DAS x SURP Lecture Series: Naama Blonder

This lecture qualifies for 1 OAA Structured Con Ed hour. Please register (external link)  in advance.

Naama Blonder has a bold vision: to change what good housing can and should look like in a growing city like Toronto; with that in mind, she co-founded Smart Density (external link) .

Her professional practice combines the disciplines of architecture, urban planning, and urban design to bring a deeper, more realistic understanding of how cities can address housing affordability and champion inclusive neighbourhoods with more equitable access to housing.

Her work has received numerous awards including the prestigious Ontario Association of Architects’ Best Emerging Practice Award for 2022. To fight stigma around housing, Blonder’s work seeks to inform both residents and industry colleagues about the mutually beneficial outcomes of reimagining what our big cities can look like: greater access to established public transport, shortened commutes, improved housing costs and vacancy rates, greater diversity in housing, and strengthened local economies and communities.

She practices what she preaches, living with her husband and two children in a multi-family building in a transit-accessible area of Toronto, where the park is their backyard.

This lecture is co-hosted by the Department of Architectural Science (DAS) and the School of Urban and Regional Planning (SURP) and is part of the Hemson Simpson Lecture Series.

Please be aware that this event/exhibition is being documented by Toronto Metropolitan University (the University). Photographs and/or video footage may be used by the University in any publication, multimedia production, display advertisement or online platform.