The assertion of middle-class claims to public space in late Victorian Toronto

This paper focuses on a concerted interest in redefining the social values which attached to significant public space in late nineteenth-century Toronto. The principal instigators were the increasingly self-confident middle class. This group challenged the competing contenders for control of the central streets and other public space by organizing significant events and by harnessing public opinion to support its values. It achieved a measure of success in imposing its values and encouraging what it considered a suitable decorum on the streets through organizational skill, political influence, and an intimate knowledge of the city. Toronto's middle class exerted its influence in the dynamic process of establishing the values which the city's public space would bear. (C) 2003 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.