Accommodating social diversity in the gentrified city: Making space for families

Place diversity is a fundamental goal of contemporary planning practice. The prescription of mixed-use developments, socio-economic mixing in housing and ethnic diversity is illustrative of this movement. A range of age groups and household compositions yield diversity and contribute to the civic health of neighborhoods by creating more complete, sustainable communities. In most North American urban centers, however, there are fewer and fewer children in the downtown, as new and expecting parents leave the central core to raise their families. In the case of Toronto, proponents of downtown family housing fear
that this trend will result in a complete absence of children. In order to make downtown family living feasible and combat negative perceptions about raising children downtown, the city must work to keep family units available, affordable and well-serviced.