Toronto Reference Library Blog

What is Planning?

In our February blog post on planning magazines, we introduced our readers to the complex, multi-disciplinary subject area of “planning”. To build on this, we will review what planning is and look specifically at “planning postwar Toronto”.

'Urban planning' replaced the term 'city planning' as the discipline grew. Broadly speaking, planning is concerned with all aspects of land use, the environment, design of urban space, public works and infrastructure.

How did contemporary urban planning evolve?

The disciplines of science, architecture and civil engineering preceded urban studies as we now know it. Modern urban planning emerged as a profession in the early 20th century, largely as a response to the appalling sanitary, social and economic conditions of rapidly-growing industrial cities. Along with public health specialists, economists, sociologists, lawyers and geographers, contemporary urban and regional planning techniques and policies emerged.

What does planning cover?

Planning covers municipal governance, finance, transit and transportation, housing and social welfare. Public works includes civil engineering water supply, water treatment and sewage, garbage and recycling, and more. Architecture and urban design, urban renewal and community development are components of the urban planning field as well.

Today, early 21st century planning can be described as a technical and political process concerned with the welfare of people, control of the use of land, design of the urban environment including transportation and communication networks, and protection and enhancement of the natural environment.

What we have

Planning in the contemporary sense is well-documented at the Toronto Reference Library. Our Toronto Collection tracks the changes in Toronto through hundreds of planning and policy documents, official plans, social policy reports, transportation and transit developments, legislation and more. We also have access to newspaper articles, historical and current maps, photos and clipping files.

We have Toronto architecture books and books on Toronto architects; books on Toronto’s early history and coverage of certain decades; local histories of many communities and neighbourhoods. We have books on the ethnic groups that contributed to Toronto’s growth at the turn of the 20th century as well as the 21st.

And we don't just cover Toronto. Our urban planning collection spans decades of urban growth and development worldwide. We have books on individual cities, areas and regions of the world. Spin a globe and pick a place and it is quite probable that you will find something on that place, whether it be a book or an article, a map or a picture.

What was missing

What we lacked in our Toronto Collection was a look at this city's development over a continuous period of time. When asked for a nice “overview” of Toronto’s planning history, we had to pull out bits and pieces, pieces and bits –- until Richard White produced Planning Toronto: The Planners, The Plans, Their Legacies, 1940-80.

Richard White will be at the Toronto Reference Library to fill us in on The Planners, The Plans, Their Legacies, 1940-80. Learn what plans were proposed, their impact and the contributions to making Toronto what it is. The question is not whether the plans were good or bad, but whether they made a difference.

Planning Postwar Toronto

Hinton Learning Theatre, 3rd floor

Toronto Reference Library

Thursday, April 14, 2016

1-3pm

Books will be available for sale.