Regent Park

This article is about Regent Park in Toronto. For Regent's Park in London, England, see Regent's Park.

Related Topics:
London - England - Regent's Park

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Regent Park is a neighbourhood located in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It is bounded by Gerrard Street to the north, River Street to the east, Shuter Street to the south, and Parliament Street to the west. It is an extremely culturally diverse neighbourhood, with more than half of its population being immigrants. It is home to approximately 12,000 people. Over 50% of the population living in Regent Park are children 18 years and younger (compared to a Toronto-wide average of 30%).

Related Topics:
Toronto - Ontario - Canada

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The average income for Regent Park residents is approximately half the average for other Torontonians. A majority of families in Regent Park are classified as low-income, with 68% of the population living below Statistics Canada's Low-Income Cut-Off Rate in one of its census tracts, and 76% in the other (compared to a Toronto-wide average of just over 20%). Poverty is a reality for seven in ten Regent Park families.

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Regent Park's residential dwellings are entirely social housing, and cover all of the 69 acres (280,000 m²) which comprise the community. Indeed, Regent Park is Canada's oldest social housing project, having been built in the late 1940s. (The Toronto slum neighbourhood then known as Cabbagetown was razed in the process of creating Regent Park; the nickname Cabbagetown is now applied to the regentrified, upscale area north of the housing project.)

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Now more than a half-century old, Regent Park projects are aging rapidly and are in need of costly repairs. The city government has developed a plan to demolish and rebuild Regent Park over the next ten years, with the first phase starting Fall 2005. The addition of market units on site will double the number of units in Regent Park. Former street patterns will be restored and housing will be designed to reflect that of adjacent neighbourhoods (including Cabbagetown and Corktown), in order to end Regent Park's physical isolation from the rest of the city.

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In support of the Clean and Beautiful City campaign by mayor David Miller, and to further the goal of elevating architecture in all Toronto Community Housing Corporation projects, an architectural competition was held for the design of the first apartment building in the complex. Toronto-based architectsAlliance was selected winner of the competition, with a Neo-Modern glass point tower set on top of a red-brick podium structure in their proposal.

Related Topics:
Toronto Community Housing Corporation - ArchitectsAlliance - Neo-Modern

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As one of Toronto's poorest neighbourhoods, Regent Park has been stigmatized as a bastion of immeasurable poverty and despair. However, evidence has proven the contrary; there is a strong sense of community that pervades Regent Park and its diversity is reflected in the city's diversity. Certainly, the revitalization process will modernize Regent Park, however it remains to be seen whether or not it will effectively reduce the neighbourhood's poverty and stigma

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