Living a Self-Contained Life

I’ve lately developed the opinion that we Torontonians are becoming quite adept at embracing the enjoyment and convenience to be had in a relatively self-contained living environment, without losing our sense of community as a whole. We’re developing neighbourhoods that offer their residents a myriad of options for recreation, entertainment and fitness, without barricading out the neighbours. I think both developers and buyers are to thank.

As developers try to distinguish themselves by one-upping their on-site amenities, condominiums are more and more becoming self-contained ecosystems. On the one hand, it can help engender a genuine feeling of community, where shared spaces like residents’ clubs and fitness centres offer an opportunity to get to know people on more than a half-smile-at-the-mailbox sort of way. On the other, they may be a little too self-contained, so that residents end up with little to draw them out into the greater world, which can have an estranging effect on the city as a whole. We have historically eschewed gated communities in these parts, but in an age where fear-mongering has been developed to high art, are we on the cusp of embracing them, with condominiums as the first step? I actually think not.

While price often makes a condo unit desirable for an entry-level buyer, there are usually a few “cheap” suites among much pricier ones, and in large developments, the prices can often go from the mid $300,000s to nearer a million. When you’re paying $750,000 for two-bedrooms in 900 square feet, it’s natural enough to want to feel special.

To attract residents, some builders are including not just splendid residents’ clubs, steam rooms and pet spas among the amenities, but also niche-specific additions like poker rooms and golf simulators that appeal directly to professionals with disposal income. Concierge services are a must-have, and not just for security reasons. Some condo dwellers now get to avail themselves of the same kinds of concierge services you’d get in a hotel, such as procuring tickets or sending out dry cleaning.

These increasingly exclusive enclaves can create an “us and them” mentality. How healthy is a community as a whole when one creates an environment of “insiders” and “outsiders”? Author Rich Benjamin of “Searching for Whitopia” wrote in the New York Times that, “Gated communities churn a vicious cycle by attracting like-minded residents who seek shelter from outsiders and whose physical seclusion then worsens paranoid groupthink against outsiders.”

A perception of safety, prestige and exclusivity at what cost? The last thing a fearful time needs is a fortress mentality. In “Divided We Fall: Gated and Walled Communities in the United States,” authors Edward Blakely and Mary Gail Snyder said, “Walls, street patterns, and barricades that separate people from one another reduce the potential for people to understand one another and commit themselves to any common or collective purpose.”

Fortunately, here in Toronto, we seem to be embracing the Jane Jacobs model of “eyes on the street,” where a tightly knit community is the best defence against crime. Where gated communities tend to be economically homogeneous, it’s diversity and heterogeneity that are essential to creating the kind of mutual respect that actually keeps people safe. Our few Ontario gated communities are more about lifestyle than security. Instead of using exclusivity as a marketing tool, builders in the GTA tend to pitch their condominiums as fostering just a sense of community, of having fun entertaining friends and family while enjoying a cocktail with the neighbours.

It’s heartening to see that residents and builders alike are embracing a lifestyle that is self-contained enough to be convenient, but welcoming to the public, with many urban parks and green spaces developed by builders to complement their projects but available to the public.

Use the golf sim, enjoy the party room – as long as we remember we’re all in it together, we’ll be fine.