who took a chance on us, the Kiriakou family of Wexford Heights Plaza,” says Rotsztain. “Now that we have photos, testimonials and reports detailing the positive impacts public space projects have on businesses, it’s far easier to get a property owner on board. The pandemic also made things easier, demonstrating to business owners the value of vibrant public space, while also pushing them to improvise and do things they never would have otherwise.”

This year, plazaPOPS hired Wexford resident and urban planner Naziha Nasrin to lead their programming. “We wanted to reflect the needs of our community and give them things that they wanted to see,” says Nasrin. “This year we were able to host multiple workshops, including Arabic calligraphy, urban sketching, and an arts showcase hosted by a local resident who lives across the street.” Naziha is particularly proud of their dhaba, or night market, inspired by informal South Asian roadside eateries.

“When we held our first dhaba, we expanded our site and took up half the parking lot to have a big community night market that reflected the culture of our local residents along Lawrence,” says Naziha. “Many of the business owners are immigrants from South Asia and the Middle East and have a big culture of being outdoors on patios, sitting on chairs in parking lots and sipping on chai and watching the street life go by. One of the vendors told me, ‘I’m so happy I’m here. This event is a representation of the real Scarborough.’”

Toronto needs more of this adaptation of both policy and the urban form, not unlike how Italian immigrants applied for Toronto’s first licenced patio on St. Clair 1963. 

See for yourself at the next Wexford dhaba beginning at 6 p.m. on Fri., Sept. 13 at 2020 Lawrence Ave. E.