DTK Condo Boom

Yet another story out in the K-W Record about Kitchener's condo boom: https://www.therecord.com/news-story/9207779-kitchener-s-billion-dollar-building-boom/

In the article, Kitchener mayor Berry Vrbanovic welcomes the condo activity, but recognizes that many residents aren't happy. However, he suggests that residents ought not to despair since the city is investing plenty of funds in community centres and neighbourhood associations to "keep people connected" (Thompson, 2019). What is particularly interesting is that although the condo boom can be attributed to investment in LRT, the Central Library, and Communitech, the article cites that a lot of the urgency was attributed to developers meeting a zoning/exemption deadline which collectively saved developers nearly $48-million in fees (Thompson, 2019).

Fundamentally, then, what I find concerning is how Kitchener's urban regeneration seems to be resembling urban/economic development very much in the same way Peck (2011) describes. Where the continual corporatization of city governance, inter-urban competition, and market led development discourses crowd out the concerns of citizenry. Additionally, social justice issues are largely absent in urban regeneration/economic policy discussions. Interestingly, Florida himself has tapped the brakes on his urban creativity strategies suggesting that cities ought to realize the negative repercussions that might follow unbridled urban development.

The question becomes whether or not the activity of the tech sector, urban regeneration, increased investment in the region, et cetera, translate into greater prosperity for the service/manufacturing class and underrepresented/marginalized groups as well? It seems to me that Kitchener (and the greater Waterloo Region) has some significant issues on hand that will need to be resolved— gender disparity? Homelessness? Opioid epidemic?



Comments

  1. nila sureshkumarApril 11, 2019 at 3:53 PM

    When analyzing the effects of the condo boom in Kitchener, it is also important to consider the gentrification that often takes place when looking at past similar situations. For instance, the gradual change of Liberty Village in Toronto left the area that was once filled with artists and affordable rent, to now be one of Toronto's more "cleaner", "safer", and expensive neighbourhoods. As more and more condos pop up, it gradually leads to rent spikes that push old residents out and welcome newer residents that better identify with the ideals that gentrification tends to promote. Despite the discontent from the surrounding residents, cities tend to move towards gentrifying specific neighbourhoods to make the area much more attractive for capital investment, and end up ignoring all other underlying issues.

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