this post was submitted on 27 Jul 2025
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White flight can’t explain why suburbs suck today compared to the ones from 70 years ago (when racism and white flight was arguably much more common). Car-centric planning was driven by auto makers and overzealous urban planners obsessed with the idea of highly specialized single-purpose zoning (think SimCity / Factorio nerd) rather than livable, walkable communities. The most desirable and expensive places to live in Toronto are illegal to build because of these boneheaded zoning laws.
No, a ton LESS asphalt and cement because it’s got narrow, 1-way streets (think less than half the width of a standard suburb 2-way street), no driveways and narrow sidewalks. It also has mixed housing (some single family, some duplex, some multiplex) and sometimes even has houses placed behind the ones near the street, with a shared walkway allowing access to the back.
The problem of suburbia is that it’s very low density, isolated from the rest of the city (so you have to drive just to get groceries), far from public transit, and unsafe for children to walk to school. Streetcar suburbs have none of these issues. They’re: