Toronto's Vancouverism: developer adaptation, planning responses, and the challenge of design quality

White, J. T. and Punter, J. (2017) Toronto's Vancouverism: developer adaptation, planning responses, and the challenge of design quality. Town Planning Review, 88(2), pp. 173-200. (doi: 10.3828/tpr.2016.45)

Abstract

This paper examines ‘Vancouverism’ and its recent reproduction at CityPlace on Toronto’s Railway Lands. The developers, Concord Pacific, were centrally involved in producing ‘Vancouverism’ in the 1990s and 2000s. This study examines the design quality of CityPlace and explores the differences between the planning cultures in Vancouver and Toronto. In evaluating the design outcomes, it highlights a mismatch between the public sector’s expectations, the developer’s ambitions and the initial design quality. The paper demonstrates that, despite an increasingly sophisticated system of control, the city of Toronto’s ability to shape outcomes remains limited and, overall, the quality of development falls short of that achieved in Vancouver.

• Item Type: Articles
• Status: Published
• Refereed: Yes
• Glasgow Author(s) Enlighten ID: White, Professor James
• Authors: White, J. T., and Punter, J.
• College/School: College of Social Sciences > School of Social and Political Sciences > Urban Studies
• Journal Name: Town Planning Review
• Publisher: Liverpool University Press
• ISSN: 0041-0020
• ISSN (Online): 1478-341X
• Copyright Holders: Copyright © 2016 Liverpool University Press
• First Published: First published in Town Planning Review 88(2):173-200
• Publisher Policy: Reproduced in accordance with the copyright policy of the publisher.