Toronto is a campus, and we are all students. As whole swaths of the city are colonized by academic institutions, the city is relearning the ways of urbanity.

Whether it’s Ryerson, the University of Toronto, George Brown or Centennial Colleges, post-secondary schools have wrought big changes to the landscape. This year has been no exception.

By their very nature, these changes have been good for Toronto. The closure of Gould St., for instance, brought a measure of balance to a city that has historically favoured cars over pedestrians. Though this is Ryerson’s main drag, it belonged to delivery trucks and drivers looking for a shortcut between Yonge and Church. Now it has been taken over by the school and given new life.

Work has also started on Ryerson Student Learning Centre. Occupying the old Sam the Record Man site at Yonge and Gould, it will mark the main entrance to the emerging campus.

At the former Maple Leaf Gardens, where a Loblaws opened just weeks ago, Ryerson’s new athletic facility is taking shape. Situated in the upper half of the cavernous Art Deco structure, it will enable the decommissioned shrine to find new meaning.