What is a Neighbourhood?

I have just experienced a rather interesting phenomenon; I started this article with one very definite perspective but, in the process of writing and pondering, I have changed my position. I have come a virtual 180 degrees. This doesn’t happen to me often but it has happened before. I value these instances. Somehow it tells me that I am still “thinking”, that my opinions have not become completely fixed and that I am still capable of change.

I have lived in the same neighbourhood, indeed the same house, for over 45 years. The house is much changed after two major renovations and a score of landscaping and outdoor work. However, even with all the changes and numerous updates, it still complements the other homes in the area. It belongs.

Although the neighbourhood has a variety of house styles, they co-exist quite comfortably in a sort of easy, natural ‘70’s survey conformity’ that gives an identity of sorts. Many of the owners have been here for a quarter century or more and several have passed their homes to the next generation in their family. It is a working, middle class place. People come and they tend to stay.

Last year, relatively new additions to the neighbourhood decided that they would build their “forever home” on the site of their existing backsplit. From many perspectives – aesthetic, financial, social – the project made no sense. The couple tried to co-opt their closest neighbours into supporting the requested permit variances by circulating deliberate misinformation about the project. Perhaps, the most striking instance was their characterization of the planned changes as a “renovation”. In fact, it was actually a “new build” and the “minor variances” were adjustments to an entirely new structure. In their communications, they were lacking in care and in appropriate consideration and respect for their neighbours. And this was an observed pattern of behaviour. Indeed, the City and the Police had been contacted numerous times to address noise, construction and property damage issues that this family had caused.

The community opposed the rebuild and brought their position to the City’s Committee of Adjustment. Many residents delegated and the common message was very clear – the proposed house did not “fit” and would cause issues. Many of the arguments were aesthetic and referenced the existing “character” of the community – a position that has absolutely no force or standing before the City. Accordingly, the latter unanimously approved the proposed new structure.

In retrospect, I have come to believe that when we objected to the design and the perceived ‘appropriateness’ of the house, we were focused on the wrong issue. And I, at least, should have known better. I grew up in a part of the City that had very little uniformity in its housing.  As I previously noted;

“There was … a sense of proportion and balance – everything seemed to fit; The large Tudor and Estate homes on Rossmore, the small cottages with interesting breezeways, the large ranch styles, the comfortable two storey bricks of Balmoral, the imposing … home at the end of Hart, the … compound on Lakeshore, or the … Estate occupying most of the Hart, Lakeshore, Guelph Line, First Street square. It all seemed to belong together with a comfortable and easy grace.”

But there was a strong sense of community there that had nothing to do with the homes.  It was the people, their shared values and the way in which they generally respected and supported each other. That was what was missing with the new family and their “forever abode”; not how well the house ‘fit’ but how well they did – or did not.

I think that most of us who share this neighbourhood have learned that the inevitable conflicts that arise between neighbours are best solved through honest communication and willing compromise. Generally, there is a recognition that when issues remain unresolved, it is a failure; a failure of understanding, of association and of deemed respect. And it is a failure on the part of everyone involved. This common recognition, amongst others, defines and reinforces the sense of community.  In its absence, there can be no "neighbourhood" regardless of “built form” and the degree of housing commonality and physical conformity.

What really surprises me, given my rather eccentric nature and my regard for things that stand apart, is how long it took me to change my original position. But such, perhaps, is the most serious effect of behaviours that openly disregard the concerns of others and focus, without apology, on selfish wants and desires. It tends to lower everyone involved to a baser standard of conduct and cloud true values and beliefs. 

For what it's worth ...