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Suburbs that don't Suck - Streetcar Suburbs (Riverdale, Toronto)

Not Just Bikes · 2.2M views · 2021-05-17 · 16:51

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Overview

Not Just Bikes explains that car-dependent suburbs are not the only option, using Toronto's Riverdale as an example of a pre-war streetcar suburb. These walkable neighborhoods are popular but are now effectively illegal to build.

On Hacker News

HN cites it in zoning, density and housing threads as an illustration of the missing middle between city center and car-dependent sprawl.

Recommended by 3 HN people across 2 months · HN mentions 2021–2026

Topics

Transit, cities & urban planning
Search by tags
urban planningstreetcar suburbszoningwalkabilitymissing middletoronto

What people said

goda90 · 2021-12 · Recommendation

Not Just Bikes has a recent video[0] talking about the lack of middle ground for suburbs in North America. I think a big problem is that laws as they are prevent variety. Either everything must be single family homes with huge setbacks and wide roads, or it is doomed to be bought up by large apartment developers. Is it a threat to your ability to have a yard and two car garage if the house next door is a duplex and the end of the block has a corner store with a couple apartments above it? No, but the laws make it so that only your yard and two car garage can exist in your neighborhood regardless. [0] [VIDEO]

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adameasterling · 2021-12 · Recommendation

> Relative to single family homes, apartments are viewed as decreasing property values, increasing crime rates, lowering school quality, increasing traffic, and decreasing desirability. The problem is most cities only allow two kinds of development: Low density or high density. We're missing the middle! [LINK] I've really enjoyed these two YouTube channels on the subject. "Oh the Urbanity" has a great video on Montreal's "missing middle" [LINK] And "Not Just Bikes" discusses a "missing middle" neighborhood in Toronto: [VIDEO]

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benrbray · 2021-08 · Recommendation

There is something in between NYC and an American-style suburb. I encourage you to take a look at Not Just Bikes [1,2]: [1] [VIDEO] [2] [LINK]

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Sources

Video by Not Just Bikes, played through YouTube.

Data and selection notes

HN summaries and labels may contain AI errors. HN dates refer to discussions, not video publication.

HN Library: HackerTube export (2026-10-31) and open-index/hacker-news. Upstream summaries and classifications may contain AI errors.

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