Housing for All: How Toronto Built the St. Lawrence Neighbourhood

by Frank Lewinberg, Vincenzo Pietropaolo

Overview

Could three levels of government work with real estate developers, non-profits, and private citizens to create an affordable, vibrant, and urban residential community?

As the fiftieth anniversary of Toronto's St. Lawrence neighbourhood approaches, the answer is resoundingly Yes! But why hasn't this enormously successful model for development been replicated?

Architect-planner Frank Lewinberg — who'd identified the derelict industrial lands for development as a young city planner — and photographer-writer Vincenzo Pietropaolo first walked these streets in the early 1970s, as a housing crisis and rising interest rates loomed over the country. Now, St. Lawrence is a family neighbourhood, and home to 10,000 residents of mixed incomes, backgrounds, and professions, with blooming green spaces and affordable housing options seamlessly integrated into the heart of Toronto.

How did this model urban neighbourhood come to be? How can it inspire other bold, innovative solutions to today's housing problems? With stunning photographs, Housing for All recounts a richly detailed history that delivers lessons, recommendations, and roadmaps for the future of affordable urban living.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781770868120
Publisher:	Cormorant Books
Publication date:	09/20/2025
Pages:	240
Product dimensions:	7.00(w) x 9.00(h) x 1.00(d)

About the Author

Frank Lewinberg is the co-founder and partner emeritus of Urban Strategies, one of Canada's leading urban design and planning consultancies. He was responsible for the master plans of the St. Lawrence neighbourhood and has a continued interest in affordable housing. Based in his beloved Toronto, Ontario, Lewinberg's groundbreaking publications, including Study of the Reurbanisation of Metropolitan Toronto, have shaped the discussion on urban matters in the city.

Vincenzo Pietropaolo was a city planner with the City of Toronto for over fifteen years before turning to photography full-time. An award-winning photographer, Pietropaolo has been deemed “one of Canada's pre-eminent documentary photographers” by Canadian Geographic Magazine. A life-long chronicler of the City of Toronto, he is the author of numerous photobooks on social justice issues, often combining photography with his own writing. He and his partner still live in Toronto, where they are avid urban farmers in their own backyard.