Regent Park vs Regent's Park

By: Lori Harito

I added Regent Park to those Google Alerts that are sent to your inbox everyday, and I've been noticing that there's a lot more written about Regent's Park in London, than Regent Park, Toronto. So I decided to take a look at these two Regent Park's. And it's funny to see that The Regent's Park in London, England is "London's Personal Space." It's a beautiful park in London, where apparently many films are shot in, with lot's of green space.

But Regent Park in Toronto is known ...well we all know the misconceptions that it has. So to me, when I picture it in my mind I see a sort of dark/Bright picture of Regent's Park.

According to the Regent's Park website, it is "the largest grass area for sports in Central London and offers a wide variety of activities, as well as an Open Air Theatre, the London Zoo and many cafes and restaurants."

When I receive the Google Alerts, I usually see this quirky messages that state how amazing Regent Park is, and such and such event is happening there, and I get all excited. But then I realize that it's not the Regent Park that I'm looking for :(

However, both Regent's seem to have multiculturalism in them. Regent's Park London hosts a Central Mosque, and Toronto's Regent Park's diversity is widespread for hosting many immigrant families.

One article that caught my eye was an article about Michael Prue, that talkd about a "working class" success story. What I thought was interesting was that they mentioned Regent Park as "Toronto's most infamous public housing project." Now that struck me as interesting, because I think it sums up how most people think and feel about Regent Park. It's infamous (which isn't necessarily a good thing), and I think some people can't look past Regent Park's reputation, but see it simply as just a "public housing project." Well, the project is over now, and people have started to look at it as a community, and I think more outsiders should start to see that.

When I compare that to Regent's Park, London, I get the feeling that people don't call it "infamous," but rather "famous," and relate to it more as a community. One post boasted about their house being near Regent's Park. How many people in Toronto would boast about living near Regent Park? (Well, maybe they will if the Redevelopment all goes to plan).

Overall, the reason why I decided to write about this, is because everyday I wake up to these Google Alerts, and I keep being reminded that apparently there are two VERY different Regent Parks. They are worlds apart, and look very different. And I keep hoping that one day Regent Park, Toronto will look just as beautiful as Regent's Park, London.