Tower Renewal
It’s estimated that some one million people live in the concrete high-rise residential towers of Toronto’s inner suburbs. Built between the 1950s and 1980s by mostly private developers, the towers were envisioned as a commodious real estate option for young middle-class couples; after canada’s liberalization of its immigration policies, the slabs quickly became enclaves for migrant populations. “They play an absolutely crucial role as entry housing for newcomers, but they weren’t designed for that,” says architect Graeme Stewart, who for the last decade has mobilized political interest in the towers to preserve their building stock and vital social role. Period zoning mandated that the slabs be set back in a field of green, effectively creating dead zones for commercial and social activity. Rezoning measures based, in part, on Stewart and partner Sabina Ali’s research, have a good chance of being passed into law.