Welcome to the New Old Neighbourhood

It’s been said more than once that Toronto is a city of neighbourhoods. Our older neighbourhoods often sprouted up organically in an era when cross-city transportation was difficult, so their architecture and aspect has an authentic old-world charm that suits their original use. The Beaches (or the Beach as some would have it) were originally the summer stomping grounds of the city’s elite, until the area became part of Toronto in the early 1900s. As the car became more common, such outlying areas began to fill in, roads got better, and public transportation showed up.

Jump ahead a century or so and most of the developable land has indeed been developed, and the pressure is on vertical densifying, in aid of a greater tax base. Unfortunately, a big, tall business centre is both good for the economy and potentially sore on the eyes. Concrete canyons, while functional, are charmless and, ironically, not terribly human. What’s a developer to do? Fortunately, if you make a people-friendly space that’s a great place to hang out in, people will hang out there.

Quarters like the Beaches, like Queen West, the Danforth and Kensington Market combine low- and mid-rise development with the authentic quirky charm of having been here a while, but even brand new sites are coming up that have a personality. It’s not just good for residents smart enough to live in them, but also attractive to visitors who spend money and help make them revenue-producers, which keeps politicians happy, keeps infrastructure working, and gives Toronto another argument to point to when making its case as a “world-class” city. People walk around, which is good for the economy, the environment, and our health. Those who work in nearby concrete jungles have somewhere to go on their lunch hour that breathes a little life back into a weary soul.

One thing every one of these “neighbourhoods” has in common is, I would argue, a cohesive theme. It makes it easy for people to decide to go there, and makes it easier on the marketing types and BIAs. One of our newest and most successful master-planned, mixed-use, experience-focussed neighbourhoods is the Distillery District, which has become a haven for food connoisseurs of a certain gourmet pasteurization-be-damned variety, and art aficionados. Galleries, oyster bars, gluten-free bakeries and outdoor sculptures are all around, with the car-free environment itself a big draw for those who love an afternoon stroll with their micro-brew and whose idea of a take-out treat is an unheard-of Quebecois fromage. There are even Segway tours, which seems to be another signature of many of these neighbourhoods. (They’re a lot more fun than you might think.)

Canary District retail

The Distillery District has the added bonus of a history that includes Al Capone, and an authenticity in the old buildings that you can’t fake. But you don’t have to delve into history to create a destination neighbourhood from scratch. The Shops at Don Mills is a great example. The “theme” may be completely modern – shop till you drop, then have lunch – but it’s become a huge success, even in the dead of winter. The buildings may be square and uninspired, but the presentation sets the area apart. Car traffic is allowed, and yet it has the feeling of being for pedestrians. There are always events taking place, like yoga in the square or ice skating in the winter.

With the advent of the Canary District, which has the added lustre of becoming the athletes’ village for the 2015 Pan Am/Parapan Am Games before it becomes a mixed-use, condo-heavy development, Toronto is about to introduce another charming neighbourhood. Developers have paid careful mind to keeping the ground-floor corners open and providing lots of paths and trees to keep the place feeling friendly, and no development is higher than mid-rise. The theme they’re hatching would seem to be modern with a twist – wellness and connectivity will play prominently, including in the selection of appropriate retail tenants when the ground floors are rented. Dundee Kilmer have even promised to keep fast-food franchises away.

Our great neighbourhoods – including the newest additions – make a big city feel less cold and impersonal. They give the city something to help promote tourism without directing every visitor to the downtown core. They encourage small businesses and make residents happy.

Is it because these quarters remind us of simpler times, when we could slow down enough to walk somewhere? When we didn’t have to take elevators hundreds of feet into the sky to get where we wanted to be and the glow of a gaslamp provided a little mystery in the night? I’m just romantic enough to think so. With the evolution of modern materials that look like old materials, it isn’t even cost-prohibitive to give a new development old-world charm. Just like Field of Dreams, if we build it, they will come.