Castles in Toronto’s Sky: Condo-Ism as Urban Transformation

Abstract

This article analyzes the evolution and spatial dynamics of condominium development in Toronto, the largest housing market in Canada and the site of a rapid take‐up of condominium tenure and construction over the last 40 years. The article probes the most influential policies that fostered and regulated condominium growth, and explores the implications for the continued restructuring of the city. A host of factors, including neoliberal state policies, have played a decisive role in fostering what we term condo‐ism, referring to an emerging nexus of economic development, finance, and consumption sector interests that have coalesced around condominium construction and culture. Policies have redirected growth to the urban core, channeled capital investments and young residents, and promoted gentrification, ultimately transforming the character of Toronto's central business district. The article explores these changes, and discusses their implications for contemporary emerging forms of capitalist urbanization and restructuring of the city.

Japanese Gentrification from a Local Community Perspective

“…Yet, it is possible to think the Japanese case as having evolved from a higher resemblance to the Global South in the post-war reconstruction era to approximating the gentrification examples in the Global North with the advance of economic neoliberalization. What is teaching about the Japanese case is that gentrification, residential--which I called "mansionization" in my research, and Rosen and Walks (2015) referred to as "condo-ism" in theirs--and commercial, was not the sole recipe for urban rejuvenation. City areas could find their own developmental paths instead of compromising with the outside capital's template solutions of privatization and homogenization.…”

Downtown redevelopment and land-use regulation: Can planning policies discipline property development?

“…By 2009, the City of Vancouver had reversed this policy by limiting residential development in order to allow more office space in the downtown area. In Toronto, the unprecedented number of condominiums built in the last decade (Lehrer et al, 2010;Relph, 2014;Rosen and Walks, 2014) has caused concern among commercial real estate developers and business interests who urged public officials to intervene and "protect scarce prime office sites in the downtown" (Canadian Urban Institute, 2011, p. 33).…”

“…In the late twentieth century, property-led development supported by market-driven modes of planning and the emergence of the 'post-corporate CBD' (Barnes and Hutton, 2009) fostered a shift from office and commercial development to residential and mixed-use development. Spurred by market demand and the support of city governments, under-utilized nonresidential space has been converted into trendy residential space and new condominium towers have outnumbered newly-built office buildings in many downtown areas (Fainstein, 2001;Heath, 2001;De Sousa, 2002;Beauregard, 2005;Birch, 2009;Rosen and Walks, 2014).…”

Sari vs. Dim Sum – Business Improvement Areas and the Branding of Toronto's Ethnic Neighbourhoods

“…This development is to a large degree driven by immigration and the related demand in living space (Ley & Hiebert ). Toronto's Official Plan from 2006 has encouraged private sector inner‐city development via loosened land use regulation and intensification, which has led to redevelopments in condominium tenure, especially downtown (Lehrer & Wieditz ; Quastel et al ; Rosen & Walks ). This shift from urban dispersal to concentration in downtown unites the interests of private sector industries and the state with consumers interests, fuelling the replacement of industrialisation by the financialisation of condominium mortgages as a main driver of urban growth (Rosen & Walks ; Lippert & Steckle ).…”