Urban design is, at its core, a deeply creative and relational practice — and this is especially true in large-scale redevelopment projects like Honest Ed’s, where architectural, heritage, retail, and social dimensions converge. Recognizing the need to capture the spirit and stories that defined this iconic site before it changed forever, the Honest Ed’s Project began as an independent public joy intervention aimed at celebrating the living cultural memory of the neighbourhood and amplifying voices too often excluded from conventional engagement processes.

Through a joyful, community-based storytelling initiative, more than 100 stories, images, and site-related artifacts were gathered in just twelve hours, revealing the rituals, relationships, and shared histories that gave Honest Ed’s its meaning far beyond its physical form. The process itself reflected the project’s core values: a collaboration with a photographer captured striking visual narratives; a team of notetakers and story-gatherers helped document community memories; and an online media and social media campaign extended the reach of the initiative, drawing participants not only from the surrounding neighbourhood but from across the city. The campaign also garnered amplification from Mirvish Productions, the site’s owner, further extending public engagement and visibility.

The project received positive media coverage for its innovative approach, and its success demonstrated the potential of public joy practices to transform how redevelopment projects engage with communities. What began as a grassroots intervention was ultimately embraced by Westbank, the developer, and integrated into its formal engagement strategy — featured prominently in the Markham House: City Building Lab as a model for centring memory, joy, and belonging in urban change.

By placing intangible cultural heritage — stories, images, rituals, and relationships — at the heart of redevelopment, the Honest Ed’s Project showed how public joy can reframe redevelopment not as erasure but as an opportunity to honour history while inviting new possibilities. It offers a blueprint for how large-scale urban change can be shaped by the people who know and love a place best, ensuring that joy and cultural continuity are carried forward into the future.