Dehumanizing urban renewal-era public housing developments across North America are being replaced by mixed-use, mixed income neighborhoods with affordable housing. Yet in Regent Park, Toronto at least, many troubling social problems remain.
Margaret Wente, writing in the Globe and Mail, discusses how planners' expectations that razing and rebuilding Regent Park would improve the quality of life and reduce the area's crime rate. However, with four homicides in two months, Regent Park may need more than just a redesign, she argues.
"A lot of people were hoping that Regent Park had finally left its violent past behind. An ambitious billion-dollar "revitalization" plan has been widely hailed as a model of enlightened planning. The cockroach-infested, urine-stained, graffiti-covered buildings are being replaced with modern, mixed-income housing that will not only improve living standards for the residents, but also ease the area's social dysfunctions.
Regent Park's new housing units are swell. The new supermarket is great. The new swimming pool will be fun. But the hardest ghettos to eradicate are the ghettos of the mind."
Wente points out that more is needed than just physical planning, and highlights a mentoring program called Pathways to Education that is intended to encourage kids to stay in school.
(Op-ed includes links to additional stories on Regent Park's revitalization).
Read the full story: Can bricks and mortar really change behaviour?
Long Island public housing applicants face longest wait times in America
Applicants to large, medium and small housing authorities in Long Beach all face exceptionally long waiting periods.
Troubled Houston housing agency announces plan to resolve 'material deficiencies'
The newly renamed Housing Alliance Houston has created a new accounting team and instituted new tenant file inspections, per a recent update required by HUD.
Pittsburgh downtown tax diversion plan draws criticism for lack of transparency
A proposed new development tax faces opposition from transit advocates.
Planetizen Federal Action Tracker
A weekly monitor of how Trump’s orders and actions are impacting planners and planning in America.
California plans to bury El Niño’s downpour
If the state plays its cards right, it may be able to store a billion acre-feet of El Niño’s water in aquifers.
Desperate measures: Advocates weigh draining Lake Powell to fill Colorado River
Draining the reservoir could reduce evaporation losses by a couple hundred thousand acre-feet.
In Texas, data centers are swallowing promised parkland
Residents who moved to Taylor, Texas for a rural community now have to contend with three data centers in their backyard.
How a Chicago-sized wind farm beat the odds and powered on
The project spanned five presidential administrations and a standoff with a U.S. military base.
MTA gives itself 30 days to transform pit into basketball court
The site has been under construction since 2022; the city originally estimated it would finish the court in 2024.
FREE Course: Walkable City 1: Why Walkability?
After describing his path towards focusing on walkability as the essence of good planning, Jeff Speck marches through his five principal reasons for making more walkable places.
Reinventing Malls: Planning Alchemy—Turning Gray Fields Into Gold
The course focuses on the opportunities and imperatives that shape reinvention of mall sites.
City of Rosemead
Rutgers University, Edward J. Bloustein School of Planning and Public Policy
One Hundred Miles
Hunter College, City University of New York (CUNY)
The Architects Foundation
University of Cincinnati Online
City of Cambridge
Montrose County
The Pocatello Development Authority