It’s human nature to lay blame on a scapegoat for society’s shortcomings. Over the years the targets varied, but fault usually comes to rest on sections of society that are less fortunate, popular or articulate.

 

For big city woes, Toronto media have no trouble pinning blame on the suburbs.  One mainstream monthly recently published a feature on the theme of a suburb being a “mess of street gangs, fire bombings and stabbings” and a “place of violence, poverty and foreboding suburban design,“

 

Toronto’s largest daily continued the tradition by reporting the cause of rising levels of diabetes among the poor on their suburban lifestyle. The paper wrote "urban sprawl – not just poverty and an immigrant population at greater risk – is contributing to diabetes rates in the city's poorest neighbourhoods.”

 

Such headlines grab attention. The articles’ content confirm fashionable opinion.

 

Denial brands one as backwards, probably with a penchant for polyester, pesticides and three packs a day.

 

But like most scapegoats, glib solutions disguise difficult truths. In the case of Toronto’s suburbs, the real story is a complex interplay of how our cities cope with changing economic realities, waves of new Torontonians and an infrastructure from fifty years ago.

 

Some sensationalist claims can be put to rest.

 

Crime? Take a look at the Toronto Police website (www.torontopolice.on.ca).  With the exception of homicides, overall crime is down. Usually the highest crime rates per capita are in downtown. 

 

Urban sprawl? Our core infrastructure hasn’t changed for decades.  But those who look closely will see change. Infill projects are everywhere. Higher densities bring more people, who create the demand for greater choices in transit, shopping and services.

 

Culture? Those much maligned strip plazas have been sprouting non-traditional places of worship, learning academies and many are meeting places for newly arrived Canadians. A few, like those in the Wexford area of Scarborough have created galleries celebrating their surroundings.  There’s even a CD of songs inspired by intersections as seen from the Lawrence 54 bus.

 

Problems do remain, but they require attention to detail and nuance.

 

Some of the most visible forms of crime in the suburbs are due to young unemployed and unemployable men. Police action has been successful in taking apart gangs, but it is only part of the solution. Activists and residents know that longer term solutions will involve job training, employment opportunities, local congregations and taking apart concentrations of social housing.

 

Most suburbs were built in the first period of postwar enthusiasm.  Manufacturing jobs were plentiful. Affordable housing for the expanding middle class meant forty-five feet of frontage. For the poor, affordable housing meant high-rise apartments.

 

The world has changed since our suburbs were created.  How they are adapting to the new realities contains lessons for all.  The City has a number of projects underway to reinvent parts of the suburbs. Called Avenue Studies, these review teams looking at key areas with the objectives of both revitalization and integration into the wider urban fabric. Now residents, commercial tenants and smaller property owners provide meaningful input as well as professionals. Recommendations cover land use and density, transit, and the impact on the surrounding communities.

 

Even in the centres of suburbia one can see change. Whether it’s infill housing, the changing use of commercial space or integration of new Canadians, powerful and oftentimes informal forces are adapting our suburbs to the future.

 

Like many parts of urban life, suburbs have aspects that should be the subject of constructive criticism.  But blaming them for not being able to cope with our times is neither correct nor helpful.