Women Plan Toronto (1985 - 2000) and Toronto Women’s City Alliance (2004 - and struggling on): Experiences and Lessons

Regula (Reggie) Modlich, a retired urban planner, is still passionate and active in getting our gendered reality recognized both by Toronto City Council and the planning profession.

Modlich worked as professional planner from 1963 to 1994; her employers included Private Consultants, the cities of Toronto and Oshawa and the town of Aurora; her assignments ranged from Official Plans, participatory urban renewal and business improvement areas projects, policy and parks planning,  to heritage preservation.
 
The year 1962/63 saw Modlich volunteer with CUSO as a village development worker with women in a tiny village in India.
 
In 1975, when Modlich had her children and earned a Masters in Environmental Studies degree at the Faculty of Environmental Studies, York University, she became aware of the gendered nature of communities, and the planning profession. In 1990 she had the opportunity to teach a course on “Women and Environments,” while standing in for a professor on sick leave. She was Managing Editor for Women & Environments International Magazine for almost 10 years, founding member of Women Plan Toronto and its successor Toronto Women’s City Alliance, in which she is still active. She co-ordinates the group’s Planning Team and helps prepare gender lens submissions to Toronto’s Official Plan Review, and other urban issues.
 
In 1988, Modlich was nominee for the YWCA Women Of The Year award, and in 1995 she received the City of Toronto, Constance Hamilton Award.
 
Born in 1939, in Zurich, Switzerland and raised partly in Germany, Modlich immigrated to Canada in 1957.
She is married to Nikos Evdemon, an award winning  cinematographer, has two sons and two granddaughters;
She loves the company of her close friends, playing her mother’s violin, looking after her flowers, cycling and swimming.

Community Outreach

Women's Rights

Equality Rights

Sociology

Institutional Development

Gender and Urban Planning 

Valuing the Traditional Urban Fabric through a Gender Lens.

Women not welcome on Toronto’s executive committee

Urban Planner

Toronto Women's City Alliance brought together a diverse group of women to examine and discuss the gendered effects of the City of Toronto's Official Plan.  
Videography by Mr. Asante
YouTube.com/Asantefilm

Toronto Women's City Alliance Official Plan Teach-In September 2013

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