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September 21 and 22
2 days, 2 disciplines, 2 ways to participate – defining our professional roles and uniting to build more equitable, accessible and inspired communities.
#2GETHER2022
Urban planning has an important role to play in setting the stage for more equitable communities; yet current approaches to planning often fall short of this this ideal. This intreractive session explores how, by taking a more holistic approach to a planning study, the City of Toronto is centring economic, resilience, and health outcomes for the people currently living in a community as well as those who may locate there as a result of future development. The Mount Dennis neighbourhood in Toronto’s west end is lower income than the city as a whole, has a higher proportion of immigrants and racialized people, has a greater prevalence of chronic diseases, and has been hit hard by COVID-19. It currently provides some of the most affordable housing stock in the city. When the Eglinton Crosstown LRT opens, Mount Dennis Station will be the western terminus of the current extent of the line and is set to become a major transit hub with two-way all-day service on the Kitchener GO line and a stop on the UP Express. In anticipation of the development interest to come, the City of Toronto is undertaking the Mount Dennis Planning Framework Study. The study applies the overarching lenses of public health, equity and social development, and sustainability and resilience and carries forward the vision of the recently completed Mount Dennis Economic Development Study and the many initiatives being undertaken by the vibrant community in the area. It seeks to use every tool available to harness new development to meet community needs and address community concerns about displacement, gentrification, and lack of economic opportunity. In this interactive training session, a multidisciplinary panel discusses approaches to advance place-based economic development and community-centred resilience through planning studies using the example of Mount Dennis.