On January 7 and January 10, Lawson Climate Institute welcomed more than 50 guests who work, live, or are otherwise connected to Toronto’s St. Lawrence Neighbourhood, for interactive community workshops. Focused on conversations to shape a flourishing, healthier, greener, and more connected neighbourhood, the workshops were hosted by University of Toronto Scarborough’s Professor Patricia Romero-Lankao and Professor Yu Chen, together with the St. Lawrence Neighbourhood Association and Toronto Community Housing Corporation.
This workshop brought together residents, workers, local businesses, building owners, youth, elders, planners, and researchers to re-imagine the future by exploring what block-level retrofitting could look like in the St. Lawrence community, with a focus on Toronto Community Housing buildings – including the public spaces that connect them such as the sidewalks, bike lanes, roads, parks, and green spaces; how to ensure climate action is also inclusive social action that benefits everyone; and what it means to co-create a plan that includes stakeholders and rightsholders, especially those whose voices are often left out.
Through a mix of storytelling, mapping, scenario building, and design thinking, the workshop surfaced priorities, shared knowledge, and laid the foundation for a community-led retrofit plan.
In the coming weeks, the research team will consolidate and summarize all that was discussed to share with the participants.
We thank everyone who joined our workshops and look forward to future opportunities for community engagement in the Greater Toronto Area.