How to design cities for an aging population

Canada's getting older, and Canadians are having fewer kids, but who's making sure our urban centres are keeping up? As part of our By Design series, we're asking how to redesign cities, schools, and public institutions to reflect the coming changes in population trends.

Time could be running out for a huge number of public schools in the country's biggest city. Parents, teachers, politicians and planners in Toronto are all weighing in on a controversial proposal to shutter nearly 1 in 5 public schools across the city. Demographic changes are adding up to declining enrolment --a pattern that's playing out right across Canada.

Meanwhile, the population of seniors is spiking -- It's expected that by 2036, fully one quarter of Canadians will be over 65. So we can expect more challenging decisions on the horizon.

To find out more about the ongoing demographic shift -- and the impact it's having, we were joined by three guests:

• David Foot is a demographer and the author of Boom, Bust and Echo.
• Ken Greenberg is urban design consultant and the former Director of Urban Design and Architecture for the City of Toronto.
• Gil Penalosa is the founder and Chair of the Board of 8-80 Cities.

Let us know what you think.

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This segment was produced by The Current's Sujata Berry.