Amenity Spaces As Sites for New Community Building and Civic Engagement?

With the proliferation of high-rise condo towers throughout Toronto, we see a new phenomenon: while the provision of amenity spaces is mandatory, due to specific planning regulations for multi-unit buildings (Perrott, et al., forthcoming), these spaces have the potential to become places for community building and civic engagement. Amenity spaces, which take the form of gyms, BBQ places, roof terrasses, children’s play areas, rock climbing walls etc., are sites of contact with neighbors within the same buildings, fostering not only a sense of belonging but also allow the possibility to organize. In this context they might become enablers of what John Friedmann had called the “Good Society” (Friedmann, 1979; Lehrer, 2016). However, these spaces come with a lot of contradictions.

In this paper, we will look at these amenity spaces, and will raise questions about marketization and financialization. While amenity spaces usually are part of the condominium, these spaces are managed and maintained through an extra layer of private administration. We will use a case study approach where we will conduct interviews with residents in 30 buildings throughout Toronto. Of particular interest is here the role that amenity spaces play, from the inhabitants’ perspective, in community buildings and political action. We also will interview concierge and management of selected buildings to better understand the logistics around these spaces. We want to address how much these private spaces are taking on the role of public spaces, and if by making them mandatory in the first place, the City of Toronto might undermine the political willingness of the inhabitants to pay for public amenities throughout the city. It is assumed that the outcome of the study will contribute to a worldwide phenomenon, where we see entire neighborhoods internalizing amenity space, which might lead to less civic engagement in the wider realm.