These topics include improvements to immigrant and refugee resettlement (including the effects of market-based housing segregation p.43, allowing non-citizens the right to vote p.45, as well as access to education p.103), engaging and building relationships with Indigenous groups (p. Although it does not offer too many solutions, it really sheds lights on issues in need of being addressed and improved upon. This hyper-diversity creates challenges for city-builders/politicians/placemakers to properly identify and address the disparities that may exist across all of these intersecting identities.Īs someone who has lived and worked in three different (and very ethnic) areas of the GTA (Brampton, Scarborough, and Markham), I found these essays to be poignant, eye-opening, informative, and a very accurate depiction of issues that still need to be addressed in the GTA.Įach essay in this book focuses on a social issue that stems from hyper-diversity. But the GTA isn't just diverse, it's hyper-diverse, with 'an intense diversification of the population in socio-economic, social and ethnic terms, but also with respect to lifestyles, attitudes and activities' (p.8).

The GTA has been lauded as being the most diverse area in Canada (and maybe even in North America) and it is something that Canadians and Torontonians are extremely proud of. Subdivided is a collection of essays with a focus on hyper-diversity in the Greater Toronto Area. I ended up going over this letter and discussing many of the topics and issues raised in this book with my mentor, as we tried to work out issues and potential improvements that we can implement in our practice and in the communities that we live and work in. I first came across Jay Pitter earlier this year when she published A Call to Courage: An Open Letter to Canadian Urbanist which had me reflecting on racial equity in my workplace and in the work that I do.

Subdivided by Jay Pitter