Despite condo-fication and rising rents affecting retail vitality, Yonge Street remains Toronto's most important thoroughfare. With the City of Toronto now in the process of redesigning Yonge to accommodate our changing needs for this street, the Ryerson City Building Institute is hosting an evening to talk about the ways Yonge's public realm can be improved. On February 22, the institution will bring together a group of notable city-builders for a discussion moderated by Steve Paikin, Host of TVO's The Agenda, on the recent 'Yonge Love' report by the Downtown Yonge Business Improvement Area.

Yonge Love: A Ryerson City Building Institute Meet-Up, image courtesy of Ryerson University

The panel—or 'unpanel' according to Ryerson—will include some familiar names and faces:

• Jennifer Keesmaat, Chief Planner, City of Toronto

• Mohamed Lachemi, President and Vice-Chancellor, Ryerson University

• Councillor Kristyn Wong-Tam, Ward 27 Toronto Centre-Rosedale, City of Toronto

• Mark Garner, Chief Operating Officer & Executive Director, Downtown Yonge (Yonge St. BIA)

• Gary Switzer, Chief Executive Officer, MOD Developments

• John Archer, Chief Development Officer, 360 Collective

• Derek Lee, Partner, PWL Landscape Architects (Granville St., Vancouver) 

• Anjali Mishra, Project Manager: Infrastructure, Roads and Transport Services, City of Montreal (Saint Catherine St., Montreal)

You are invited to attend and participate! The meet-up and panel discussion will take place in the Ryerson Student Learning Centre at 341 Yonge Street on Thursday, February 22. Doors will open at 5:45 PM, while the event will begin at 6PM. Tickets are free, but you must RSVP first at this link.