CBC Digital Archives

The suburbs: Opinions from the mall

From the construction of the first bungalow in Don Mills, Ont. in 1953, the debate went one way or the other. Perfectly planned communities were idyllic for some and unliveable for others. Since then, skeptics have weighed in on suburbia's cookie-cutter qualities — strip malls, two-car garages and endless doughnut shops. Nevertheless, Canadian suburbs continue to grow faster than cities, and now even musicians have claimed them a hub of artistic creativity.

Mall rats. Block parents. Drugs. These are words used in 1979 to describe suburban life in interviews conducted at Scarborough Town Centre. Once synonymous with white picket fences, the suburbs now evoke images of bored teenagers hanging at the mall. In this CBC Television clip, a reporter asks: What happened to the good, quiet neighbourhoods? One teenager replies: "We've got nothing to do, so we just go around destroying other people's property."
. In 1986, the Toronto Star used the term "mall rats" to refer to kids who spent too much time at the mall without buying anything.
. Malls frequented by mall rats included Scarborough Town Centre, the Toronto Eaton Centre, and Yorkdale and Dufferin Malls.
. In an attempt to control the problem, management at Scarborough Town Centre began giving out tickets.

. Special security monitors dubbed "mall men" would troll the shopping centre, and sometimes "sit and watch," to discern who was loitering and who was truly buying.
. In effect, tickets represented a ban from the mall for an unidentified period. If ticketed, re-entry meant a trespassing charge, or a $53 out-of-court fine.

. The Star article reported that kids who frequented the Eaton Centre would often travel from suburbs, which also had malls, for variety. In 1984, the Eaton Centre mall men kicked out 32,356 people.
. Mall management company Cadillac Fairview Limited co-owned and managed 42 malls across North America, including Don Mills Centre and the Eaton Centre.

. In 2001, the Globe and Mail reported that poverty had increased in the suburbs. The article, which referenced a United Way study, correlated the change to an increase in city ghettos. Since 1981, the number of ghettos in the Greater Toronto Area had grown from 30 to 120. With a decrease in affordable housing, the report said low-income families more often sought cheaper housing in the suburbs.

. Since the 1990s, CBC News has reported on increases in suburban crime (Crime in the Suburbs: March 14, 1990; Gang Wars: June 20, 1990; Suburban property crime increases: Nov. 4, 1994).
Medium: Television
Program: Time for You
Broadcast Date: May 4, 1979
Host: Barbara McLeod
Duration: 2:44

Last updated: February 19, 2013

Page consulted on April 18, 2013

All Clips from this Topic

Related Content

So Long City, Hello Suburbs!

From the construction of the first bungalow in Don Mills, Ont. in 1953, the debate went one wa...

Don Mills turns 50

Half a century later, housing prices aren't as affordable.

The 'Jetson house' of suburbia

Residents say modern home doesn't fit with original Don Mills architecture.

The new (sub)urbanism

Suburbia goes architecturally high tech.

William Levitt has died at 86

Architect of the first modern suburb created Levittown in 1947.

Barenaked Ladies on art in the suburbs

Creativity does exist in the suburbs, say the Barenaked Ladies.