Disappearing Middle Class, CBC The Current, national radio panel discussion

CBC radio’s The Current hosted a panel discussion on the findings of the Three Cities research. “For the purposes of the study, David Hulchanski has defined the middle class in economic terms. But for a lot of people, the idea of middle class extends much more broadly than that. For their thoughts on what it means to be middle class and what role the idea of middle class plays in our society, we were joined by three people. Frank Cunningham is a professor emeritus of philosophy and political science at the University of Toronto’s Cities Centre; Linda Gerber is a Sociology professor at the University of Guelph. And John Ralston Saul is … well, John Ralston Everything. Philosopher, essayist, activist and novelist. He is also the president of International PEN, co-chair of the Institute for Canadian Citizenship, and author whose latest book is a biography of Louis-Hippolyte LaFontaine and Robert Baldwin.

http://www.cbc.ca/video/news/audioplayer.html?clipid=1700710950

TVO Interview on Toronto’s Three Cities

Watch the TVO interview with David Hulchanski discussing his research team’s extensive research on Toronto’s Three Cities.

Three Cities, video 3, Possible Solutions

A five minute review of how to begin to reverse the long term trends creating an increasingly divided city.

Three Cities, video 2, The Forces Dividing the City

A five minute explanation of the forces dividing the city, resulting in significant socio-spatial polarization in Toronto.

Three Cities, video 1, The Trends

A five minute explanation of the trends in socio-economic polarization in Toronto.

The Three Cities Within Toronto: Income Polarization Among Toronto’s Neighbourhoods, 1970-2005

Research Report, Cites Centre, December 2010, 32 pages.

The City of Toronto is becoming increasingly divided by income and socio-economic status. No longer a city of neighbourhoods, modern-day Toronto is a city of disparities. In fact, Toronto is now so polarized it could be described as three geographically distinct cities. This study analyzed income and other data from the 1971 to the 2006 censuses, and grouped the city’s neighbourhoods based on whether average income in each one had increased, decreased, or stayed the same over that 35-year period. It found that the city’s neighbourhoods have become polarized by income and ethno-cultural characteristics and that wealth and poverty are increasingly concentrated.