Shops+at+Don+Mills

=The Shops At Don Mills= Looking at the Shops at Don Mills at Don Mills and Lawrence. [|official site] Don Mills Videos | Phase 2 of this project

media type="custom" key="4528114"


 * My Story
 * Research Statement
 * Background
 * Critical Position
 * Data Collection and Analysis
 * Opportunities
 * Resources

My Story
Just to provide a little backstory on the topic, here is a little on my personal experience of the Shops of Don Mills and the area on the whole. My aunt has lived in the area all of my life and I have lived in the area with her for the past five years. This being said, I have seen the transformation of the Don Mills Centre, a conventional indoor mall, to the Shops at Don Mills, the new outdoor, strip mall style shopping complex. I have pointed out a few points of interest other than the complex to show a couple other locations that are key to the environment. I had always found that Don Mills was a highly functional community prior to this research and my perspective has not drastically changed, however, there are many skeptics where the new shops are concerned.

My Don Mills, as an area considered here, consists of what might be called the centre of the community -the circle that is marked by the Donway East and the Donway West as well as the surrounding housing that encompasses the Don Mills Public Library, the medical building, the Shops at Don Mills, the middle and high schools. There is also a nearby park that runs behind several houses. Edwards Gardens and Wilket Green Park are also nearby. These are the features of Don Mills for me. Its proximity to the majority of things you would need on a daily basis.

When we found out that the mall was being torn down and replaced with a strip mall complex, I had to admit I was a skeptic myself. Considering the shelter an indoor mall provided in the winter months, this seemed like an incredible mistake. In my first year, however, I was introduced to issues of suburbia and the ideas of new urbanism and green building after seeing Radiant City and a series called Design E2 (squared) in FACS 1900. Later I saw the plan for the Don Mills area that centrered around the Shops at Don Mills at the public library and I got to thinking. Perhaps they were trying to apply these new concepts to the area. Maybe this was not as bad as everyone thought (this opinion was particularly popular with the dominant demographic; the seniors of the area).

Research Statement
This project looks at the change in the Don Mills community's main shopping centre analyzing its features considering principles of new urbanism. As the development is currently incomplete a complete assessment is unlikely but hopefully this will provide a basis for discussion and further thinking on new community planning.

Background
This particular piece of land where the Shops are located has been in development since the early 1950s. It has been transformed several times and started as a strip mall before becoming the indoor mall that was so valued in the community. In a way then, this current development actually goes back to the location's roots a bit. Don Mills is considered one of, if not the first planned community development in Canada, and went from farmland to an increasingly developed area. This history of constant change for social and economic reasons is continued in the recent development, what is seemingly significant about Don Mills is that it seems to be developed with the newest urban planning ideas of the time. New urbanism, that values humanity and mixed-use neighbourhoods in its developments is very much in line with what seems to be the idea behind the Shops at Don Mills. Additionally, new green standards for example, green roofs on all high density developments, are in place to strive for a cleaner environment as well as a livable one socially, a factor in new urbanism. Increasing density is also a factor in the movement to counteract sprawl created by suburban developments.

The issue with this development has been met with forceful protests of the residents, dominantly senior, because of a few reasons. It is outdoor, which is a huge issue in the winter. They do plan for a skating rink but there is not yet proof to how the community will react to this addition or the centre as a whole as this will be its first winter. A second issue is the demographic and psychographic that the shops are catering to. There is a certain lifestyle in mind here, not really one for an senior community. The shops are costly, the majority of which promote a style of a younger generation. There is a theme of specialty shops with some of the first in Canada having opened already such as Anthropologie and McEwan's, as well as valet parking. Older businesses such as a valued shoe repairman have also been ousted from the new shops as to keep up with this image. The cheapest place there other than the Metro is the Pizza Pizza and there are actually multiple spas in the works. With the Bridal Path nearby, one of the richest neighbourhoods in Canada that is filled with mansions, it does feel somewhat as though the needs of the community are not considered. The seniors in particular protest because they were promised a community centre with this new development and so far none has been delivered, nor are the any plans being focused on for the future. The shops do adhere to the requisite height of buildings as to prevent shadows from dominating the community, but the high rise developments will extend their reaches quite a bit once built. Considering the future, there is little certainty as to whether both the business and community sides in this case will be satisfied in the end.

For detailed animated version of the timeline you can visit [|the source] at the official site. To view shadow studies and future plans visit the [|official site].

Critical Position
I chose this area to research because now that the main shopping centre has opened, there are a lot of questions concerning whether it is effective or not in the community. Was it worth it? Can we tell at this point? I don't believe we can. The entire centre has yet to be opened and it has not stood of the test of its first winter. My observation so far is that there have been seemingly significant efforts to make this environment a community location through the hosting of many events within the small amount of time it has been open (since April 2009). When I was there to take pictures there was, to my surprise, a marathon for charity, a bouncy castle for the kids, live music, small vendors and antique cars and, what is actually a norm now, food vendors set up in tents on the sidewalks selling street meat and Caribbean food like jerk chicken. There was a big opening ceremony at the opening with Canadian musicians still frequently performing. Because of this seniors have actually complained about the noise and yet here are opportunities for them. Performances were not late in the evening (around 7 in the summer) and artists were fiddlers and singer/songwriters, more adult contemporary that is good for anyone. There are also planned workshops and family festivals.

I believe that despite the interesting new urbanist efforts, there is still the actual living in the space to be considered. If a community doesn't take to the change is that a failure of new urbanism? The particular planners involved? The community for being bias? An interest here is what happens when urban planning with good intentions mixes with the capitalist desires of the company? If the shops had been more family oriented like the events of the square instead of quite elitist, catering to the highly paid over the majority of the population, would it have worked? I feel that examining the effects of this development over time, particularly once the high density housing plan is realized, would be highly educational in terms of the effects of transition within an already established community and how planner might maximize satisfaction. A new community might develop, mix into the current one or even divide the area. Eventually there would be have to be a social transition as the seniors of the area won't be there forever. Perhaps the baby boomer issue is what drove this change and might be a good thing. What will the future of Don Mills for the next generation?

Data Collection and Analysis
media type="custom" key="4581394"

Having already visited the area several times, I knew that it would be difficult to fit into only 42 inches. My method examined involved examining the longest continuous pathway I could create while including the major sites: the square, the McEwan's specialty grocery store and the McNally-Robinson book store. McEwan's represented the affordability issue I wanted to have present as it is one of kind. I tried to get as few people or cars as possible when photographing areas that weren't so much for congregation like the square. The space is also usually very empty, which is why I was surprised when I discovered so much activity in the square because of the marathon. You can't even tell from the outer street bordering the square that there is anything going on. Because of this, I decided not to make the panaroma completely devoid of humanity. Reading the events board and looking at the schedule online helped me get a better idea of how the company was trying to shape the space.

After looking at the 300 or so photos, I had to narrow it down and because of this experience I was kept the main locations I originally wanted there and I feel there is a sense of emptiness and activity depending on where you are along the length of the piece.

Opportunities
This topic might lead to opportunities such as: -looking at how one might improve experiences of community intended spaces -how one might change an already constructed space to suit needs of the community -how one might create a better method of communication and potential for compromise between those building in the community and the community's residents -a new method for comparison of urban developments -way of identifying/getting information about an area -way of thinking about public event opportunities, assessing areas for opportunities

View a small version of the final piece.

Look at Phase 2 of this project

Resources
Don Mills Shops and Area links

[|BlogTO] : entry on the centre [|Don Mills Friends]: site devoted to the well-being of the community. Big critics of the new shops. | [|1] | [|2] | [|3] | [|Don Mills Wikipedia] : short, quick way of getting to know a little history of the area (as well as a opinion of how others view the community) [|Eye Weekly article] : criticism of the new shops [|Spacing Blog article] : from spacing magazine's blog, a skeptical look labeling it as a 'grey space' [|Sound Monitoring] : The sound levels at the shops are monitored and posted online to prove that...they are quiet enough? [|TDSB] : history on the area posted on the TDSB site [|Toronto Star] : article on a shop owner cut out of the new complex Links on Urban planning issues (Adaptive reuse, New Urbanism)

[|New Urbanism] : rundown of the basic elements of new urbanism with examples [|Masonic Traveler] : blog with examples of adaptive reuse [|Real Estate Weekly] : business perspective of adaptive reuse [|Web Urbanist] : examples of adaptive reuse

A video resource included the film [|Radiant City] on suburban planning and what could be improved. Interesting issues are brought up from several professionals. Other videos included in the Public Space Videos section on new urbanism and Richard Florida's ideas. His book [|Rise of the Creative Class] was also a source of inspiration. [|Spacing Magazine] was also a resource.