Canada’s Urban Past: Bibliography to 1980 and Guide to Canadian Urban Studies by Alan F.J. Artibise, and Gilbert A. Stelter (review)

REVIEWS 281 and to the pervasive utilitarianreform influences of the nineteenthcentury. WhatheisabletoshowisthattheSiftongovernment failedtounderstand that theBritishactwasitselftheoutcome of protracted debateandcompromise; thatitonlycovered urbanfringeareas andhadtobereadinconjunction witha preceding actdealingwithinnercities; thatAlbertancities by•9•3hadalready incorporated (andthereforeremoved fromanypossible planningunderthe act)enoughlandto lastthemuntil the •96os- andthatin consequence the province saddled itselfwithlegislation thatwas'totallyineffective.' Worse, they havethusinstitutionalized thecoreideas of anoutmoded utilitarian ideology, allowingthe long shadowof JeremyBenthamto fall across sixtyyearsof planning procedures andfreezethewell-intentioned reformapproach of •9•3 intoastiffconservative mould.Caveat emptor does scant justice asanepigram to averyinteresting essay. PHiLiP WIGLE¾ University ofEdinburgh Canadak Urban Past: Bibliography to1980 andGuide toCanadian Urban Studies. ALAN F.J. ARTIBISE andGILBERT A.STELTER. Vancouver, Universityof BritishColumbiaPress , x98•.Pp.xl, 396.$42.00. No twopeopleare moreresponsible for promotingurbanhistoryin Canada thanthetwocompilers. ArtibisehastakentheleadwiththeUrban History Review andin organizinga series of booksonCanadiancities.Stelterisnowthechief organizer forasecond Guelphconference inurbanhistory. Togethertheyhave editedtwovolumes onCanadiancities. Their energyisonceagainfocused ina volumeofgreatpractical valuetoscholars in allhistorically orientedfields. The volumeischieflycomposed of entriesof published workandtheses, organizedbytopics,regions,andurbanplaces. Over seventhousand entries arelisted: fromonefor Edson andothersmallplaces to6•4 forTorontoand 747forMontreal. Threeindices - author, place, andsubject-provide another usefulservice. Then, too,'AGuidetoCanadian UrbanStudies' of fiftypages points outjournals,newsletters (Canadian, us,uI•),archives - PAC, provincial andmunicipal - audio-visual, andotherresources. Their twenty-page introductionattemptsto definethefield of urbanhistoryand to categorize the literature.They distinguish among'urbanasentity'(thecityasdependent variable), 'urbanasprocess' (urbanenvironment asindependent variable), and 'urbanassetting' (forsocial, economic, andpolitical activity). I wouldbrieflyputtwocriticisms. First,theyinclude recent workof'descriptionor analysis of change,' but'conscious policy-oriented' literature'onlyif it was writtenseveral decades ago,' such asplanning inthe•9•,os (xv).Thisimprecisedistinction on timingcreates problems. A specific datewouldhavebeen better.Indeed, the imprecision here leadsto inconsistencies. For example, Bureau of MunicipalResearch(Toronto)material from •9•4 onwardsis 282 THE CANADIAN HISTORICAL REVIEW missing exceptforthetwoitemsissued in •968.Asaresult,theimportantstudy ofThe Ward(•9•8) isleftout.Also,theseveral planningstudies ofTorontothedowntown , waterfront, andtransportation in •9o9,•9•2, •9•5,and•929are not listed.(Perhaps thereviewerand otherTorontohelpershaveto take some responsibility forthefailuretolistthese crucial reports.) Second, theirneatdistinctions of urbanasentity(dependent), asprocess (independent), andasa setting arehardtosustain. Certainly cities areplaces, andwards,for example, are places. Urbansystems withcities aspointsare regions. Yet,under'urbanasprocess,' in particular,the studies theyuseto support theircontention donoteasily fittheformula,citytosocial life,because theyarenotenvironmentally deterministic. The thirdcategory caninclude almost anything social. Thisraises thefundamental problem ofdefining whatis uniquely urban;manyofthestudies discussed undertheothertwocategories couldbeconsidered underthethird.Asageographer, I canshare theirinterest inspace, access, places, andregions, yet'urban'hardlyexhausts whatwedo.We workwithinaninescapable dualism: social, economic, andpolitical concerns areasrealasurbanplaces themselves. Butthemaintask,thatof presenting aworkable reference, issuperbly carried out. We are indebted to Professors Artibise and Stelter and their assistants. JAMES LEMON University ofToronto Town andCity: Aspects ofWestern Canadian Urban Development. EditedbyAI•AN F.J. ART•B•SV.. Canadian Plains Studies no •o. Canadian Plains Research Center, •98•. Pp.xx, 455. The appearance offifteennewpapers in anysmall'field ofhistory isanimportant event.When the papersexamineaspects of a singlesubject within one region,theimpactshould beevengreater. Town andCity, bythese standards, isa usefulbutnotan exceptional volume.It tellsusa gooddealmorethanwas known before about the cities and towns of Western Canada, but it does not significantly alterourunderstanding ofthatsociety. The strength ofthevolume liesinitsscope. Twointroductory essays discuss theprairieandBritish Columbia urban'systems; respectively, andthusestablishthesites andfunctions oftheWest's majorurbancentres withinabroader economic framework. Fivemoreessays examine thedevelopment oftownsites bymeans ofacarefulexamination ofindividual cases, including theHudson's Bay Company townsites,the Canadian Pacific-federalgovernmentcooperative ventures, twoexamples ofvillage networks inManitoba andAlberta, and one single-enterprise community. Another six paperstake different approaches to the themeof city-building in Saskatoon, Edmonton,Calgary, andVictoriaandtwomoredealwithvarioussubjects in social history- child welfarein Calgaryand the unemployedin Vancouver. Finally,the volume ...