I am Beverly Yuen Thompson, a sociology professor interested in cities and city development. My partner Morgan Craig is a PhD candidate and visual artist focused on the built environment in a post-industrial society. In this video, we provide a close reading of the book, “The Heart of Toronto: Corporate Power, Civil Activism, and Remaking of Downtown Yonge Street,” by Daniel Ross. This book discusses the history of this once colonial road, how it reflects the history of development of consumer society from main street to the suburbs, and back, and the players who construct the life of the city, from the general public to property developers, to corporate conglomerates. We went to Toronto on a road trip to experience the city and we weave in our perspective on what we saw, as well as use our videos to illustrate the book.

Video link

Book Link: https://press.uchicago.edu/ucp/books/book/distributed/H/bo156866970.html

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