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OVERVIEW

2021 Canadian City Parks Report: Centring Equity and Resilience

Park People

Jun 21, 2021
Canada-wide

2021 Canadian City Parks Report

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Third report highlighting significant trends, issues, and practices shaping Canada’s city parks.

For more information, reach out to:
jsammy@parkpeople.ca

Park People launches the third annual Canadian City Parks Report on Centring Equity and Resilience: How parks can help create more equitable, resilient cities—not only as we recover from COVID-19, but as we address another looming crisis: climate change.

Park use during the pandemic spiked across the country as people flooded into outdoor spaces to seek safe ways to connect with others, experience nature, and get some exercise. Parks became more important to Canadians in their daily lives, but cities also faced new challenges with rising demands and public health considerations.

In the report, we weave together the themes we heard from conversations with city staff with the data we gathered from our surveys of 32 municipalities and nearly 3,500 residents of Canadian cities. 

Key Insights

Dive into the pdf to read about our key insights on trends and challenges in city parks:

  1. Parks saw high use and showed high value
  2. New challenges brought new ways of using parks
  3. Parks were recognized as critical public health infrastructure.
  4. The equity gap was made clearer
  5. Climate action through parks is a growing priority

Case studies

How climate change is impacting how we plan, design, and maintain parks.

Whether converting streets to cool green oases, designing parks that celebrate water, or re-naturalizing the mouths of entire rivers, these eight Canadian projects point a way forward to more climate resilient cities.

How using an environmental justice lens can help tackle climate change resilience and inequity in parks.

Moving more towards nature-based solutions that view parks as key pieces of green infrastructure.

How Canadian cities can harness the power of park philanthropy—and address some of its challenges

How BIPOC park leaders are centring conversations of justice and power in parks

Launch Webinar: Watch the Recording

Happy reading!

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