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

Ontario high school students are sharing their design input on a new development in Toronto's Mount Dennis area.

Alice Tulloch and Jayden Pan were two of three winners of a contest that had teenagers create their own models for a future Privately Owned Publicly-Accessible Space (POPS) that would connect a new rental development and a busy transit hub at 70-104 Brownville Ave.

POPS are areas within private developments that are open for public use, often integrated into densely populated neighbourhoods where new parks aren't feasible. 

Both Grade 11 students have been involved with urban planning projects for youth and say they want to become urban planners when they graduate. 

"Teenagers have different motivations and different spaces that they want to exist in," said Tulloch in an interview with CBC's Metro Morning on Tuesday.  

"I haven't been to a school for urban planning, so I don't know the exact details and processes that they might teach me, which I feel like lets us come in with a more creative vision and more ideas."

Contest challenged teens to tackle real world challenges 

The Design Jam contest was part of the 1UP Conference, an annual event where teenagers learn about city building and collaborate on real-world urban challenges. 

The contest saw more than 100 high school students from across the Greater Toronto and Hamilton Area (GTHA) work in groups to build their prototypes and present their work to judges, who evaluated them on categories including how they connected to the broader community, what elements they included and how they honoured the industrial heritage of the site.

The students had about three hours to create a design that works for real people — a place to relax, socialize, and play. 

Pan says he wanted his design to feature a mural as well as outdoor seating for commuters. 

"For my part, we focused on the outdoor space and this included a beautiful mural that encapsulates the Mount Dennis area, both its natural heritage with the industrial area and the Kodak building, but also its Indigenous heritage," said Pan in an interview with CBC's Metro Morning on Tuesday. 

"We know this is a transit-oriented development, so the seating would allow students, parents who need to commute to work to have a place to be."

Although the competition was just an exercise, the developer Elysium Investments may incorporate some of the students' ideas into the project, which Pan says is very inspiring. 

"We wouldn't usually think that youth have much impact in this space," said Pan. "This opportunity is going to be something I look back to in the future."