2019 Canadian City Parks Report

Park People launches the first Canadian City Parks Report, highlighting park trends, challenges, and leading practices in Canadian cities.

The Canadian City Parks Report finds tight parks budgets, increasingly extreme weather events, and changing use of parks by residents are challenging cities across the country. But it also finds many cities are leading the way on solutions through an increasing focus on collaborative partnerships, proactive parks planning, and inclusive engagement practices.

In the report, we share:

• A new collection of valuable city park data.
• Key indicators and stories that bring context to the data.
• Actionable ideas and park practices from across the country that support learning, inspire action, and foster a culture of information sharing among city staff, non-profits, funders, and community members.

Key Findings in Cities We Surveyed

Budgets tight while populations grow

Cities across Canada are experiencing budget constraints at the same time as growing populations and changing demographics create demand for more parks, amenities, and programming.
Resilience must be scaled up. As instances of extreme weather increase, additional pressure is placed on park systems to absorb effects, like flooding. While cities are piloting green infrastructure in parks, there is a need to scale up and standardize these efforts. We found only 48% of cities have citywide green infrastructure strategies that includes parks.

The future is connected

Population growth and urban development is necessitating a focus on proactive parks planning and creative methods to expand and connect parks. Currently 70% cities have updated park system master plans.

Partnerships are powerful

Cities are developing non-profit partnerships and collaborations with resident groups to bring creative programming, alternative funding, and specialized knowledge to help meet new demands on city parks. We found 74% of cities currently have at least one non-profit park partnership.

Inclusion means going deeper

Cities are beginning the work of ensuring parks foster inclusion by exploring their own policies and practices, increasing accessibility, and developing programs for newcomers.

Happy reading!