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T O W E R R E N E W A L & R E G E N T P A R K
INTRODUCTION
Toronto is a city of towers. It contains the second largest concentration of highrise
buildings in North America with majority of these towers built during the
post-war boom of 1960's and 70's. It was initially built for middle-income families
who owns an automobile. However, this has not been the demographic of tower
neighbourhoods in the past decades. There are 1,189 high-rise buildings
throughout Toronto. These buildings serve as home to thousands of residents,
particularly new immigrants and low-income families.
These buildings are now aging and are inefficient for the environment because it
was built without the consideration for energy conservation. The open spaces
around these buildings were also not configured in a way that residents will get
the best use possible. This has resulted to residents being physically isolated
from community services, transit, and recreational space.
Therefore, the City of Toronto put forward the Tower Renewal Program as a
permanent initiative to address the living situation of thousands of Torontonians
living in tower neighbourhoods. The key objectives of the program are improving
the environmental, social, cultural, and economic status with the upgrade of
tower neighbourhoods and introduction of mixed-use space for the creation of
complete communities.
Regent Park is a neighbourhood located in downtown Toronto that has faced
tremendous changes with its revitalization that begun in 2005. The rebuild of
this formerly low-income concentrated neighbourhood will serve as an example
that illustrates the objectives laid out in the Tower Renewal Program. The
exploration of Regent Park will illustrate why it is important to improve tower
neighbourhoods, and how these changes can significantly increase the liveability
of a neighbourhood and the quality of life of it's residents.
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