Shauna Brail

Recipe for resilience: U of T cities experts talk housing, transportation, growing disparity in GTA

Romi Levine — Thu, 04 May 2017 16:16:51 +0000

Recipe for resilience: U of T cities experts talk housing, transportation, growing disparity in GTA

Romi Levine Thu, 05/04/2017 - 12:16

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U of T cities experts say initiatives like the Regent Park redevelopment are a step toward building a more resilient Toronto (photo by City of Toronto via Flickr)

Romi Levine

Author legacy

Romi Levine

Topic

City & Culture

Cities

Housing

Transportation

Students

Factor-Inwentash Faculty of Social Work

Faculty of Arts & Science

Toronto

Toronto's rising housing prices are just one symptom of the city's struggles with rapid growth.

On Tuesday, a group of U of T cities experts explored Toronto's challenges and proposed solutions for making the city more resilient at The Inclusive and Sustainable City of the 21st Century, an RBC-sponsored conference organized by the Factor-Inwentash Faculty of Social Work and the Faculty of Arts & Science.

Toronto’s growing inequality is undeniable, said Professor David Hulchanski, principal investigator of the Neighbourhood Change Research Partnership, which has documented the shrinking of middle-income neighbourhoods, greater disparity between high-income and low-income residents and released research showing that low-income families can no longer afford to live in the city.

“We've always had a gap between rich and poor, and we always will have it – only it is much larger today,” Hulchanski said.

If Toronto continues on this trajectory, it could become a city like Chicago which has almost no middle-income neighbourhoods, Hulchanski warned.

“We're not Chicago, but we're going in that direction.”

Speakers also included Daniyal Zuberi, RBC chair and associate professor of social policy, Shauna Brail, U of T’s presidential advisor on urban engagement and director of the urban studies program, and Mark Kingwell, author and professor of philosophy.

From left, conference speakers included Associate Professor Shauna Brail, Professor David Hulchanski and Associate Professor Daniyal Zuberi (photo by Romi Levine)

Zuberi has been studying how inequality plays out in different cities.

“For many people who don't have resources, they're increasingly left behind, socially isolated, simply pushed out into either the least desirable parts of these cities or into the suburbs, or they are forced to move to other cities,” he said.

But it’s not all bad news, said Zuberi.

“We do see a growing recognition that mixed-income zoning and development is probably better than single-family homes on farmers' fields two hours from downtown, and there's a growing push for these kinds of more inclusive communities to be built,” he said

He commended the federal, provincial and municipal governments for supporting more affordable housing initiatives like in Regent Park and the proposed Rail Deck Park, which are opportunities to improve the lives of Torontonians living in highly dense neighbourhoods downtown.

But change can also take place in small ways in underserved neighbourhoods, said Zuberi.

“Doubling the number of buses that come to a neighbourhood can dramatically improve life in these communities but doesn't cost that much.”

Kingwell emphasized the need for acceptance as cities and the people within them change (photo by Romi Levine)

For Brail, it’s the research conducted by academics like Hulchanski and Zuberi, and the university’s community partnerships that drive change in the city.

“We really need to think, not just about the university as a physical city builder…but also as an institution that creates a social infrastructure, that helps contribute to communities whether it's by working with particular groups, whether it's by identifying ways of developing infrastructure that actually supports groups outside, or whether it's about thinking how to connect and bring other groups into the university,” she said.

This can also be done through service learning placements for students, joint programs in neighbourhoods like Regent Park and collaboration between the Toronto universities through initiatives like the StudentMoveTO survey of student transportation woes and a recent call for proposals addressing Toronto's affordable housing challenge, said Brail.

While Kingwell spoke of the need to embrace people’s differences as the key to becoming an inclusive city, his final message was much more simple: “Don’t be a jerk.”

Frontier City: U of T’s Shawn Micallef takes on populism and potential in Toronto

Romi Levine — Thu, 09 Mar 2017 17:00:32 +0000

Frontier City: U of T’s Shawn Micallef takes on populism and potential in Toronto

Romi Levine Thu, 03/09/2017 - 12:00

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Shawn Micallef's new book ‘Frontier City: Toronto on the Verge of Greatness’ explores what's behind the rise of populism in Toronto (photo by Romi Levine)

Romi Levine

Author legacy

Romi Levine

Topic

Before Donald Trump was elected president of the United States, before the United Kingdom voted in favour of Brexit, there was Rob Ford.

The late former mayor of Toronto made it clear that populism was alive and well in Canada. But what drew people to become loyal followers of Ford Nation?

That’s what Shawn Micallef is exploring in his new book Frontier City: Toronto on the Verge of Greatness.

Micallef is an author, co-founder of Spacing Magazine, a Toronto Star columnist and a lecturer at University College and Innis College at University of Toronto.

“When you're downtown, it's very easy to be seduced by the prosperity of this place with cranes in the sky,” Micallef said at a book launch on Tuesday at Innis Town Hall. “There's a lot of Toronto that doesn't get to participate necessarily in all of that prosperity and all of that Sesame Street urbanism.”

Micallef was joined by Shauna Brail, U of T’s presidential adviser on urban engagement and director of the urban studies program, who moderated the event, as well as Jennifer Pagliaro, Toronto Star city hall reporter and former city council candidates Alejandra Bravo and Keegan Henry-Mathieu – who were both interviewed for the book.

Frontier City tells the story of Toronto’s neighbourhoods often neglected by downtown-centric politicians through conversations with 12 former non-incumbent City Hall candidates on walks around their wards.

“What was great about underdog candidates – people who were challenging power – was they were critiquing power. They’re not trying to hold on to it,” said Micallef. “They're a lot freer to come up with ideas, to talk about the future potential of the city – what’s wrong with it and where it's going. That kind of liberation of thought was a fun thing to explore.”

Panelists at the Frontier City book launch, from left to right, Jennifer Pagliaro, Alejandra Bravo, Keegan Henry-Mathieu and Shauna Brail (photo by Romi Levine)

Henry-Mathieu, a Ward 7 candidate, said he enjoyed reflecting on his neighbourhood with Micallef.

“It was the first opportunity for me to really walk around and see the neighbourhood differently – to be able to make that connection between the greatness of our people and the potential of our neighbourhoods.”

It’s important for all Torontonians to remember that different people experience the city in different ways, said Bravo, who was a candidate in Ward 17.

“It's important to challenge our generalized assumptions about how inclusive and diverse our city is,” she said.

“For so many people, they've only ever known low wages, high unemployment, really expensive housing – this generates a sense of insecurity and fear about the future. That's what a lot of our neighbours are contending with.”

The danger comes when we think we’re immune to the discourses the United States has been confronted by, she said.

“We have a tendency to mythologize Canadian exceptionalism,” she said.

If City Hall continues to brush these issues aside, Toronto runs the risk of electing another Ford-like leader, said Micallef.

“These looming crises of being left out of the prosperity that a lot of people in the city enjoy means it's going to come back,” he said. “There's no one on the radar yet, but if a populist leader with the magical charisma that Rob Ford had...if another person like that comes along, they'll be unstoppable.”

But Micallef’s message is also hopeful, said Pagliaro who cited an exerpt from the book that reads: “We're always longing for a city we don't allow ourselves to have.”

“It is both an urgent callout but also something that's very hopeful,” she said.

U of T teams up with OCAD, York and Ryerson to seek research proposals, addressing Toronto’s affordable housing challenge

ullahnor — Thu, 02 Mar 2017 18:28:36 +0000

U of T teams up with OCAD, York and Ryerson to seek research proposals, addressing Toronto’s affordable housing challenge

ullahnor Thu, 03/02/2017 - 13:28

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U of T President Meric Gertler and the heads of three other GTA universities have joined forces to tackle affordable housing in the city (photo by Rafael Ferreira Pimentel via Flickr)

Romi Levine

Author legacy

Romi Levine

Topic

City & Culture

urban

Cities

President Meric Gertler

Affordable Housing

Shauna Brail

Collaboration

Subheadline

Teams to submit proposals by March 24

Soaring apartment prices in the city have students like Dilan Sen making compromises and spending beyond their means to pay rent.

The fourth-year undergraduate at the University of Toronto lives in a bachelor apartment close to the university’s downtown Toronto campus – a cramped room she shares with another person.

“I don't have my own room or privacy, and yet I pay so much,” said the urban studies and human geography double major.

Affordable housing for students like Sen is the next issue to be addressed by the presidents of four GTA universities who collaborated last year on supporting StudentMoveTO, a comprehensive survey that shed light on the long commutes students are taking daily in the GTA. The survey showed how the commute times affected course selection and extracurricular activities on campus.

U of T cities experts explore the legacy of Jane Jacobs

Romi Levine — Wed, 16 Nov 2016 20:48:23 +0000

U of T cities experts explore the legacy of Jane Jacobs

Romi Levine Wed, 11/16/2016 - 15:48

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Jane Jacobs outside her home on Spadina Road just north of Bloor Street in 1968 (photo by Frank Lennon/Toronto Star via Getty)

Romi Levine

Author legacy

Romi Levine

Topic

City & Culture

Cities

Urban Studies

Geography and Planning

Jane Jacobs

Richard Florida

Shauna Brail

Jane Jacobs’s contribution to city building is undeniable – the famed urbanist influenced generations of academics, city planners and activists.

To help mark what would have been her 100th birthday, the University of Toronto brought together a panel of city experts. The Nov. 14 event was part of a larger series of events to commemorate Jacobs's legacy that have been taking place in New York City – where she lived much of her life – and Toronto – where she spent the last 37 years before her death in 2006.

Here in Toronto, Jacobs was influential in halting construction of the Spadina Expressway in 1971 – a clash that pitted downtown dwellers against suburbanites. Her views on what makes a livable city have been adopted by city projects like the almost two-kilometre park set to be built under the Gardiner Expressway.

“Jane Jacobs was an individual who stood out and stood up in support of people and places," said Shauna Brail, an associate professor-teaching stream and the director of the urban studies program at Innis College. “She stood for ideas like inclusivity and authenticity.”

The Faculty of Arts & Science's urban studies program organized a panel discussion called, “A Good City? Toronto Tensions,” in partnership with the department of geography & planning, the Martin Prosperity Institute at the Rotman School of Management and the John H. Daniels Faculty of Architecture, Landscape, and Design.

The event was moderated by Brail, who is also the urban affairs adviser to President Meric Gertler.

Panelists included:

Richard Florida, director of the Martin Prosperity Institute and a professor at Rotman School of Management
Erica Allen-Kim, historian of modern architecture and urban design, and assistant professor at the Daniels Faculty of Architecture, Landscape and Design
Michael Piper, an architect and urban designer, and assistant professor at the Daniels Faculty of Architecture, Landscape and Design
Paul Hess, associate professor in the Faculty of Arts & Science's department of geography & planning
Patricia O’Campo, professor at the Dalla Lana School of Public Health.

Professor Richard Florida speaking at the event (photo by Romi Levine)

Jacobs, who moved to Toronto in 1968, stressed the importance of city centres and main streets to connect neighbourhoods, said Allen-Kim.

“Jacobs sought to understand the underlying order of the city’s ecology, the way that the most economically vital neighbourhoods were interdependent with other parts of the city, region, and even other countries,” she said.

For Florida, Jacobs’s impact is a lot more personal.

“I got to know Jane pretty well before I moved to Toronto,” he said.

Jacobs told him that real power comes from urban centres.

“The reason economies grow is it comes from new work, new innovations, technological big things – those things don’t come from companies. They come from people being together in cities,” Florida said, recounting a conversation he had with Jacobs.

Florida said Jacobs was always a decade ahead of her time. In her last book, Dark Age Ahead, she made some prescient observations about the world we live in today, Florida said, drawing comparisons to the recent U.S. election.

“I think given these divides – not just in the United States – this divide in Toronto, one of the most progressive, diverse, socially cohesive cities on the planet, it begs us to at least open our minds and think about how we build great urban neighbourhoods for everyone," he said. "How do we build great suburban neighbourhoods? How do we not lecture at people that 'my view' or 'your view' is better?”

Jacobs was not without foes – often taking aim at planners and architects for favouring design over sociability. Today, however, some of her former adversaries are now her biggest fans, said Hess.

The ideas in her book Death and Life of Great American Cities have now become “planning orthodoxy,” he said.

“It’s really very interesting that a book written in 1961 as an attack on planning is actually an inspiration to planning students wanting to come in and change the world,” Hess said.

One of the best ways to honour Jacobs is through the citizen-led city walks held globally in her name, he said.

“Jane’s Walk… can be used as her real legacy in her call to pay attention to the daily lives of neighbourhoods and streets, and the people who live in them.”

Although Jacobs did not address public health issues, the field could learn a lot from her, O'Campo said, emphasizing how important it is to “consider the needs, wants and desires of people and community residents.”

Jacobs’s ideas were both critical and caring, which are hard qualities for city builders to balance today, Piper said.

“The challenge I believe is to find ways to design without having to replace, to embrace the contrarian ethos that seeks to understand the world as it exists yet still be able to critique aspects of our cities that, as professionals, we deem to be problematic,” he said.

U of T experts imagine the city in 50 years for Toronto Life anniversary issue

Romi Levine — Fri, 21 Oct 2016 13:02:40 +0000

U of T experts imagine the city in 50 years for Toronto Life anniversary issue

Romi Levine Fri, 10/21/2016 - 09:02

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This is what the Toronto skyline could look like in 50 years (rendering by Robert Koopsman and Scott Dickson/ Toronto Life)

Romi Levine

Author legacy

Romi Levine

Topic

City & Culture

Toronto

Faculty of Applied Science & Engineering

Martin Prosperity Institute

For the editors of Toronto Life magazine, their 50th anniversary issue was a chance to look back at how the city has grown and evolved over the last half-century – and an opportunity to look forward.

Where does one go for that kind of knowledge and insight? University of Toronto city-building experts.

“Fifty years ago, the city was pretty uniform," says Emily Landau, U of T alumna and senior editor at Toronto Life, which began publishing in 1966. "It wasn’t very diverse. It was very quiet. It was very low – there weren’t a lot of skyscrapers. There weren’t a lot of people living in the downtown.

“Since then, everything’s changed. We’re a very diverse city. We have a swagger and confidence, an identity, and a place on the world landscape.”

For its anniversary issue, the magazine partnered with U of T's Martin Prosperity Institute (MPI) to explore what Toronto will look like in 50 years for an 11-page feature that imagines the Toronto of 2066.

See Toronto of Tomorrow

And what will the city look like 50 years from now?

Toronto Life and MPI paint a picture of Toronto in 2066 as a region that becomes even more dense and diverse.

The piece predicts that the population of the GTA will reach 13.1 million and almost half – 47 per cent of residents – will be from somewhere else. Their numbers will hit about 6.6 million, triple the current level. Most of the newcomers will be from Africa and the Middle East, followed by Asia and Australia.

“[MPI experts] hooked us up with a lot of great professors and faculty who were able to help us dream up what the city might look like,” says Landau.

“There were a lot of great conversations where we just riffed and talked, and imagined as well as looked at research and reports and forecasts and projections.”

Toronto Life consulted numerous city building experts at U of T including President Meric Gertler; Shauna Brail, urban affairs adviser to the president and director of the urban studies program and an associate professor in the teaching stream; Gabriel Eidelman, assistant professor at the School of Public Policy & Governance; and Enid Slack, director of the Institute on Municipal Finance and Governance.

(Graphic courtesy of Toronto Life)

Vass Bednar, associate director, cities at MPI, says researchers used existing data to forecast Toronto’s future.

“For each indicator they were looking for, we averaged the rate of change over time for the last 50 years and we smoothed out all those changes,” she says.

As one might imagine, one of the indicators they paid close attention to was the future price of real estate.

Hold on to your seats for this one: the article predicts that the price of a house in Toronto rises to a whopping $4.4 million (in 2016 dollars) in 50 years.

“Obviously we don’t have a crystal ball," Landau says. "We can’t know how things are going to go. We can’t know what kind of corrections are going to be made, but based historically on how housing prices have been rising, that’s where we’re headed."

“One of the things that could create is the idea that owning property becomes something that’s restricted to very wealthy people – the plutocratic class – and most people will be renters.”

Mark Fox, U of T distinguished professor in the Faculty of Applied Science and Engineering, also contributed his expertise to the article. Fox says he expects dwellings, especially condos and skyscrapers, will likely be more self-sustainable in the future, thanks to concerns about density and the environment.

“I think cities have to be creative in terms of how they think about scaling their infrastructure up in order to deal with the influx of people,” he says.

(In the clip below, Fox talks with cities reporter Romi Levine about the importance of planning ahead when it comes to cities. Note: we reached Professor Fox by phone. Some of the audio is uneven.)

What else did the Toronto Life piece foresee for the city's future?

Women will outearn men by 29 per cent.
Self-driving cars will have saturated the Toronto automobile market by 2035, with 709,000 autonomous vehicles on the road – that’s according to a study by U of T’s Transportation Research Institute.

Landau said U of T experts helped give the magazine the big picture.

“They’re able to rise 30,000 feet in the air and look at the way systems interact, the way systems work, and the way populations grow, shrink and diversify,” says Landau.

“They also have really incredible imaginations and optimism. They were very open to being whimsical and dreaming, and getting a sense of what they want to see as well as what they’ll think they’ll see.”

The article also features U of T students who are planning careers in fields such as renewable energy and robotics.

Read about the "futuristic career paths" of five U of T students

“There are few places more diverse in terms of what people are studying and what people are doing than U of T,” Landau says.

Landau looks forward to seeing how it all plays out.

“I’m really grateful to the Martin Prosperity Institute and the team over there as well as all of the students and faculty for helping us execute this project. It was quite an undertaking and we’ll see if we’re right,” she says.

Toronto’s future city builders: Cecelia Pye

krisha — Mon, 22 Aug 2016 14:40:28 +0000

Toronto’s future city builders: Cecelia Pye

krisha Mon, 08/22/2016 - 10:40

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(Photo by Romi Levine)

Romi Levine

Author legacy

Romi Levine

Topic

Subheadline

“With how crazy the world is lately, I’m happy to wake up and not feel fearful in Toronto”

They're the new generation of Toronto city builders.

Meet the ambitious University of Toronto students and recent grads poised to become big players in shaping the city’s identity and contributing to its growth.

This ongoing series from Romi Levine, who covers the city beat for U of T News, shares their stories.

Cecelia Pye is living, as she puts it, the millennial dream.

As a project manager for the Trinity-Bellwoods business improvement area (BIA) and a coordinator for the Bayview-Leaside BIA, she gets to be her own boss, set her own work schedule and spearhead a slew of creative projects.

“My time is very flexible which is what I enjoy about my job,” says Pye, who is a graduate of University of Toronto’s urban studies program.

And as the lone paid employee working with a group of volunteers, that flexibility means she’s had to master all aspects of community building.

“I’ve worked on projects for beautification, marketing for the street, street festivals, one-off events as well as do their budgeting and help them with master plans,” she says.

Toronto is made up of more than 80 business improvement areas – organizations that help build the reputation of specific neighbourhoods in the city, funded by the public and private sectors. And according to the municipal government, it was Toronto that launched the world’s first BIA 46 years ago.

For BIAs, the big emphasis is on community outreach, which means Pye rarely has to sit in an office – opting instead for any one of the independent coffee shops scattered across the Trinity Bellwoods neighbourhood. We met in one of them – Ella’s Uncle. The tiny café is one of many small businesses she works closely with.

“It’s exciting to work with people who are always creative thinkers and who want to support and create unique events in their neighbourhood,” she says.

The Bellwoods BIA runs along Dundas Street between Grace and Bathurst Streets. Most of the stores there are independently-owned – which really adds to the neighbourhood’s local feel, says Pye.

“It’s so eclectic and unique…[The term] ‘buying local’ is overused these days but it is good for the environment and it’s good for local business and you’re supporting the local economy. I think that is really important,” she says.

But working for a BIA isn’t without its challenges. With marijuana dispensaries popping up all over the city – and particularly within Pye’s jurisdiction – she has to facilitate discussion and debate between tenants and sort through any controversy. She says a large part of running a successful BIA is keeping those lines of communication open.

“There’s a strong support system. So if there’s something in the community that people are uncomfortable with or they’re not sure what to do, there’s a way to communicate that,” says Pye.

But one of the biggest issues faced by small businesses in the Bellwoods and Bayview BIAs, and all over the GTA, is the lack of regulation and protection for commercial tenants, she says.

“When a lease ends for a small business after they’ve been in the neighbourhood for three years – people know them, they’re comfortable with them, they visit often, they’ve created a fan base for their business – once that three-year lease is up, the landlord can triple the rent if they want. That’s so frustrating,” says Pye.

“I have seen places just stay closed for a long time because they’re waiting for a corporation to fill the place – which is fine – we’re happy to see any space filled, it’s just when it’s empty for so long it’s kind of sad and I don’t think it adds to the neighbourhood or community.”

Despite the city’s shortcomings, Pye says Toronto has so much to offer that sets it apart from other cities around the world. What tops the list for her? Safety.

“With how crazy the world is lately, I’m happy to wake up and not feel fearful in Toronto,” she says.

Pye says she owes a lot of her passion for city building to the urban studies program and to Shauna Brail, associate professor, teaching stream and director of the program, adding that the internship program and the close-knit group of students were the highlights of her time at U of T.

“I always think back and it’s really inspired continuing work in urban planning,” she says.

Toronto’s future city builders: Jonah Letovsky

lanthierj — Tue, 02 Aug 2016 16:44:16 +0000

Toronto’s future city builders: Jonah Letovsky

lanthierj Tue, 08/02/2016 - 12:44

Romi Levine

Author legacy

Romi Levine

Topic

Subheadline

“It absolutely makes change more palatable when you bring in the local community”

They're the new generation of Toronto city builders.

Meet the ambitious University of Toronto students and recent grads poised to become big players in shaping the city’s identity and contributing to its growth.

This ongoing series from Romi Levine, who covers the city beat for U of T News, shares their stories.

Jonah Letovsky seems to know everyone in Mirvish Village. As we chatted on the steps outside of Markham House – real estate developer Westbank Corp’s community space – he paused every few minutes to say hello to someone new – from colleagues to an indie bookshop owner.

The University of Toronto grad’s affable nature complements his city building philosophy that is anchored in community engagement.

“I think change absolutely should be more integrated,” says Letovsky, “and it absolutely makes change more palatable when you bring in the local community.

“You incorporate those voices for how they’d like to see it done and you hear the ways that people live and work in the neighbourhood.”

As a project coordinator with Westbank, working on initiatives such as the lofty Mirvish Village and Honest Ed’s development, Letovsky’s approach comes in handy.

To say the proposed Mirvish development is ambitious is an understatement. Bought in 2013, the 1.8 hectare site, which includes Honest Ed’s, is set to be transformed into towering residential buildings, retail space and a public market. This means the iconic discount depot is on the chopping block.

The project isn’t without criticism, with community members voicing concerns about the proposed density and the preservation of heritage buildings.

Letovsky says it comes with the territory.

“With Honest Ed’s, people realize that the building itself is a building from the 80s, it’s not a building designed to last forever. But there’s ways you can really interpret the heritage and feeling of Honest Ed’s in the new site,” he says.

What was so special about Honest Ed’s was the role it played in catering to new immigrants, who couldn’t afford to shop at big department stores, says Letovsky.

“In my eyes the idea of a public market and micro retail that offers that diversity of retail opportunities and that leg-up for small entrepreneurs is an amazing way to reinterpret this – it’s a whole lot better than a plaque,” he says.

With regard to complaints about the development plan’s density, “there’s always a trade-off,” Letovsky says.

Multi-storey towers are the only way to fund the retail and community space, he says.

“I don’t really care so much about the heightened density as long as we’re achieving these social goals. Part of that is diverse housing, part of that is a diverse commercial environment, part of that is affordable housing,” says Letovsky.

Despite the criticism, he says, there’s been overwhelming support from the community around Mirvish Village.

Letovsky graduated from U of T in 2015 – majoring in political science with a double minor in urban studies and environmental studies. While in his undergrad, he accrued an impressive list of accomplishments from a stint as a researcher for the United Nations environment programme (UNEP) in Paris to an internship at the Martin Prosperity Institute.

Letovsky says interning at the institute was a great leg-up in the industry.

“That was an incredible opportunity to learn the academic side of what I’m doing now – which is revitalizing urban neighbourhoods, urban economic development… I think that was entirely critical to where I am right now,” he says.

Shauna Brail, associate professor, teaching stream and director of the urban studies program, says there are various ways for future city builders to make a name for themselves and to catch the attention of industry leaders.

“This might mean cultivating an urban-focused social media presence, participating in networking events or volunteering with civic organizations,” says Brail, urban affairs adviser to U of T's president, Meric Gertler. “It helps of course if students have a sense of where their passions lie: social justice or real estate, transit planning or community development.”

In his current position, Letovsky has to juggle many different responsibilities, from property management to marketing and public relations - but the range of duties doesn’t seem to intimidate him.

“I think that’s an expansion of what urban studies is – in particular what the urban studies program is – because it’s not urban planning, it’s not urban economics, it’s not urban politics, it’s all of those things combined,” he says. “It’s really interdisciplinary and that’s why I loved it and I wanted to continue that. So I feel really lucky that I’m in a position where I do all of those things every day.”

Parks, planning and public spaces: Toronto can learn lessons from Jerusalem say U of T students

katie.fong — Tue, 07 Jun 2016 14:19:41 +0000

Parks, planning and public spaces: Toronto can learn lessons from Jerusalem say U of T students katie.fong Tue, 06/07/2016 - 10:19

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A pirate-themed public park in Jerusalem. The city actively involves children in park design. (Andrew Althouse photo)

Terry Lavender

Author legacy

Terry Lavender

Topic

Faculty of Arts & Science

“Jerusalem is a city of neighborhoods.”

“Only deputy mayors are paid in Jerusalem. What is the impact of city councillors being unpaid? Who can afford the position?”

“How to design public space - who is using it? Fence or no fence?”

“Unique street art creates aesthetically pleasing urban environments. Toronto, take note!”

Those were just some of the social media posts from Shauna Brail and nine U of T students during a recent trip to Jerusalem and Tel Aviv. (Scroll to the bottom of this story for more tweets about the trip.)

Brail, an associate professor (teaching stream) in urban studies and U of T’s presidential adviser on urban engagement, led the undergraduate and graduate students – mostly from departments in the Faculty of Arts and Science – through different neighbourhoods in Jerusalem, studying urban regeneration, inclusive public spaces and place-making. The six-day trip, hosted by Hebrew University’s Urban Clinic, was funded mostly through the Canadian Friends of Hebrew University endowment fund. The students did not receive academic credit for the trip.

Brail said she has been to Jerusalem many times, but learned a lot by seeing the city through the eyes of the U of T students. “They were just terribly insightful about challenges and issues. I was impressed with their maturity but also with their ability to understand.”

Back row: Michelle Kearns, Nathan Stuart, Andrew Althouse, Deputy Mayor of Jerusalem Tamir Nir, Shauna Brail, Jonathan Chow, Mark Fox Front row: Ella Gil (Hebrew University Urban Clinic), Izabela Molendowski, Tiferet Nashman, Jessie Ji Huang, Eliza Eaton

Michelle Kearns was one of those students. A master’s student in planning, Kearns said she was struck by how well organized and clean Jerusalem was. “Bike lanes are always protected; pedestrians are completely separated from traffic, the LRT system was easy to use, and traffic lights are specific – with separate signals for pedestrians, cyclists and traffic.”

Despite the many differences between the two cities, Toronto can learn from Jerusalem, Kearns said. “I would like to see Toronto take more risks with planning for transportation.” She gave Jaffa Road, one of Jerusalem’s major streets as an example.

“A few years ago, the entire street was redeveloped and turned into an LRT-only street, with an integrated pedestrian network. The curb separating traffic and pedestrians was levelled and the street turned into an open, flat, public space with the occasional bike and LRT running through. The planner we met spoke of huge opposition to the plan, since all parking and private cars were removed from the street. However, after the transit-only street was built, it turned into a huge success with businesses experiencing improved sales and many more people on the street.”

Eliza Eaton, an urban studies undergraduate student, agreed that Toronto can learn some lessons from Jerusalem. In particular, she said, Jerusalem is good at planning for local residents. “We saw a lot of neighbourhoods and public spaces that really took into consideration the people who live there as opposed to just putting in something for the general population. The planners really considered the local populations in the neighbourhood.”

Jerusalem is also better than Toronto in creating spaces for children, Eaton said. In Jerusalem, children are actually involved in planning playgrounds, she noted. “Kids are the real experts of public space.”

But Jerusalem can learn from Toronto’s experience in turn, Brail said. “We are definitely ahead of Israel in the way we treat our public housing,” Brail said. While in Jerusalem, she gave a public lecture about Toronto’s success in transforming public housing in Toronto’s Regent Park. “In Jerusalem, they are also struggling with an aging , declining stock of public housing. When public housing sites are redeveloped, residents are forced to either pay higher rents or find alternate housing in another location. Some of them were a little unbelieving that public housing residents were guaranteed equivalent housing at the same rental rate when Regent Park was redeveloped.”

Both Eaton and Kearns said they were glad they went on the trip. “I would go back in a heartbeat,” Kearns said. “I still have so much to learn in Jerusalem. It's a place of an incredibly complicated history and tension and I just barely scratched the surface during my time there.”

Shauna Brail

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