IIESL focuses on addressing the needs of vulnerable populations and underserved communities – beginning in Scarborough, where the institute calls the U of T Scarborough campus home.
The decommissioning of the Scarborough Rapid Transit (SRT) presents a unique, once-in-a-generation opportunity to transform a large-scale infrastructure into a community asset that promotes inclusive economies, sustainable mobility, local arts and culture, and healthy recreational spaces. This project aims to seize key decision-making points in 2025 and 2026 and use them as opportunities to strengthen community leadership capacity and enhance community engagement, trust, education, and civic involvement on the issue through forums and learning exchanges, community engagement events, and digital storytelling materials.
Additionally, the project will produce a series of strategic policy advocacy tools, including a campaign and two end-of-year policy reports that will provide the basis for a community vision and recommendations to influence SRT decision-making processes.
Participants in this project will seek to amplify the voices of Scarborough communities advocating for inclusive economic development around SRT lands and spaces. Long-term, the project’s efforts will enhance grassroots and community-organizing capacity in Scarborough, while positioning IIESL as a catalyst and collaborative platform for community-led economic development and urban planning in Scarborough.
Since its founding in 2023, IIESL has already catalyzed several initiatives that demonstrate its commitment to place-based, community-engaged work in relation to the repurposing of the Scarborough RT:
- March 2024: IIESL supported a motion at Toronto City Hall led by Scarborough Councillor Jamaal Myers to explore the adaptive reuse of the decommissioned Scarborough RT corridor. The motion emphasized redevelopment opportunities that prioritize community benefit, particularly in a part of the city historically underserved in terms of public transit and economic development opportunities.
- October 2024: IIESL convened a community roundtable at UTSC with over 25 local leaders, organizations, and student groups to identify key themes for the project. These included transportation, inclusive economic development, arts and culture, public health and recreation, and the RT repurposing as an iconic Scarborough project. Participants also surfaced important cross-cutting issues for further exploration.
- January 2025: IIESL hosted a full-day design charrette with over 70 participants Scarborough community members, labour representatives, urban planners, and students to generate transformative ideas around a central question: What if, instead of spending hundreds of millions to demolish the RT, we transformed it into a vibrant and iconic community space that promotes local arts, sustainable mobility, healthy recreation, and inclusive economies?
- March 2025: With support from UTSC, IIESL organized a two-day study tour to Detroit for seven Scarborough community leaders to learn from the Joe Louis Greenway (JLG) project. The City of Detroit hosted presentations and site visits that showcased approaches to inclusive planning, business engagement, governance, fundraising, and implementation. The newest segment of the JLG has received recognition for its approach to inclusive planning and shares similarities to the Scarborough suburban geography, and a mix of residential and industrial areas along the corridor.
