2013/11/26: Brampton

My soundtrack recommendation for this post: “The Suburbs” by Arcade Fire, a Canadian indie rock band.

As I mentioned before, Brampton is the ninth largest city in Canada. Today was my second visit in Brampton, and probably the last one. Brampton is just too boring to come a third time…

A text that I had to read for university today (“At the Core and on the Edge: Justice Discourses in Metropolitan Toronto” by Liette Gilbert) says that “urban growth in the metropolitan region has been dominated by the sprawling of relatively homogeneous suburban sub-divisions over prime agricultural lands”. RELATIVELY homogenous? TOTALLY homogenous!! Take Bus 23 through North Brampton (it runs every 30 minutes, but of course you don’t find any information at the bus stops when…) and you’ll see the same standardised type of house for half an hour!! Poor bus driver that has to ride this route every day... I have no idea how the people living here find their way home every evening. And I have no idea why they moved here. I can’t imagine that India and Pakistan, where obviously many of the new inhabitants of Brampton come from, are as boring as Brampton, the self-appointed “Flower City”.

Yes, Brampton has a nice, walkable, at least partly old, centre – but you have seen all buildings there within five minutes; yes, Brampton has a Bus Rapid System with – listen to this, Toronto! – digital departure signs at every station – but it is hard to get a seat, the buses are often stuck in traffic jams because they don’t have an own lane (you ask why they then call it a bus rapid system? I have no idea!) and a light rail would have been so much more comfortable; yes, Bramalea, today a district of Brampton, is “Canada’s first satellite community”, but it was only innovative when it was incorporated in 1972; yes, Brampton has a lot of parks and green spaces – but there was much more green before they built all these cloned detached houses; ok, there’s one record I can’t deny: Brampton has the highest paid mayor in Canada! The salary of mayor Susan Fennell increased by 55% within the last six years, while on the other hand the city has to reduce public transit services due to a lack of money (yes, Brampton meanwhile realised that its sprawl is not only damaging the environment and increasing social disparities, but also overburdens the city’s budget).

Reading the “Welcome to Brampton” Visitor Guide you could expect Brampton to be the most beautiful city of Canada. You shouldn’t expect too much... But the bad weather and the draggled bus windows make the pictures look even worse than the reality…