Alternative proposed approaches and reactions to development, such as buen vivir subaltern cosmopolitanism,and a counterhegemonic use of hegemonic legal tools, can be used in the urban municipal redevelopment context where dominant urban redevelopment strategies fail to equitably valuate diverse iterations of culture and subculture. This work uses the city of Toronto, Canada as its central case study, specifically its current focus on "culture" as a redevelopment strategy. It also applies critiques of dominant international development strategies to the local municipal context, and advocates the use of urban legal anthropology and transsystemic approaches in assessing the unequal treatment of different cultural and subcultural groups within municipal legal frameworks.