U of T Magazine has published a story on the the role that University of Toronto faculty and alumni have played in the transformation of Regent Park, a 28-hectare public housing neighbourhood in Toronto.

"The story of Regent Park closely tracks aspects of the city’s evolution during much of the past 80 years. But it is also a tale in which members of the University of Toronto community have played a long and involved role that begins at the very outset of the political movement to improve the city’s Depression-era housing conditions," writes John Lorinc, who authored the article.

The story features faculty and alumni from the John H. Daniels Faculty of Architecture, Landscape, and Design, who have made significant contributions to the revitalization of this community, including Daniels Faculty volunteer Mitchell Cohen.

Cohen is the president of the Daniels Corporation, the development company started by John Daniels (BArch 1950) that is leading the $1-billion redevelopment of the area. As Lorinc reports, the Daniels Corporation helped create the "Foundation Program," which assists tenants take steps to become owners of some of the new condo units being built.

Other Alumni involved include Don Schmitt (BArch 1977), principal of Toronto’s Diamond Schmitt Architects, and planner Ken Greenberg (BArch 1970), principal of Greenberg Consultants.

Writes Lorinc, "both played key roles in drawing up TCHC’s master plan. They pushed for basic urban design principles meant to reconnect Regent Park to the rest of the city: a conventional block-based street grid and a mix of housing forms, including townhouses, mid-rises and a few towers (including one highrise that encases the exhaust stack of a district heating system). Where the old Regent Park had no commercial amenities, Schmitt says the new plan re-established Dundas, which bisects Regent Park, as the area’s commercial spine and social focal point."

Click here to read the full article.