CGEO793 Geography of Toronto

In this assignment you will choose a Toronto (or GTA) neighbourhood and propose a redevelopment of that neighbourhood. You will research and write an 1800-2200 word Redevelopment Proposal.

 

Human Geography is the study of the relationship between people, place, and space. Your Redevelopment Proposal must be about a particular neighbourhood and through your discussion of proposed changes you should illustrate the integrative character of Geographical analysis. Consider the various aspects of Geography of Toronto (urban, social, cultural, political, economic, environmental, transportation) and examine how your topic and neighbourhood might be affected by each approach. Your Proposal should be grounded in the human experience of neighbourhoods.

 

You are tasked with a four-part objective:

 

1) Identification of neighbourhood (Approximately one page)

 

You should consider at what scale your proposed changes will occur. For instance, if you are proposing to redevelop the wealthy Toronto neighbourhood of Rosedale, will your proposed changes occur at a small, medium, or large scale? For instance, see the map below for three possible scales at which a student might redevelop Rosedale. Be sure to suggest the boundaries of your proposed changes, no matter the scale you choose.

 

 

 

You must offer a critical description of the current neighbourhood. You might consider including information about some or all of the below:

 

-Statistics and/or demographics

-Housing and/or commercial costs

-Built form and/or land use (residential, commercial, industrial, recreational, institutional, transportation)

-Relevant historical aspects of the neighbourhood

 

2) Discussion of the issue(s) your proposal aims to address (Approximately one to two pages). These might include some combination of the below:

 

-Housing type or prices

-Gentrification

-Poverty

-Automobile issues

-Public transportation

-Cycling infrastructure

-Urban sprawl

-Community space

-Public housing

-Monoculture (Starbucks and condos everywhere)

-Homelessness

-Natural environment

-Public safety

-Zoning/land use conflicts

-NIMBYism

-Accessibility

-Food deserts

 

Some of the issues you discuss should be issues with the particular neighbourhood you have chosen, but you might also consider remedying issues with the city as a whole. In this section you should cite your research where relevant.

 

3)  Literature review (Approximately one to two pages)

 

You must conduct a scholarly review of some relevant literature that discusses the issues your proposal aims to address. Your sources should support your proposed changes. See above for minimum research requirements. I would like to see a mix of scholarly and non-scholarly source usage.

 

4) Proposed redevelopment changes (Approximately two to three pages)

 

What is your proposal? Here, you should lay out what you plan for the neighbourhood. There are many ways to do this and I encourage you to be creative! As long as your plan is within the realm of possibility, it will work for this assignment. I encourage you to dream. You might consider using images of your plans. Despite the room here for creativity, there are some things you should cover, including:

 

-Time frame for changes

-Plans for current residents/occupants (resettlement plans?)

-Transportation changes

-Infrastructure / built form changes (This is mandatory – you must propose physical changes!)

-Costs and funding

 

You might also consider some of the following:

 

-Creation of associations or already-existing associations (BIA, homeowner’s, renter’s association, etc.)

-What is changing and what is staying the same?

-How do deal with resistance to the proposal

 

In this section you must also explain how your plan addresses the issues you have suggested above in 2). You should cite your research here as well. Your plan must be grounded in the literature!

 

 

Works Cited List and Citations

 

You must include a works cited list in APA format and you should include citations where necessary. APA uses ‘author, date’ format (May, 2020).