The Globe and Mail

Macklin Hancock points to his rubber boots. "I'm just a farmer," he says with a chuckle that wrinkles his elfin face. Some may see him more as a Renaissance man. Since both are probably right, there's no point settling on just one description of this Second World War Spitfire pilot, devoted family man, landscape architect and, as his business card says so matter-of-factly, designer of "towns and cities, environments and habitats." During his 52-year career, the 79-year-old's mind has been fertile ground for ideas for living that have sprouted up all over the world as healthy, inviting places for human beings to grow and feel good about themselves. I'd always wanted to meet Mr. Hancock, since I grew up beside his best-known habitat, Don Mills, and admire it for its cohesive planning, daring modern architecture and incorporation of "garden city" concepts first published by Ebenezer Howard in 1898. When Mr. Hancock gave me directions to his house over the telephone, I knew right away that he was my kind of guy: an abstract thinker and planner.