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Earlier this week it was reported that  in Toronto’s Financial District to talk about revitalizing the downtown area. In the first quarter of 2024  hit 12.7 per cent, a concern for the º£½ÇÉçÇø¹ÙÍøFinancial District BIA given the PATH, and its 1,100 retailers, restaurants and businesses, fall in its purview. The solution Olivia Chow discussed with bank CEOs, she revealed in an interview with the Star, is to encourage people back to the office four or five days a week, the rationale being increased foot traffic will help struggling businesses that are still trying to recover from the effects of the pandemic.

I don’t know about Mayor Chow, or any of the Bay Street CEOs, but the last time I worked in an office the one thing I couldn’t wait to do after a day’s work was leave the office behind and either go home or go elsewhere in the city where there was something I wanted to do

People go to work because they have to. People stay in a neighbourhood because they want to. Instead of asking how to get people back to the office to revitalize the Financial District, we should be assessing how we can shake up and enliven the neighbourhood so that people want to spend time there at any time of day — or night — on any day of the week.

While the Financial District isn’t the most residential of downtown neighbourhoods, it is surrounded by many, and according to  in a report prepared for the City of Toronto’s Planning Department, these neighbourhoods, including King West, King East, Regent Park, St. Lawrence, and the Bay corridor, based on the development pipeline, are expected to see a high growth in population — an increase of 101 per cent or more. The neighbourhood is also home to or within very short walking distance of several hotels, which means we shouldn’t be limiting a vision of revitalization to between the hours of 9 to 5.  

Personal priorities have shifted since March 2020. Workers save time and money with the flexibility offered by working from home. Forcing Financial District workers back to their offices may create demand for lunch spots and coffee shops in the PATH, but it won’t do much for a holistic revitalization of the neighbourhood.

However, there is a need for third spaces, places outside of work and home where people can come together to form and foster community. There’s no reason we can’t reimagine the Financial District. We need to dare to dream outside the box, something that doesn’t always come easy to this city.

, a U.S.-based non-profit research organization, has identified several ways to reimagine downtowns, one of which is to grow arts, culture and entertainment areas. And one thing Torontonians prove again and again is that if you close a street and activate it, people will fill it and happily spend time and money there. Any street festival proves this, last weekend’s Do West Fest being a prime example. , the 2023 edition of the weekend-long event attracted 750,000 people to the area. What could we do with a closed street in the Financial District?

Close Temperance Street one night a week and turn it into an open-air cinema for a film series, perhaps partnering with beleaguered Hot Docs given the temporary shuttering of its home. Or, turn the space into a summer-long block-long CafeTO patio for the nearby restaurants.

Turn the plaza in front of the TD Towers into a night market featuring restaurants and vendors in the PATH. Or turn the space over to the urban Indigenous communities for ongoing cultural programming.

Paint Pickleball courts on Melinda Street and offer free and accessible recreation space in the downtown core where public space is shrinking.

And if we need funding to help bring these ideas to life? Perhaps a few of the bank CEOs would chip in as a neighbourly gesture. Perhaps Mayor Chow could bend a few bylaws (if needed) to make implementing ideas like these easily achievable.