I spoke of "I'm talking about a place with decades, nay, centuries (millennia?) of history. I'm talking about a place with depth...". And that's how you respond. Boy, that's a nice way of displaying your philistine insensitivity...
You didn't read my Toronto Life quote, did you. Oh, and I posted it to illuminate the kinds of bone-headed attitudes to be condemned...of course, that'd probably be all lost on you...
If you notice, implicitly, I did *not* speak in terms of "simple small neighbourhood constructed the same everywhere". I mean, I posted the Midland Park case, but that's because it's exceptional in its integrity, and there's an authoritative article on it to boot. But look: I don't even *have* to present examples because (a) they can be infinite, and (b) I might as well present *all* of Scarborough in lieu of constituent parts.
Put it this way; to use a, er, "monotonous/cookie cutter" example, I doubt you'd be the sort who can recognize and to some degree appreciate the swaths of postwar "CMHC neighbourhoods" emblematic of Reeve Oliver Crockford's time (think of the horror vacuii of brick storey-and-a-half saltboxes emblematic of neighbourhoods like Wexford). And I'm not speaking strictly from a *preservationist* POV; I'm speaking from a broader "understanding historic (sub)urbanity" POV. Knowing these things and these places give us a richer understanding of the physical genius loci: it makes the so-called "boring" interesting.
From what I can tell, you're incapable of that kind of nuanced perspective. Which isn't about capital-H Historic so much as small-h historic. Like, suburban Wexford is *nothing* to you. It's got no history, got no story--it just *is*. And ironically, that's more likely to typify the perspective of suburb-*haters* than suburb-defenders--of course, maybe I should expect that obtuseness from someone who states that "Ive learned not to worry or care what decisions were made in the past".
Of course, maybe I shouldn't forget the notion of Scarborough being about the people who live there--which is probably paramount to you; but, people without a context? Without a physical, historical context? That is...bleak; bleak indeed. Though maybe that poverty of contextual self-understanding explains why they feel so neglected; they sunk into an ahistorical vacuumland because nobody bothered to check or intercept them along the way.
But re things that concern me: rather than focussing on parts or neighbourhoods, let us focus on something like this.
http://urbantoronto.ca/forum/threads/the-plague-of-eifs.19836/page-8#post-766786
http://urbantoronto.ca/forum/attachments/cavehill-jpg.18475/
And consider this, OneCity: if in the name of progress, freshening-up, renewing tired and obsolete fabric, etc, you think the example on the right is preferable to the example on the left, there's no hope for you. None. Whatsoever.