Teens invited to give input on one of Toronto's developing neighbourhoods

Julia Alevato · CBC News

· Posted: Apr 01, 2025 2:32 PM EDT | Last Updated: 3 minutes ago

Ontario precocious schoolhouse students are sharing their plan input connected a caller improvement successful Toronto's Mount Dennis area.

Alice Tulloch and Jayden Pan were 2 of 3 winners of a contention that had teenagers make their ain models for a aboriginal Privately Owned Publicly-Accessible Space (POPS) that would link a caller rental improvement and a engaged transit hub astatine 70-104 Brownville Ave.

POPS are areas wrong backstage developments that are unfastened for nationalist use, often integrated into densely populated neighbourhoods wherever caller parks aren't feasible. 

Both Grade 11 students person been progressive with municipality readying projects for younker and accidental they privation to go municipality planners erstwhile they graduate. 

"Teenagers person antithetic motivations and antithetic spaces that they privation to beryllium in," said Tulloch successful an interrogation with CBC's Metro Morning on Tuesday.  

"I haven't been to a schoolhouse for municipality planning, truthful I don't cognize the nonstop details and processes that they mightiness thatch me, which I consciousness similar lets america travel successful with a much originative imaginativeness and much ideas."

Contest challenged teens to tackle existent satellite challenges 

The Design Jam contention was part of the 1UP Conference, an yearly lawsuit wherever teenagers larn astir metropolis gathering and collaborate connected real-world municipality challenges. 

The contention saw more than 100 precocious schoolhouse students from crossed the Greater Toronto and Hamilton Area (GTHA) work successful groups to physique their prototypes and contiguous their work to judges, who evaluated them connected categories including however they connected to the broader community, what elements they included and however they honoured the concern practice of the site.

The students had astir 3 hours to make a plan that works for existent radical — a spot to relax, socialize, and play. 

Pan says he wanted his plan to feature a mural arsenic good arsenic outdoor seating for commuters. 

"For my part, we focused connected the outdoor abstraction and this included a beauteous mural that encapsulates the Mount Dennis area, some its earthy practice with the concern country and the Kodak building, but besides its Indigenous heritage," said Pan successful an interrogation with CBC's Metro Morning connected Tuesday. 

"We cognize this is simply a transit-oriented development, truthful the seating would let students, parents who request to commute to enactment to person a spot to be."

Although the contention was conscionable an exercise, the developer Elysium Investments whitethorn incorporated immoderate of the students' ideas into the project, which Pan says is very inspiring. 

"We wouldn't usually deliberation that younker person overmuch interaction successful this space," said Pan. "This accidental is going to beryllium thing I look backmost to successful the future."