Editor's note.

ON A VISIT THIS SUMMER to a garden in a normally peaceful enclave here in Toronto, I watched as a truck moved into a driveway and its occupants hauled out some heavy lawn equipment. "Don't you have an agreement on your street about not using noisy machinery?" I asked my host, aware that many neighbourhoods are striving to limit such gear. She was surprised that this could even be an option. Noise is the price of urban living, she said. But should it be, I wondered.

Now that winter is approaching and the need for lawn care has diminished, I'm realizing just how obtrusive the roar of lawnmowers and leaf blowers can be. On my street, most of my neighbours are …