“While [City F] is among the safest large urban centers in North America, growing unemployment, a rising crime rate and ethnic animosity have made its citizens wonder about the downside of success. Crime . . . has deflated the city’s spirits. Sexual assaults are up 19% . . . Murders are up almost 50%.”

City F​—Toronto, Canada—​was described in 1991 by Time magazine in an article somewhat less flattering than the one it published three years earlier. The first report, entitled “Finally, a City That Works,” praised the city that “impresses almost everyone.” It quoted a visitor as having said: “This place could almost make me believe in cities again.” Sorry to say, the “city that works” is apparently now falling victim to the same problems that afflict other degenerating cities.

Not everyone thinks the struggle for survival has been lost. A former Toronto mayor, for example, expressed optimism, saying: “I don’t think the city is breaking down. It is challenged, but I think we can solve this problem.”