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jascolib's review
3.0
Informative and interesting, yet at time boring. Would love an update now that Ford is Premier.
janeschmidtreads's review
4.0
First and likely only time I'll ever read a book that features my neighbourhood in Scarborough. Excellent overview of often overlooked parts of Toronto, and a hopeful elegy for the future of our city.
christindal's review
4.0
I'm a bit embarrassed it took me until now to read this, but only a bit, because it remains an extremely relevant book for Toronto's current moment. This is a view of the city most people don't get, an argument that the city is worth fighting for, and an inventory of some of the ways for Toronto to achieve "greatness." A recommend read for anyone who loves Toronto, or who wants to.
sjlee's review
4.0
Frontier City very much captures a moment in time in a city that that could use more attention, and in particular to the quiet neighbourhoods that many of the residents call home. Shawn Micallef explored various neighbourhoods and wards of Toronto during the 2014 election period to try to gain an understanding of the city. I think Micallef very much succeeded in his ambition and paints a portrait of parts of the city that don't often appear in the news.
The impetus for the book is pretty clear. 2010 saw the election of Rob Ford, a figure that one half the city never truly understood and another portion of it viewed as their champion. While electoral politics may distort the number of supporters and detractors Ford had it is clear that he spoke to some part of the city that felt underrepresented. Micallef sought to explore that side of Toronto.
Micallef does this by visiting wards all over the city of Toronto and meeting with challengers for the city council seats primarily. His survey goes from the Downtown, to Etobicoke, Scarborough, and places in between. Issues raised range from transit, housing, social housing, education, support for culture, parks and waterways, and on and on. It provides fascinating insights into the issues that were percolating at ground level in 2014, and no doubt have many parallels to issues that continue to fester or evolve to this day.
I think this book is valuable in gaining some insight into the "suburb vs. downtown" debate and how it is often more nuanced that it may appear on the surface. As Toronto continues to grow and expand the various neighbourhoods are adapting differently, which in some cases means not as well.
Does a book like this have value years after it is written? Well, as I wrote above I believe it speaks to ongoing issues in the city of Toronto between its diverse neighbourhoods and how it functions (or doesn't) as a city. Afterwards I think it'll act as an important time capsule to understand Toronto as it was in 2014 at a more granular, neighbourhood level. I think the book speaks to issues that are going on in big cities struggling to be big and that likely reflects issues in places like Brampton, Mississauga, Ottawa, Calgary, and so on.
I enjoyed this examination of political life and civic life in Toronto and would recommend it to local political watchers.
The impetus for the book is pretty clear. 2010 saw the election of Rob Ford, a figure that one half the city never truly understood and another portion of it viewed as their champion. While electoral politics may distort the number of supporters and detractors Ford had it is clear that he spoke to some part of the city that felt underrepresented. Micallef sought to explore that side of Toronto.
Micallef does this by visiting wards all over the city of Toronto and meeting with challengers for the city council seats primarily. His survey goes from the Downtown, to Etobicoke, Scarborough, and places in between. Issues raised range from transit, housing, social housing, education, support for culture, parks and waterways, and on and on. It provides fascinating insights into the issues that were percolating at ground level in 2014, and no doubt have many parallels to issues that continue to fester or evolve to this day.
I think this book is valuable in gaining some insight into the "suburb vs. downtown" debate and how it is often more nuanced that it may appear on the surface. As Toronto continues to grow and expand the various neighbourhoods are adapting differently, which in some cases means not as well.
Does a book like this have value years after it is written? Well, as I wrote above I believe it speaks to ongoing issues in the city of Toronto between its diverse neighbourhoods and how it functions (or doesn't) as a city. Afterwards I think it'll act as an important time capsule to understand Toronto as it was in 2014 at a more granular, neighbourhood level. I think the book speaks to issues that are going on in big cities struggling to be big and that likely reflects issues in places like Brampton, Mississauga, Ottawa, Calgary, and so on.
I enjoyed this examination of political life and civic life in Toronto and would recommend it to local political watchers.
vpjto's review
5.0
“It is an odd thing to be a Torontonian,” Shawn Micallef writes in Frontier City: Toronto on the Verge of Greatness. “We are always longing for the city we don’t allow ourselves to have.” Meandering through several of the city’s wards, accompanied by 2014 Toronto council and school board candidates, Micallef confronts Toronto’s big questions, primarily: how do we confront the fissures in our civic landscape brought to light during the years Rob Ford reigned as mayor.
In his exploration of the city, avoiding the well trodden downtown streets and instead opting for communities that aren’t featured in glossy travel features, Micallef isolates some of the issues that have brought Toronto to the place it is right now. Between the straightforward and affectionate prose he uses to describe hidden, yet vital urban landmarks like diverse stripmalls (or “plazas”) and suburban parkland, the author references David Hulchanski’s Three Cities report, and other academic and governmental reports to explore the full scope of Toronto’s economic and political division. For someone who lives very nearly in the downtown core, and does most of her living in the wealthy midtown and uptown neighbourhoods that border Yonge, Frontier City made this reader long to explore Toronto’s borders, and talk to the people that make up our city, but who I’ve had little opportunity to meet.
The question of Rob Ford and how he came to be Mayor is central to Frontier City, but not centre stage. Through conversations with candidates, Micallef highlights the isolation felt by those living in the inner suburbs, both by choice and those limited by their own finances. In the outer reaches of Etobicoke and Scarborough are residents that feel like the story of Toronto’s success and emergence of leading global city is not their own. Without any real connection to the city as an idea, Ford, who hosted parties ostensibly open to all and called citizens back personally, was their “in.”
The frontier in Frontier City seems less like a border and more like a place in between. Maybe even a bridge, like those built under the watchful eye of R. C. Harris over our many ravines. For many of us who call ourselves urbanists, city builders, downtown elites, the ones most likely to read a book like Frontier City, I wonder if we’ve meaningfully confronted our own prejudices, tackled the fact that deamalgamation is not on the table. Have we thought about real and possible solutions? For those on the other side of things, do they have the interest or the energy to look inside themselves to ask similar questions? Do we meet each other on the bridge, or do we walk backwards into our two solitudes?
“We’re a small conservative place” Micallef quotes Parthi Kandavel, an eventually successful Toronto District School Board Candidate for Ward 18 as saying, and indeed we are. Frontier City closes with meditations on our current mayor, whose timid approach to leading continues to slow any possible progress to a halt. In the meantime, Micallef gifts the reader to see our city from many different sides, arming them with the knowledge they need for the next possible chance at change in 2018.
In his exploration of the city, avoiding the well trodden downtown streets and instead opting for communities that aren’t featured in glossy travel features, Micallef isolates some of the issues that have brought Toronto to the place it is right now. Between the straightforward and affectionate prose he uses to describe hidden, yet vital urban landmarks like diverse stripmalls (or “plazas”) and suburban parkland, the author references David Hulchanski’s Three Cities report, and other academic and governmental reports to explore the full scope of Toronto’s economic and political division. For someone who lives very nearly in the downtown core, and does most of her living in the wealthy midtown and uptown neighbourhoods that border Yonge, Frontier City made this reader long to explore Toronto’s borders, and talk to the people that make up our city, but who I’ve had little opportunity to meet.
The question of Rob Ford and how he came to be Mayor is central to Frontier City, but not centre stage. Through conversations with candidates, Micallef highlights the isolation felt by those living in the inner suburbs, both by choice and those limited by their own finances. In the outer reaches of Etobicoke and Scarborough are residents that feel like the story of Toronto’s success and emergence of leading global city is not their own. Without any real connection to the city as an idea, Ford, who hosted parties ostensibly open to all and called citizens back personally, was their “in.”
The frontier in Frontier City seems less like a border and more like a place in between. Maybe even a bridge, like those built under the watchful eye of R. C. Harris over our many ravines. For many of us who call ourselves urbanists, city builders, downtown elites, the ones most likely to read a book like Frontier City, I wonder if we’ve meaningfully confronted our own prejudices, tackled the fact that deamalgamation is not on the table. Have we thought about real and possible solutions? For those on the other side of things, do they have the interest or the energy to look inside themselves to ask similar questions? Do we meet each other on the bridge, or do we walk backwards into our two solitudes?
“We’re a small conservative place” Micallef quotes Parthi Kandavel, an eventually successful Toronto District School Board Candidate for Ward 18 as saying, and indeed we are. Frontier City closes with meditations on our current mayor, whose timid approach to leading continues to slow any possible progress to a halt. In the meantime, Micallef gifts the reader to see our city from many different sides, arming them with the knowledge they need for the next possible chance at change in 2018.
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