Contested Streetscapes: Designing public streets for community outcomes

Come walk with us on Gerrard Street East from Coxwell to Greenwood Avenue to explore how culture and design can shape our everyday experiences. This stretch of the Gerrard Street is is known for its South Asian heritage, immigrant entrepreneurship, restaurants, grocers, and community institutions that have helped define the neighbourhood for decades. Along the way, we’ll also look closely at the street itself: concrete pavements, limited tree canopy, transit infrastructure, storefront setbacks, and the experience of walking during hotter summers. How do sidewalks, shade and seating affect how our streets develop and who can use them? What can this corridor teach us about inclusive planning, climate resilience, and how the desi diaspora grew in Toronto? Through stories of migration, adaptation, and planning, this walk invites participants to see Gerrard Street not just as a destination, but as a living main street where heritage and the future of city-building meet.