Toronto is a very modern and cosmopolitan city. Forgotten corners like this are rare in urban areas because real estate developers have used all available land for apartments, businesses and skyscrapers.

The photo was found in the Toronto Archives site and taken by Robert and Harold Stacey. I found this one in their 8th file.

I find this photo interesting because it reflects what the city looked like before it was transformed by builders and the government. The house in the photo were made of old bricks and stones; window were painted in red and glasses were broken for unknown reasons. In current days, buildings are made of Steel, cement and glass.

It is meaningful. When I compare the photo with areas such as out Financial District, Yorkville, and Forest Hill, I fell so shocked that The city has changed so much in just a dozen years. Just think, can everyone keep up with the speed of city’s development? And I guess that’s probably why we have such a gap between rich and poor. Rich people perceive changes; poor stopped and decided to live as what they been living like ten years ago or so.

Hi, my name is Sabrina. I was born and raised in China, I moved to Vancouver when I was young. Now, I live in Toronto. My blog is about Toronto so I’ll be writing both beautiful and improvable things based on my observations.

The distinct gap between rich people and the poverty results in social unfairness. Rich people dropping money on private jets, supercars, and luxury adventures while there are tons of homeless people lying down on the ground in Toronto where the winter is as low as -20 degrees below zero. Every time, I walk outside I see miserable scenes. Helping those homeless people is never too hard, but what’s pulling us back from the action?

I take this class because this class is an introduction to the concept of the city as a creative environment promoting not only growth and wealth but also social justice, equality, cooperation, and civility so the content can provide me an overall look of the Toronto city and writing blogs can push me to observe this urban landscapes and the relationship between human and the land. To me, buildings in Toronto are stunning, but the coldness is killing me.