tran. I wo uld l ike t o t hank Håkan Fa ronius, William Red ekop, Pao Kao, Seren a Zh ang, and Stephen Li u wh o have , despi te my many frustrations, hiccups, and challenges, remained my fathomless cheering squad to complete the arduous task to which I had started. Lastly, I offer m y regards an d bl essings t o al l t hose others wh o, i n some sm all way , hel ped s hape m y next fe w st eps towards t he f inalisation of my r esearch. Tho ugh you ha ve rem ained an onymous, I t rust t hat y ou know who you are and what you have done for me. Thank you.

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