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About Tower Renewal What is Tower Renewal?
What is Tower Renewal? Tower Renewal is a strategy that promotes, supports and directs enhancement and reinvestment in Canada’s affordable apartment tower stock. During the boom years of the 1960s and 70s, Canada built a significant volume of modern apartment towers in response to rapid urbanization. Predominantly privately developed, but supported by public planning policy and incentives, these towers shape the urban and suburban landscape cross county – with at least 750,000 Canadian households calling them home. Half a century…
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Blog Post Urban Agriculture and Tower Renewal
This past spring, the Design Exchange hosted Carrot City; an exhibition examining the potentials of achieving future food security, sustainable food networks and engaged communities through urban agriculture. Tower Renewal participated in this project, contributing research related to the potential for urban agriculture within Toronto’s post-war tower block communities. The following is a review of the exhibition by Canadian Architect:
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Blog Post Tower Renewal Project Artist Network
Toronto’s modern high-rises are everywhere. Housing hundreds of thousands, they are the backbone of our City. Yet what is their place in our collective identity? Though superficially homogenous, each have specific contexts and histories. In the coming months, the Tower Renewal Artist Network will bring together those engaged in cultural production related these structures. What do they mean to you? Image Courtesy of Jesse Colin Jackson
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Blog Post NFB’s One Millionth Tower
Above images by ERA and NFB with top right photograph by Jaime Hogge, courtesy of The National Film Board of Canada For over a year, ERA and the Centre for Urban Growth and Renewal (CUG+R) have been working with the NFB on their remarkable HIGHRISE documentary series directed by Kat Cizek. The series examines the current conditions and future potential of post-war high-rise living around the world. Features have included the One Thousandth Tower, Out My Window, and most…
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Blog Post A productive landscape: permaculture and tower blocks
Toronto high-rises under construction in former farmers fields, early 1960’s The idea of the tower in a genuine ‘park’ or ‘landscape’ setting was a popular notion after the Second World War. As a result, during the post-war boom in Toronto, a minimum of 60% open space around multiple dwellings was promoted as a best practice. If developers wanted larger buildings, they were to provide a greater ratio of open space to building footprint. The results are the large towers and…