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The Myth of Suburban Monochrome

July 23, 2014

A lot of Canadians live in suburbs. Conservative estimates suggest that somewhere around 21 million Canadians live in areas characterized by detached homes on large lots serviced primarily by automobiles. This arrangement is our dominant built form and is a powerful force shaping our lives. The pop culture stories we tell ourselves about suburban life are, of course, imported from the US and include themes of housewife desperation, teenage purgatory, complicity in global warming and careless consumption. Certain critiques imply that the only redemption possible for suburbanites living in such banality is to migrate to a rural area and raise free range chickens—or move downtown, put on hipster shoes and buy a transit pass. But with only a small minority of Canadians currently living in rural or urban core areas it is hard to imagine what such a mass migration would look like. Most of us don't live in high density areas and are not likely to do so anytime soon. Read the rest of this article on The Municipal Information Network website.