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TD Park People Grants support local leaders to organize environmental education, sustainability or stewardship events that bring people together across Canada.
A guidance and resources to measure the impact of your park work on community health and wellbeing, integrating a social equity lens.
Learn more about green social prescribing, an evolving practice that encourages individuals to reestablish connections with nature and one another to enhance their mental, physical, and social wellbeing.
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City parks staff steward some of our most vital yet undervalued public assets: urban parks and green spaces. These areas are far more than patches of grass, they are dynamic community hubs, crucial environmental infrastructure, and essential public health resources.
The annual Canadian City Parks Report (CCPR) equips municipal park staff, community advocates, non-profits, and the public with data and stories that make the case for parks. Between 2019 and 2024, the annually released report illuminated trends, challenges, and opportunities in how we plan, manage, and experience our shared green spaces. Forty-six municipalities participated over these years, collectively representing 48% of Canada’s population.
This report synthesizes the major findings from the CCPR over these pivotal years. It serves as a curated and thematically organized index of data and stories from across the years, with comments on the trends we witnessed through that time.
1- Health Imperative: Parks as Essential Public Health Investment
One of the most consistent trends across the CCPR data is the growing use and recognition of city parks as essential public spaces, a shift dramatically accelerated by the COVID-19 pandemic. What were once considered amenities are now firmly recognized as critical spaces that support the mental and physical health and well-being of city residents.
2- The Funding Gap: Resources and Capacity Constraints
Despite documented increases in park use and public valuing of parks, municipalities report ongoing financial and staffing constraints that limit their capacity to maintain and enhance park systems.
3- Environmental Function: Climate Adaptation and Biodiversity
Urban parks serve important environmental functions, particularly in climate adaptation and supporting urban biodiversity, roles that have gained increased attention as climate impacts intensify. Parks are more and more understood as ‘upstream solutions’ for the environmental and economic impacts of extreme weather events.
4- Equity and Access: Addressing Systemic Barriers
Participating municipalities reported on their efforts to address equity, inclusion, and reconciliation in park planning and management, reflecting broader societal reckonings with systemic barriers to park access and enjoyment.
5- Evolving Practice: Community Engagement and Complex Operations
Park management now encompasses complex social dimensions beyond traditional maintenance, including community engagement strategies and navigation of challenging urban issues that intersect with public space.
How the park sector can meet today’s complex challenges through partnerships and collaboration.
How Addressing Conflict and Reframing Challenges as Opportunities Can Create More Equitable and Sustainable Parks.
How collaboration, mindfulness, and power-sharing in parks can help nurture and repair relationships between ourselves, our communities, and the wider natural world.
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.
Trends, challenges, and leading practices in Canadian cities to inspire action, share learning, and track progress in city parks across the country.
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:
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!
Park People launches the second annual Canadian City Parks Report, highlighting the trends, challenges, and leading practices in Canadian cities to inspire action, share learning, and track progress in city parks across the country.
As we worked on stories about biodiversity, creative park development, community engagement, and homelessness, the world changed around us. But it quickly became apparent that these stories were not made irrelevant, but more urgent than ever.
This year, the report highlights new city park insights to shape the future of biodiversity, creative park development, community engagement, and approaches to homelessness in city parks.
In the report, we weave together the themes we heard from conversations with city staff with the data we gathered from our surveys of 27 municipalities and nearly 3,500 residents of Canadian cities.
How urban biodiversity improves our well-being and why that matters even more during COVID-19.
How we can both deepen the conversation about biodiversity and broaden it to include more people
Why habitat corridors are important for urban biodiversity and what cities are doing to make sure parks large and small are connected
As populations and development boom in many cities, finding space for new parks is creating challenges—and spurring innovation
How creative community groups and city support are growing connections through food in parks.
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.
Dive into the pdf to read about our key insights on trends and challenges in city parks:
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
Park People launches the fourth annual Canadian City Parks Report on Nurturing Relationships & Reciprocity: How collaboration, mindfulness, and power-sharing in parks can help nurture and repair relationships between ourselves, our communities, and the wider natural world.
This year’s report begins to move beyond the impacts of the pandemic to explore how the lessons we’ve learned over the last two years can point the way toward more equitable and creative ways of planning, designing, and programming parks.
In the report, we weave together the themes we heard from conversations with city staff with the data we gathered from our surveys of 30 municipalities and over 3,000 residents of Canadian cities.
How leaders from across the country are using different methods to promote a sense of connection to nature by meeting people where they’re at
How we can foster a greater sense of connection to nature through awareness, reciprocity, and gratitude—and why that matters.
How the pandemic has impacted park budgets and sparked a heightened focus on the importance of equity-led investment.
How park engagement can lay the foundation for relationships that last well beyond the end of a consultation period
How investing in ongoing trust-building beyond one-off consultations can help to repair relationships, redistribute power, and reimagine parks.
The unique opportunity of parks departments to play a positive role in addressing houselessness
Examining Prairie cities’ efforts to decolonize park spaces and honour the Indigenous histories of the land they are built upon
How collaborative funding approaches, and investment from other levels of government, are opening up new ways to support parks.
When we think of healthcare, we frequently picture hospitals, prescription drugs, and waiting areas. But what if the journey to recovery also included strolls in the park or gardening with your neighbours?
Park People views community and connection as a powerful tool for improving health and wellbeing. This is the essence of green social prescribing, an evolving practice that encourages individuals to reestablish connections with nature and one another to enhance their mental, physical, and social wellbeing.
“The thing about parks and ravines and natural areas is that they really deliver on a lot of public good. I mentioned physical health. Obviously, you’re active, you’re getting exercise, fresh air. Mental health is huge. You know, I live close to High Park, which is close to St Joseph’s Hospital, and I think of St Joe’s and High Park as the two key health care providers in my neighborhood, physical health, mental health, social cohesion, particularly in a city like Toronto.”
City of Toronto staff
Green social prescribing involves connecting individuals to nature-based programs and activities in the community, such as gardening, cultural gatherings, walking clubs, or arts in the park, to enhance their overall wellbeing1.
It’s about healing through connection with nature, with those around us, and with ourselves.
Such programs are not limited to clinics. They happen on the ground where individuals reside and gather. They are led by community leaders and passionate residents who understand what matters most to their neighbourhoods.
Traditionally, this model follows a pathway: a healthcare professional identifies a need, a link worker supports the person in exploring their interests and then connects them to community-based, nature-focused activities2. In this pathway, community programs serve as the social intervention, which allows the prescription to come to life.
A Link Worker (also referred to as a community connector, navigator, or coordinator) is a committed support person who ridges health and social care. They work with individuals to identify needs, set goals, and overcome barriers, while connecting them to community resources. Link Workers establish trust, co-create plans, and work alongside healthcare and social service providers, offering wraparound support as part of broader care team.
The prevalence of social isolation, anxiety, and burnout is increasing4. For numerous individuals, particularly those from racialized, immigrant, and low-income communities, accessing mental health services continues to be a challenge and poses several barriers5.
That’s where green social prescribing provides something impactful:
Research indicates that time spent in nature can alleviate stress, anxiety, and depression6. A study discovered that spending as little as 20 minutes in a park can greatly reduce cortisol levels, the hormone associated with stress.
Yet, beyond the scientific aspects, what Park People offers is this: supports for individuals reconnect with the environment, their culture, and one another.
Park People’s Sparking Change program wasn’t launched as a “green social prescribing” initiative. Rather, it represents the social intervention side of the pathway, the very kinds of community-led activities that people could one day be referred to in a healthcare-linked system.
Through cultural events, gardening, peer-led walks, and more, community champions are offering their own version of care rooted in place, culture, and joy. The program supports people to form groups that can organize activities in their local parks regularly over time, builds their capacity to advocate for improvements in their green spaces, and fosters partnerships to expand the range of activities and opportunities that community groups can take part in.
“We have witnessed firsthand the positive impacts that well-maintained parks and greenspace have on the health and wellbeing of our neighborhood’s residents. Through Sparking Change, we have worked to ensure that outdoor spaces are more inclusive and accessible, promoting physical activity, mental health, and bringing people together.”
Community member
In 2024, Sparking Change supported over 50 groups to activate greenspaces across Toronto. Together, they organized 110 days of programming and reached 3,300+ people. Nearly all participants (96%) reported stronger community connections7 and a large majority (80%) also said that through Sparking Change they feel a sense of belonging to their community.
Green social prescribing does not aim to replace traditional healthcare, rather, it seeks to expand our understanding of the various ways care can be experienced. It serves as a reminder that wellness does not only exist in clinics or hospitals, but can also be found in everyday settings: a nearby ravine, a community garden, or a group of neighbours gathered in the park.
At Park People, we’ve seen how community-led initiatives can reduce isolation, improve mental health, and bring joy through simple acts of gathering, caring, and connecting to nature.
“It’s been an eye opener and adventure locating and navigating Toronto’s beautiful parks, our seniors group facial expressions after entering the park, and seing such a wonderful site of luscious greenspaces with some of nature’s animals all around. Conversations of how good it feels to be in such a peaceful and serene place, offers a sense of wellbeing for us all. Thank you Park People.”
The challenge and opportunity is to build stronger bridges between community-led interventions like Sparking Change and the healthcare system. How can initiatives like Sparking Change be more connected to the healthcare system? What would it look like for healthcare providers to prescribe a walking group in a local park? How might link workers and healthcare providers collaborate with community champions to ensure people get referred to programs that reflect their needs, languages, and culture?
To make this vision possible, future steps could include:
By making these connections, cities can unlock the potential of green social prescribing.
Because when we invest in community care in every aspect, we’re not only creating healthier cities;
We’re fostering a sense of belonging.
Financing City Parks in Canada surveys the landscape of park funding in Canada, exploring options to ensure reliable and sustainable funding for Canada’s parks. The paper asks questions such as: How much should be spent on parks? How should they be financed? Who should pay? It outlines the major strengths and weaknesses of approaches and breaks down which are appropriate, realistic, and sustainable.
There is no singular or unequivocal business model that addresses the best way to finance capital and operating costs of city parks. There are, however, a number of possibilities; some are used in different cities in Canada and elsewhere, and some may be used in the future.
Explore the landscape of park funding in Canada
This past Fall, as golden leaves lined Toronto’s winding trails, communities across the city gathered once again to celebrate Ravine Days, a city-wide celebration honouring the natural beauty and importance of Toronto’s ravine system. In partnership with the City of Toronto, Park People’s InTO the Ravines program continues to support local leaders and grassroots groups who are finding creative ways to connect people to nature, community, and care for these vital green spaces.
This year, the stories emerging from the ravines remind us that connection can take many forms, whether through the quiet wonder of a starry sky, the joyful presence of our pets, or the rhythmic heartbeat of a drum.
On a crisp September evening, a group of curious Torontonians gathered at Morningside Park’s Highland Creek Ravine for something extraordinary: a chance to look up.
Hosted by The Scarborough Sky, a 2025 InTO the Ravines Alumni Microgrant recipient, the event invited participants to explore the relationship between urban light, nature, and the night sky. Using the ravine’s natural landscape to shield some of the city’s glow, guests were able to see Saturn and its iconic rings, trace constellations, and even catch a glimpse of a drone show lighting up the horizon.
For many, it was their first time peering through a telescope, testing out the provided equipment, learning the basics of astronomy, and rediscovering a sense of awe that can be hard to find in the city. The event was more than a stargazing night; it was a reminder that the ravines are not only spaces for animal habitat and stewardship and restoration, but also for wonder, learning, and connection to the vastness beyond us.
Over in High Park, another 2025 InTO the Ravines Microgrant recipient, Paws for Parks, brought together a different kind of community: people and their pups!
In partnership with the High Park Nature Centre, this volunteer-led group hosted a fun and educational event where 25 dog owners and their four-legged friends joined a guided walk through the park. Along the way, they learned practical tips for keeping parks safe and healthy for all creatures, human and otherwise.
The group’s message was simple yet powerful: small actions make a big difference. By picking up after our pets, keeping dogs leashed (except in designated areas), staying on trails, and being mindful of wildlife, we can all play a role in protecting the green spaces we love. The day ended with a shared meal, laughter, and new friendships, a beautiful example of how care for nature and community go hand-in-hand or in this case: paw-in-paw.
“The ravine is a really great way to exercise and relax and people can learn to be in harmony with nature as city people are so accustomed to manicured landscapes that they sometimes forget how to be part of nature but once you explain the benefits people are more inclined to come back on their own as well.”
Event Attendee
On a sunny afternoon, community members gathered near the St. Clair West Station with Teresa to take part in a guided walk and ceremony celebrating the rich natural and cultural history of the Cedarvale Ravine. The event opened with a land acknowledgement and a brief discussion about the ravine’s wetlands—an essential ecosystem that supports local wildlife, improves urban biodiversity, and provides meaningful opportunities for nature connection in the heart of the city. Participants were then honoured to join an Indigenous ceremony led by Anishinaabe grandmother Vivian Recollet, who shared teachings while offering water and strawberries, grounding the group in gratitude and respect for the land.
Volunteers were equipped with gloves and garbage bags to help clean the trail as they explored the ravine’s winding paths. Along the way, organizers highlighted wetland features and pointed out wildlife spotted throughout the route, deepening participants’ appreciation of the ravine’s ecological importance. Midway through, the group paused at a picnic area to enjoy snacks and juice while taking part in a hands-on craft activity: creating ribbon-braid bracelets in blue, green, and yellow to represent the sky, trees, and sun. The event created a meaningful blend of environmental stewardship, cultural learning, and joyful community connection.
“I learned a lot of interesting things about the ravine. I especially liked learning about how the landscape was formed by water and how much of the area used to be underwater.”
Event attendee
Community members gathered at Cedar Ridge Park and Gardens with Vera, overlooking the beautiful Highland Creek ravine, for a meaningful afternoon of cultural learning and nature connection. The event opened with a Land Acknowledgement, followed by an Indigenous smudging and drumming ceremony that grounded participants in gratitude and respect for the land. These opening moments set a reflective tone, honouring the deep relationships Indigenous peoples hold with the ravines and inviting participants to approach the day with openness and intention.
From there, attendees began a guided hike into the ravine, accompanied by Indigenous Elders who offered teachings on place, stewardship, and the importance of slowing down to build personal relationships with nature. Along the trail, participants took part in an “En Plein Air” outdoor art experience, choosing either open-air sketching and painting or quiet journaling as a way to deepen their connection to the landscape. This creative practice encouraged participants not only to observe the ravine but to truly sit with it, reflect on it, and express their experiences. The activity also served as an invitation for people to return on their own in the future to continue sketching, writing, and connecting with Cedar Ridge’s unique natural spaces. The event blended learning, creativity, and community in a way that strengthened participants’ sense of belonging and stewardship for the ravine.
Each of these events, though unique, reflects a shared vision: empowering local leaders to bring their communities together in the ravines through creativity, stewardship, and connection.
From astronomy nights under the stars to mindful walks with our pets, and drum-led healing circles, the 2025 InTO the Ravines program continues to highlight how community-driven events can spark curiosity, responsibility, and care for these essential green spaces.
As Ravine Days and the Into the Ravines Program wrap up for another year, the echoes of laughter and sometimes barking, music, and discovery linger among the trees and through the rumbling of the ravine, reminding us that when we connect with our ravines, we connect with each other, with nature, and with the city we call home.
“I truly appreciate the care and compassion Park People have for our ravines. I thought I already had a deep appreciation for them, but it has grown even more since the program”
InTO the Ravines Champion
After three years without air conditioning, my partner and I finally bought one. Before that, we would sit in front of fans, or, even better, plunge into the Don Valley ravine to beat the summer heat. It was there, leafy trees above me, that I would find relief.
I thought about this as I watched British Columbians deal with an extreme heat event. I know from growing up in Vancouver that few people have air conditioners, which made me think about the role parks play in heat crises–and who has access to life-saving trees and green space.
It’s no secret that our cities are getting hotter due to climate change and that Canada is warming faster than the rest of the world. By building concrete cities, we’ve created “urban heat islands” that absorb the sun’s heat, keeping temperatures hot into the night.
This extreme heat is uncomfortable, but also deadly. More than 700 people died during BC’s recent heat wave. In 2018, 66 people died in a Montreal heat wave. People who lived in neighbourhoods deemed urban heat islands were twice as likely to die.
This will only get worse. As we outlined in our recent Canadian City Parks Report, Health Canada notes that by the middle of the 21st century the number of days with temperatures over 30 degrees will double in Canadian cities. A 2018 study found that, depending on mitigation measures, Canada could see a rise of 45% to 455% in heat-related deaths between 2031 and 2080. If that’s not a national health crisis, I’m not sure what is.
Green spaces are fundamental to reducing the urban heat island effect. We all know the bliss of standing under a shady tree, but vegetation also helps cool cities through evapotranspiration. This is basically when plants sweat, cooling the air around them.
Not every park is the same. A review by the David Suzuki Foundation found that size, (bigger parks extended benefits), shape (irregular-shaped parks increase cooling effects), and connectivity (closer together parks were cooler) have big impacts on the heat-mitigating powers of parks.Even plantings make a difference. Sorry to the lawn lovers, but densely planted naturalized meadows are better at cooling than grass. This makes projects like Vancouver’s recent low-mow meadows, which naturalize park lawns to support biodiversity, an important climate resilience project.
Parks also provide places for people to build social connections. This can quickly become life-saving during a crisis, where people who may be isolated and more vulnerable to heat–like older adults–are able to draw on connections for help. As one study put it, the social connections afforded by parks “may be a lifeline in extreme temperatures.”
This highlights the importance of redressing inequities in high-quality green space access–another topic explored in Park People’s 2021 Canadian City Parks Report.
Multiple studies have shown that wealthier, often whiter, neighbourhoods are also greener. As Health Canada notes, neighbourhoods most affected by heat “disproportionately impact marginalized populations and residents of lower-income communities” who have less green space.
Even when trees exist, they are healthier in wealthier neighbourhoods. A Canadian study found neighbourhoods with high socioeconomic vulnerability had fewer trees and less resilient canopies.
As journalist Jen St. Denis pointed out, urban heat islands map onto areas of Vancouver based on income, with wealthier west side neighbourhoods greener and thus cooler than east side neighbourhoods.
Canadian cities are beginning to step up with more equity-focused plans that, with proper funding and implementation, could start to redress these inequities.
Vancouver’s recent parks master plan includes a mapping tool using indicators such as tree canopy coverage to prioritize green space investments. Ontario’s Peel Region has also done heat mapping, noting that this could be used to target improvements for vulnerable populations.
Meeting this challenge will require an all-hands-on-deck approach. It must involve parks departments, but also streets, city planning, and community organizations. Federal funding for green infrastructure and tree planting should contain equity guidance to ensure improvements are made in the areas that need them first.
If we all work together, we can create cooler, greener, more equitable cities.
This article first appeared on TorontoStar.com, July 7, 2021.
This case study is part of the 2021 Canadian City Parks Report, showcasing Inspiring projects, people, and policies from across Canada that offer tangible solutions to the most pressing challenges facing city parks.
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As climate change brings more droughts, floods, and other extreme weather, cities across Canada are embarking on a new phase of planning parks as networks of green infrastructure. This means engineering green spaces to enhance natural processes, such as designing parks as sponges to soak up excess rainwater and reduce flood risk.
These parks do triple duty by buffering the impacts of extreme weather, boosting biodiversity by increasing natural habitat, and providing places for people to gather and recreate. Canadians are supportive of these initiatives, with 92% of the nearly 3,500 Canadians we surveyed in April 2021 saying this type of climate-resilient infrastructure should be embedded into parks.
Following two devastating floods in the Pointe-Gatineau and Lac-Beauchamp districts in 2017 and 2019, heavily impacted properties were ceded to the city and residents relocated. A master plan process* to revitalize the vacant lots was initiated in 2020 and led by the Conseil Régional de l’Environnement et du Développement Durable de l’Outaouais* with a working group, of which Park People was also a part.
Through this master plan, the city hoped, with community input, to redesign areas along the Ottawa river for better flood protection and community connection. Rather than proposing broad changes, the resulting plan lays out a toolbox approach at the lot level with a set of actions that can be implemented depending on a particular local context by either the city or community groups. This toolbox includes 25 typologies within five categories:
“One primary goal of the project was to elevate and inspire momentum so people take action,” said Manon Otto, from Mandaworks studio, the urban designer on the project. “We needed to harvest their energy and their interest for the project by providing a toolbox that is totally democratic.”
For more in depth analysis of this project, read Park People’s case study made possible by the Intact Centre for Climate Adaptation.
Down on the shores of Toronto’s Lake Ontario, a massive park and new neighbourhood is taking shape.
Led by Waterfront Toronto in coordination with the City of Toronto, the Don Mouth Naturalization and Port Lands Flood Protection project will create new parks and natural habitat. It will also provide flood protection by re-naturalizing the mouth of the Don River and carving out a new island neighbourhood.
Waterfront Toronto Parks and Public Realm Project Director Shannon Baker said that the project is designed to withstand a regional flood, but also fluctuating lake levels. Michael van Valkenburgh Associates, the landscape architects, studied river mouths and wetlands along Lake Ontario to inform the design approach.
The goal is not to block water or prevent it from rising and ebbing, but “to accept it and just be resilient to it in the same way that a natural system would be,” Baker said. For example, vegetation was carefully selected for species that “can bend and flex and allow water to move through.”
Designing a new river mouth means taking into account the interconnectedness of different ecosystems. Waterfront Toronto Project Manager Pina Mallozzi said that they had to pay special attention to plantings in the wetland areas. Since the riverfront wetlands will need to deal with sediment and other detritus that float down the river, the plants had to be carefully chosen to ensure they can survive under those conditions.
“It’s a heavily engineered project but at the end of the day it will feel like a very big green natural park space and that will be the success of the project,” Mallozzi said.
The Sustainable Neighbourhood Action Program is a “collaborative model for sustainable urban renewal and climate action that focuses on the neighbourhood scale,” Brampton city staff said. SNAP “focuses on empowering communities by engaging them on neighbourhood-based solutions and placemaking.”
The program works through partnerships, including the City of Brampton, Toronto Region Conservation Authority, Credit Valley Conservation, the Region of Peel, and community-based organizations and businesses. Through these partnerships, SNAP takes into account both community needs and city resilience priorities to create a customized action plan that identifies projects, such as retrofits to existing spaces.
One such project, Upper Nine Pond, was identified through the County Court SNAP process and opened in 2020. The goal was to meet both resilience and community public space needs by redesigning the stormwater pond to enhance water quality and create “an attractive public space that includes a trail, seating, and natural features,” staff said.
Completed in 2020, this 17-hectare park manages 100% of stormwater onsite, including the ability to hold more water than from a 200 year flood. The park’s green infrastructure elements, including 9,000 square metres of rain gardens, were paid for through a $750,000 grant from the Federation of Canadian Municipalities Climate Innovation Program funded by the Federal Government.
City staff noted the park also contains Ontario’s first double-use water system in the park’s splash pad, which will collect and treat water onsite and re-use it for irrigation–reducing the amount of water needed in the park.
Opened in 2019, the 3.5-hectare Saigon Park includes a major stormwater management facility through a central pond designed to provide water control for nearby neighbourhoods from a 100 year storm event. The pond and its naturalized plantings also improves aquatic habitat and water quality.
The park also contains a one-kilometre walking loop with fitness stations and uses public art to highlight the environment through a piece entitled “A Year in Weather” by artist Ferruccio Sardella.
According to the city’s public art collection website, “this work is a celebration of the storm-water management project at Saigon Park and represents the balance between weather, natural systems, and built environment.”
Winner of the 2021 Canadian Society of Landscape Architects Jury’s Award of Excellence for Large-Scale Public Landscapes, Calgary’s Dale Hodges Park transforms land that was once a gravel quarry along the Bow River into a 40-hectare park and stormwater treatment facility that addresses runoff from over 1,700 hectares of the surrounding area.
Dale Hodges Park traces “the journey of stormwater through a series of curated experiences, collaboratively designed with The City’s Parks, Water Resources and Public Art departments, emphasizing the flow of water through the landscape,” the CSLA website states, calling it “a new type of high-performance public space.”
Montreal is transforming McGill Avenue in the heart of downtown from a paved street to a naturalized landscape through a design chosen through an open competition. The winning design best met the city’s objectives of expanding green space, reducing the urban heat island effect from paved surfaces, and increasing resilience and biodiversity through a rich and diverse plant selection.
The winning concept aims to reinvent the Avenue as a series of small, natural, and comfortable “living rooms,” linked by a long border bench and a furrow of water. The new space will offer users of the city centre a daily immersion in nature, in contrast with the built density of the surrounding downtown.
Increasing green space and tree canopy in a dense urban environment by redesigning a street to be more park-like will help the city adapt to climate change impacts, said Noémie Bélanger, planning advisor for the Sainte-Catherine and McGill College projects. But transforming a street into a more green environment is also challenging given the need to take into account a series of underground utilities that can limit the planting opportunities at the surface.
Successfully establishing a young forest in the middle of a city centre so that it becomes a functional support for biodiversity requires the involvement of experts capable of planning the growth of plant layers and their maintenance, which the city has also recognized as an opportunity to involve local community members and academic researchers. According to Bélanger, although planning practices have evolved towards more ecological approaches and cities are increasingly integrating these criteria in their design requirements, there are still opportunities for cities to develop tools to monitor and evaluate climate change challenges within city parks.
The St. George Rainway shows the potential of stream “daylighting,” whereby formerly buried streams are resurrected, but also the importance of community advocacy in raising new ideas. What began as a community vision more than a decade ago to restore a lost waterway in Vancouver’s Mt. Pleasant neighbourhood is now moving forward through a city public consultation process.
“St George Street was once home to the Statlew, also known as St George Creek,” the city’s project website states. “In the early 1900s, this historic creek was buried underground to make way for roads and houses. The St George Rainway aims to reimagine this historic waterway through implementing green rainwater infrastructure features that capture and clean rainwater from local streets and sidewalks.”
“The Rainway has potential to not only provide essential rainwater management services, but also create a unique blue-green corridor that provides enhanced public space, street improvements, and more greenery and biodiversity to the neighbourhood,” the city states.
The project follows other Vancouver stream daylighting projects such as through Tatlow and Volunteer Parks, which we covered in the 2020 Canadian City Parks Report.