Transforming isolated tower neighbourhoods into more convenient, livable and resilient vertical villages:
Over past decades, Canada’s Apartment Neighbourhoods have emerged as the Nation’s most diverse localities, acting as our ‘Arrival Cities’. While the communities in these towers have changed to reflect modern Canada, their physical forms remain largely stuck in 1960s ideas planning focused on single-use zoning, separated uses and a heavy reliance on the automobile. As a result, they lack key features that many neighbourhoods take for granted: convenient and walkable access to local shops, services, amenities and the broader opportunities of neighbourhood life to ensure these communities thrive.
Today, Apartment Neighbourhoods are home to thousands, and despite being surrounded by underutilized open space, are part of broader dynamic communities. Through targeted investment Apartment Neighbourhoods can evolve into more complete, liveable and resilient communities that foster local economies and allow for a mix of uses.
This evolution also includes coordinated social service delivery, supports for local initiatives, community resident leadership and thoughtful urban design in order to transform these isolated dormitories into dynamic vertical villages.
Achieving these goals requires coordination and collaboration of a number of public, community, private and nonprofit partners. It is the aim of the Tower Renewal Partnership to aid in developing platforms for collaboration and project delivery for community focused Tower Renewal.