egotrippin
Senior Member
Chiming in here. I don't think we'll ever need to, at least in the foreseeable future, demolish our inner city housing stock. Smart growth would include building up all of the inner suburbs to the point that they actually feel like part of the city, with continuous density from Etobicoke to Scarborough; this will take decades and decades of growth.
Now, a lot of development is downtown, but that's the market reacting to the desirability of the older Toronto neighbourhoods. As our relatively new inner suburbs become more established, they too will see similar growth and (hopefully, I'm obviously speculating here) see a similar influx of modern development.
Part of the current draw to downtown/central Toronto is the older established neighbourhoods- by destroying and replacing them you're essentially creating what could be created anywhere else in the GTA. Since we're not geographically limited like a city such as Hong Kong, I see no reason for the city to not grow organically, while retaining historical nodes and thoroughfares.
Ultimately, and ironically, downtown is becoming more homogeneous and suburbanized with all the new condo development. Eventually I think we'll see this growth spread out because the things that make downtown desirable and interesting get continuously pushed to different and less central neighbourhoods. Successive waves of development then follow: the development of Queen West and the downtown west neighbourhoods illustrate this. This coupled with a (hopefully lasting) resurgence in heritage appreciation should lead to a more natural and widespread growth of the city.
Now, a lot of development is downtown, but that's the market reacting to the desirability of the older Toronto neighbourhoods. As our relatively new inner suburbs become more established, they too will see similar growth and (hopefully, I'm obviously speculating here) see a similar influx of modern development.
Part of the current draw to downtown/central Toronto is the older established neighbourhoods- by destroying and replacing them you're essentially creating what could be created anywhere else in the GTA. Since we're not geographically limited like a city such as Hong Kong, I see no reason for the city to not grow organically, while retaining historical nodes and thoroughfares.
Ultimately, and ironically, downtown is becoming more homogeneous and suburbanized with all the new condo development. Eventually I think we'll see this growth spread out because the things that make downtown desirable and interesting get continuously pushed to different and less central neighbourhoods. Successive waves of development then follow: the development of Queen West and the downtown west neighbourhoods illustrate this. This coupled with a (hopefully lasting) resurgence in heritage appreciation should lead to a more natural and widespread growth of the city.
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