The GTA has been showing signs of the urban ills that are commonly associated with city life south the border

For years, American urbanists and city planners have looked at Canadian cities with envy, as they had managed to avoid the searing decline of their American counterparts. And Toronto was where the late Jane Jacobs chose to make her home, largely due to her enthusiasm for urban neighbourhoods.

But more recently, the Greater Toronto Area has been showing signs of the urban ills that are commonly associated with city life south of the border. Carjackings, for example, have boomed; one recent victim was Maple Leafs star Mitch Marner.

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Last year, CTV reported that downtown infrastructure has been deteriorating, as have cleanliness and order, which were once the city’s strong suits. Thomas Caldwell, chairman of Caldwell Investment Management Ltd. and former governor of the Toronto Stock Exchange, took out an ad in the Globe and Mail last fall describing Toronto as a “declining city.” Even with the pandemic gone, Toronto restaurants have reported declining customers for in-person dining.

Toronto’s downtown malaise, which is mirrored in other Canadian cities, reflects in part the accelerating decline of what Jean Gottman once called the “transactional city” — a place defined largely by high rise offices. In the United States, office occupancy has been declining since the turn of the century.

This crisis has been made worse by planning policies, which are common throughout Canada’s largest cities, that limit suburban growth, the normal way cities have long expanded. Seeking to squelch the development of new single family homes, planners have targeted the aspirations of Canada’s young families. This has had two unintended effects: making housing in and near the city more expensive; and,........

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