Following on the results of a feasibility report released by Urban Priorities on behalf of the Delta Family Resource Centre, funding has been made available to pilot the use of pop-up infrastructure for community service agencies in Toronto?s inner suburbs. This move could prove to be a game changer for neighbourhoods that are currently waiting years for the development of nearby community centres and programming spaces, but the pilot project is still in need of a site to realize its potential.
?Pop-up buildings don?t confine community programs to a specific timeline when it comes to occupancy,? says Cutty Duncan, a former community planner with Social Planning Toronto who worked with Delta and Urban Priorities on the study. ?These structures can be built and torn down fast. In the eight to ten years it takes to fund and build a new community centre, we will have lost an entire generation of youth who were not able to get programs.? Architecture firm RAW Design worked on the pop-up infrastructure study with Urban Priorities and was consulted on the design and social potential of temporary structures. According to RAW architect Leigh Jeneroux, the idea of pop-ups being utilized in Neighbourhood Improvement Areas is an achievable goal that community service agencies can work towards.
?This kind of building can level the economic playing field for neighbourhoods in need of space for social programming, with virtually little to no downside for the community or city. We know how...