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This case study is part of the 2020 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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Much of the low hanging fruit is gone, but cities are finding the fruit higher up tastes a bit more interesting. Or, as Ann-Marie Nasr, Toronto’s Parks Development and Capital Projects Director put it: “Part of not having a lot of land around to turn into parks means you become more inventive, right?”
Nasr is overseeing a burst in innovative park building, including rooftop recreation facilities, parks over rail corridors, and linear parks in hydro corridors. Vancouver’s experience is similar, with designs for a new downtown park including an elevated walkway. “We need to think in three dimensions,” Dave Hutch, the Vancouver Park Board’s Planning Director said, and “use every square inch, especially on small sites.”
While the majority of the projects in this article were in development before COVID-19, physical distancing requirements have put additional pressure on cities to creatively and quickly expand public space, potentially bolstering arguments for and accelerating planning for new public spaces.
However, as these constraints push public space creation into so-called “leftover” spaces in a city, such as under a highway or along rail lines, it can have unintended effects. This includes displacing people occupying those spaces for shelter and potentially spurring gentrification.
Despite its popularity, many have criticized New York’s elevated High Line park as contributing to unaffordable housing and catering to overwhelmingly white visitors despite the racial diversity of the neighbourhood. In response, the Friends of the High Line spun out a new entity called the High Line Network to advise infrastructure reuse parks on more inclusive practices. Toronto’s Bentway and The Meadoway are the groups only Canadian members. The Network has published toolkits with strategies for community-based planning and equitable development principles, which can be helpful guides as Canadian cities embark on a new era of park building.
One trend likely to grow is building parks on top of other infrastructure, like a parking garage. These are called strata parks because of their stratified ownership: the city doesn’t own the land underneath, just the layer on top.
On its face, it seems like a win-win situation. A property owner gets to build something and the city gets a park on top. But in reality, strata parks present a number of logistical, design, and legal challenges with which cities are grappling.
The structural integrity of what is below dictates the amount of soil you can place on top, which impacts landscaping. Additionally, when the waterproof membrane separating the park from the structure below needs replacing or maintenance, the park must often be scraped off and rebuilt. These parks can end up less green because of these factors, Nasr said—an issue when cities facing climate change want to add more greenery for stormwater management and urban heat mitigation.One city that has seen rising pressure to accept strata parks is Richmond Hill. “Land value has appreciated quite substantially in the last 10 years,” said Michelle Dobbie, the city’s Park Planning Manager, leading developers to maximize land by pushing parking underground.
Aside from the design challenges of strata parks, there’s a host of legal and logistical implications, like long-term financial liability for future upgrades. Recognizing that this pressure is not abating, Richmond Hill has commissioned a study to look at strata parks and help guide its decisions on accepting this type of parkland.
Vancouver’s plans for a new park partially on top of the redeveloped Oakridge Mall shows both the promise and complexity of strata parks. The 3.6 hectare park will rise from ground level onto the mall’s roof with areas for social gathering, gardening, and sports. Using the roof allowed the city to create a much larger park, Hutch said.
The Park Board worked hard to negotiate an ownership structure with the mall, Hutch said, including a provision that park maintenance and future capital renewal are paid for and done by the landowner, not the Park Board. A first for the Park Board, this was negotiated due to the complexity of having multiple maintenance crews on site and liability if a Park Board staff person damaged the protective membrane. An operating committee including Park Board and mall staff will be created to troubleshoot issues.
As we reported in last year’s Canadian City Parks Report, parks planning is increasingly concerned with connectivity. Linear parks, trails, and other green spaces that thread their way through tight spots—repurposing rail corridors and hydro corridors to do so—are becoming more common.
One such project is the Edmonton High Level Line, a vision by a group of community members that has caught city officials’ attention. The plan proposes connecting neighbourhoods along a 4km route using an existing rail corridor across the North Saskatchewan River. It’s an idea that follows the principles of connectivity put forward in the city’s 2019 Downtown Public Places Plan.
The project envisions tying existing parks together, but also plays off opportunities on private lands. For example, property owners could develop their sites to open up onto the Line or provide amenities. “Edmonton has this great asset in the North Saskatchewan River and the River Valley…but it also acts as a real barrier,” said Kevin Dieterman, spokesperson for the group. But the project isn’t just about moving from A to B, he said, it’s “the experience that you have along the way.”
Land in the public right-of-way, such as streets, is increasingly being viewed as a resource for temporary and permanent public space creation. New designs that employ low curbs and special paving allow streets to be used more flexibly. Toronto calls this design approach “parks plus.” As Nasr explained: “If you think of it as an equation, parks plus streets equals an amazing public realm.”
However, it’s Montreal that has been a pioneer with 15 shared/pedestrian streets developed in the last five years adding to the 50 already in existence. The city’s Shared and Pedestrian Streets Program (“Le Programme de rues piétonnes et partagées”), which has developed an inspirational catalogue, supports the implementation of projects that reflect the culture of a neighbourhood, including a participatory design process.
While street reallocations have been happening for years, the practice accelerated during COVID-19. Starting in April, cities across Canada including Winnipeg, Toronto, Montreal, and Vancouver, began turning over car lanes to pedestrians to create temporary public space to help with physical distancing. Advocates and urbanists have since deepened that conversation. For example, placemaker Jay Pitter highlighted the “spatial inequities” that underscore the limits of such reallocations and which populations they serve. She has called for the need to centre discussions around racial and socioeconomic inequities, and specifically anti-Black racism, as cities expand public space—a call that other writers have echoed. Rising incidents of anti-Asian racism in public spaces, for example, have also been reported in Canada during the pandemic.
Over a third of cities we surveyed reporting increasing demand for privately-owned public space development (POPS). POPS are built and maintained by private property owners, with city agreements to ensure public access. Cities like Toronto and Vancouver already have many POPS, while Mississauga, Richmond Hill, and Waterloo said they were contemplating their use.
“I think being clear about [POPS’] role and function is really important,” said Nasr. In Toronto, POPS have been used to create a more connected public realm, like a landscaped walkway or small gathering space in the front of a building, but not to replace requirements for parks. They can also help take some pressure off parks in dense areas, Nasr said.However, the “publicness” of POPS have been called into question with disputes over access and encroachment from businesses. And since they’re privately owned, these spaces could be redeveloped over time, as has happened in Vancouver. In a bid to raise awareness and promote better design and visibility, Toronto mapped POPS and produced design guidelines and a signage strategy to clarify that POPS were public spaces.
Weighing the cost and benefits of expanding parkland versus improving the parkland you have should be part of the discussion, said Chris Hardwick, Principal at 02 Planning + Design, who has worked on park plans in Edmonton, Halifax, Toronto, and Winnipeg.
In cases where land is expensive and scarce, the best strategy may be to deploy resources to improve parkland to ensure it’s performing its best, Hardwick argued. However, it’s critical for cities to get ahead of development by targeting land acquisition in areas that are slated for growth, as opposed to playing catch up later.
Different challenges exist in different urban contexts, depending on growth and demographic change, he said. Some cities are dealing with a lack of park space, while others are dealing with too much or the wrong kind of spaces. For example, Prince George reported turning underused baseball diamonds into dog parks.
Other cities are in between. They’re shifting from a more suburban style of development to higher density development, necessitating shifts in policies, financial tools, and planning to ensure new neighbourhoods have the parks they need as they grow. For example, Surrey reported land banking in growth areas to prepare for future development.
Toronto’s Nasr said that suburban malls are becoming another focus of new park development, with some malls slated to be transformed into the centres of new, dense neighbourhoods. “They’re big blocks of land in which parks become an organizing element to inform those transformations,” said Nasr.Toronto has three major mall redevelopments underway that contain new anchor parks, including Cloverdale, Yorkdale, and Agincourt. In neighbouring Mississauga, the redevelopment of Square One Mall will include 37 towers and new parks.
If you want to see a park staffer cringe, just mention dog parks. There’s hardly a park amenity more controversial than setting aside space for dogs to run off-leash in green space.But off-leash dog areas are also increasingly in demand, as 85% of cities noted in our survey, and they can provide important social benefits. However, cities are challenged to find suitable land and deal with community concerns. The COVID-19 crisis further complicates the issue as many Canadian cities including Edmonton, Ottawa, Calgary, and Toronto restricted, or closed, off-leash parks to encourage physical distancing. In May, Edmonton opened up off-leash parks as part of its first phase of re-opening. However, longer-term physical distancing requirements may challenge cities already struggling to provide enough off-leash space.
As cities grow, so does our population of four-legged friends. Many cities are under pressure to create more space for dogs, while juggling demand for other park uses, which leads to conflicts.
In 2011, Waterloo dropped a pilot to create six off-leash areas due to lack of public support and is now looking to expand their one off-leash area to three. Guelph city council nearly closed the city’s only fenced-in leash-free park due to community complaints, before reversing course. The animosity can quickly reach ridiculous heights. In Toronto, someone locked up an off-leash dog area and a resident played recordings of barking out a window to rile up the dogs.
Conflict with natural areas is another area of concern, with the potential for off-leash dogs to trample sensitive plantings and disturb wildlife. Ron Buchan, Parks Community Strategist for the City of Calgary, said that the city has turned down community requests for new off-leash areas adjacent to natural areas. However, of the city’s 152 off-leash areas, only 11 are fenced, meaning that in parks where existing off-leash areas abut natural spaces, there is nothing physically stopping dogs from heading into sensitive habitats. To address this, Calgary is working on initiatives that include a park ranger program targeted to high user conflict areas, education on habitat restoration and dog etiquette, and an adopt-a-park program to encourage stewardship.
The number of off-leash areas varies widely between cities and many appear to have been planned in an ad hoc manner. Finding appropriate sites to locate off-leash areas is difficult, especially in cities already dealing with park deficiencies.
“There are many areas in Hamilton that are parkland deficient,” Hamilton city staff said. “There is a bit of a tug of war between folks who want land for people and those that want it for dogs.” In an indication of how challenging space constraints have become, the last two off-leash areas the city created were approved by council direction even though they didn’t conform to the city’s policies on size.
A citywide strategy for managing and expanding off-leash areas can go a long way to alleviating concerns—both from dog owners and others, said Eric Code, founder of the 2,000 member Toronto Dog Park Community Group. “If you’re going to walk across a tight-wire, you need a pole,” he said. “That’s what policy is.”
We found one third of cities have off-leash strategies that include planning and design criteria for establishing and managing areas citywide. In Calgary, Buchan said the city’s decade old management plan helped “tremendously” by providing a clear decision-making framework for where and how to expand off-leash areas and clarity in responding to residents. In Ottawa, the city uses a point system to designate off-leash areas. The city allows dogs off-leash in 175 parks and in 62 others only in certain areas or at certain times, with nine of these areas fenced-in.
For Eric Code, the benefits of the dog park go far beyond being a place for his dog to play—they create a sense of community, providing a “third space” between work and home where he connects with others.
Taking your dog to the park makes it easier to start up a conversation with a stranger, Code said. You wouldn’t necessarily go up to people throwing a ball around and start chatting, Code said. But you can easily meet new people at the dog park.
“In today’s world, especially in Toronto, where life can be a bit cold, there’s a small town feeling in dog parks that you just can’t get elsewhere,” he said. The importance of dog parks for social connection is backed up by research. One study found having dogs increased the likelihood of people meeting others in their community, acting as an ice-breaker, while another study found that dogs help reduce feelings of social isolation and increase the chance of building social support networks. Dog parks have also been shown to increase perceptions of safety as dog owners use parks in the “off hours” of early morning or evening.
Some Canadian cities rely on, or are developing, programs that involve community members to fundraise for and manage dog parks—a response to both budgetary pressures and desires for greater community engagement.
After noting the city’s “limited resources,” Edmonton is studying the creation of community-operated off-leash areas to help expand offerings. Montreal’s Club d’Agilite de Montreal is run by a community non-profit that provides space for dog agility training. And in Gatineau the 1,200 member Aylmer Canine Club has an agreement with the city to run an off-leash area in Paul Pelletier Park.
But it’s Mississauga that has the most developed community-run off-leash arrangement out of the cities we surveyed. In 1997, a city by-law created off-leash zones in parks, but also placed the costs and management on a non-profit called Leash-Free Mississauga; however, in 2016 due to funding challenges as demand grew, the city stepped in with financial support.
In Calgary, where the city runs a volunteer program called P.U.P.P.Y (Pick Up Pooch’s Poo Yourself), Buchan said that dog park community groups help reduce complaints as people take on a stewardship role.
Eric Code noted that programs to get residents more involved in dog parks can be a way to harness people’s frustrations for good. It can help build a sense of responsibility, reducing incidents of dog owners not respecting the rules.
“If you make people volunteers, and give them the ability to make the dog park better, they’re going to take that much more care and pride in it.” Code said.
This case study is part of the 2019 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.
Though the impression from outsiders of Canada as an always cold, frozen country is a myth, it’s impossible to deny that for many months our cities are chilly, snow-covered places.
Some Canadian cities have embraced their wintery-ness, celebrating it as a time to get outside and enjoy parks rather than hunker down indoors with a cup of tea.
Edmonton leads the pack with its WinterCity Strategy and organizing of the inaugural Winter Cities Shake-Up conference in 2017. Saskatoon, which hosted the Winter Cities Shake-Up in 2019 is working on its own WintercityXYE Strategy.
Edmonton actively promotes and runs a variety of winter programming—from snowshoeing to winter picnicking—to invite people outdoors. A recent survey by the city found 44% of residents said they had a more positive perception of winter since the program began.
The City also expanded its popular Green Shack Program—where City staff help program parks with recreational amenities housed in a green shack—to all year round in a 2017 pilot. The $120,000 pilot included eight green shacks that rotated through parks between September and June. Attendance was on par with summertime programming.
But it’s not just Edmonton that’s having fun in the snow.
Another Canadian city that truly embraces winter creatively is Montreal. In January 2018, a group of collaborators including La Pépinière Espaces Collectifs*, Rues Principales* and Vivre en Ville* launched the Winter Laboratory*. The project aims to reclaim winter through fun activities, starting with the publication of an active winter public spaces guidebook*.
Boasting the largest fleet of artificial outdoor ice rinks in the world, Toronto worked in partnership with Montreal-based Le Pepiniere to kick off its Rink Social Program in early 2019. The program animated outdoor rinks with fireplaces, food and beverages, social gathering spaces, and skate lending. The City also hosts training sessions for residents that want to create natural ice rinks in parks, including a handy tip sheet for would-be ice makers.
Both Halifax and Charlottetown have found creative ways to get people outside and moving around in winter. At Halifax’s Emera Oval, one of the largest skating rinks in Canada, you’ll find movie and DJ nights and artist-inspired warming huts. And Charlottetown hosts WinterlovePEI every February, which is put on by a grassroots organization that promotes cold-loving events like “snoga in the park.”
Go to a park and take a deep breath. Feel better? You’re not alone. Research has established strong links between spending time in nature and improved mental health. A partnership between the City of Victoria and Human Nature Counselling builds on that with a program called New Roots.
The program brings youth out into city parks for nature-based therapy that targets anxiety and negative thinking. Participants take part in a variety of solo and group activities such as mindfulness, journaling, hiking, and nature play. It helps “them to slow down and dip into their senses and connect them to the natural world,” said Katy Rose from Human Nature Counselling.
Running the program in city parks is an important part of its success because youth “want to be there,” Katy said. Other mental health programs are indoors, which can be uncomfortable for some people. “It’s just so much easier to build community outside,” she said, adding that youth are also building connections to their local parks.
The City is a crucial champion of the program, helping to find funding and making connections to specific parks. The afterschool program, fully funded by Island Health in 2018, is open to youth in middle and high school.
Staff also provide youth with service projects, such as pulling invasive English ivy, which is then dried and woven. Katy said this helps show youth how so-called negatives can be translated into positives by using the invasive species as a metaphor.
One of the program’s key champions is Shelley Brown, a City Parks and Recreation Programmer. She had been working with students on a meadow restoration program and “saw how quickly the youth became passionate about parks and natural spaces,” she said.
Shelley said a big part of her job is to help find funding to keep New Roots free. “Because this program is fairly new and quite different to what people think of when they think therapy, we wanted as few barriers as possible,” she said.
The role of nature in positive mental health outcomes is also key to another partnership, this time in Guelph. There, the City hosts a registered charity that runs the Enabling Garden in Riverside Park, offering therapeutic experiences through horticulture in an accessible garden space.
“The therapeutic garden provides both a soothing and engaging atmosphere that allows individuals, with the assistance of the Registered Horticultural Therapist, to connect creatively in their community and share stories that encourage wellness and ease suffering,” said Anna Kroetsch, a Horticultural Therapist at the garden.
The garden is specifically designed for those of all ages and abilities. “With a low-glare, wide accessible pathway, Braille signs, and raised garden beds, people that may not usually be able to access nature are able to comfortably engage with the natural world’s smells, textures, and tastes no matter their ability,” Anna said.
Vancouver is turning would-be empty park buildings into hotspots of arts and culture in its inventive Fieldhouse Activation Program.
In a you-scratch-my-back-I’ll-scratch-yours partnership, the City connects community groups with vacant park buildings that used to be caretaker’s suites, providing rent-free space in exchange for 350 hours of community animation.
Running since 2011, it now operates in 22 parks and accepts applications from groups working in arts, sport, environment, local food, or social engagement to host three-year residencies.
For the next residency, which started in 2019, programs include Indigenous food, intergenerational activities, girls rock camps, seed swaps, eco-film workshops, and more.
In Toronto, the city is heading into the third year of its popular Arts in the Parks program, which is run by the Toronto Arts Council. As TAC Director Claire Hopkins said in a 2018 blog, the idea came from the fact there were few venues for artists to present their work outside the downtown.
She also noticed that many artists were having difficulty getting park permits and permissions. As Claire put it: “Taxpayer dollars are going to fund arts organizations to make art, and they’re forced to spend most of their money on permits and marketing for a free public event.”
The program isn’t meant to parachute arts into neighbourhoods, so a lot of attention is dedicated to working with local community groups to make sure the art is appropriate and locally-responsive.
In 2018, the program saw 282 events in 36 parks across the city, with the majority of those happening outside the downtown. A 2019 toolkit provides more information for those wanting to create similar programs, with information on funding, partnerships, outreach, and evaluation. The City of Waterloo operates a smaller scale program with their Artist in Residence. An initiative of the City’s Culture Plan, this program provides “opportunities for artists to partner with the City to deliver community art projects to citizens of all ages, abilities, and experience.” In 2018 the program showcased the work of artists Denise St Marie and Timothy Walker in Waterloo Park, including word walks, storytelling activities, and treasure hunts.
Park People, Canada’s national city parks advocacy organization, is extremely concerned that efforts to scrap the Vancouver Board of Parks and Recreation will take away from much-needed work to meet the park needs of the city’s communities.
“There are major challenges facing our parks,” said Masheed Salehomoum, Park People’s Manager, Vancouver.
“Maintenance budgets are falling behind, new park development is challenged to keep up with growth, changes in park use and changes in our climate are putting severe strain on our park system. Blowing up the century-old structure of how we deliver vital park services will result in a complex, lengthy and ultimately distracting process.”
Masheed Salehomoum
A debate was opened during the recent election on the future of the Park Board, but Mayor Sim firmly closed the door on that debate and committed to keeping the Board. Now, there is an effort for the Council to vote on this issue with only one week’s notice. Restructuring and amalgamating park services in other Canadian cities has resulted in many years of disruption and confusion, taking a toll on park staff who are already pressed to deliver services. Park People believes the primary focus should remain to safeguard Vancouver’s parks and to ensure they remain accessible, well-maintained, and vibrant spaces for all.
The Park Board is working on some Canadian-leading initiatives, from park equity efforts in VanPlay to ongoing decolonization work through initiatives like the Local Food Systems Action Plan. Let’s not lose momentum for that important work in pursuing better parks and stronger communities. Let’s prioritize the needs of the people over structural changes and ensure that Vancouver’s parks continue to thrive, providing solace and joy to all who enjoy them.
Destination Danforth is part of a suite of ActiveTO programs, designed to support the City of Toronto’s restart and recovery response to COVID-19. These programs were part of a period of unprecedented rapid program implementation and deserve careful evaluation.
The Destination Danforth Intercept Survey Evaluation Report was designed to provide diverse perspectives on safety, accessibility, and user impact of the new street installation and to assess the success of the program’s goals to support businesses and increase safe and equitable access to active modes of transportation.
Perspectives on safety, accessibility, and user impact of the new street installation
Park People’s ‘Making Connections’ report proposes strategies for creating a network of parks and open spaces that can connect our parks, ravines, hydro and rail corridors, streets, laneways, schoolyards, and other public spaces.
“As many Toronto neighbourhoods continue to develop and intensify, the need for an expanded and improved parks and open space system grows. Encouraging flexibility and experimentation both in designs and funding as well as in how we engage with communities. Underpinning all of this is the need to make connections— connections between different types of parks and open spaces, between communities and partners in those spaces, and between city divisions and resources.”
Strategies for creating a network of parks and open spaces.
One of the oldest parks in the City of Toronto, Allan Gardens and its historic conservatory provides a unique space in the heart of downtown Toronto amidst a diverse and bustling neighbourhood. With these assets, Allan Gardens represents an unparalleled opportunity in the city to create a truly vibrant, active public space for the surrounding community, the wider city, and visitors to Toronto—an opportunity that a renewed focus and energy can help bring to life.
The report recommends that a new partnership model focus on the conservatory and adjacent gardens, with a full-time project manager needed to engage with the community, the City, and potential funders to lay the necessary groundwork for a success.
“The key to unlocking Allan Gardens’ potential is in establishing a new governance model for the park. This new and creative partnership is needed to not only deliver the capital improvements required, but to activate the space with rich community-based programming around horticulture, food, and the arts. A new partnership dedicated to Allan Gardens would help focus community input in the park and drive new investment into both capital improvements and programming.”
Unlocking Allan Gardens’ potential with a new governance model
Green City looks at how parks, once thought of as places of relief from the urban condition, should be viewed as integral with city form, helping to make our cities more sustainable and resilient in the face of climate change. The paper is a refreshing and accessible discussion of how parks have shaped the relationship between nature and society, and calls for a new approach that links good environmentalism and good urbanism through park systems.
“New tools, techniques, and ways of understanding nature in the city are required. Parks, once thought of as places of relief from the urban condition, should be viewed as integral with city form, and as having important roles to play in sustaining life, in addition to providing places for recreation, entertainment, and aesthetic enjoyment. Parks and parks systems are part of our very survival, providing countless environmental functions and giving cities greater resilience to withstand the unpredictability and extremes of climate that are now more common and catastrophic.”
Beverly A. Sandalak, Landscape architect & Planner
A new approach linking good environmentalism and good urbanism through park systems.
With the intensification of many communities in the Greater Golden Horseshoe (ON), we are seeing a change in how people use parks. Parks in higher-density areas are heavily relied on by urban residents who no longer have access to private backyards for outdoor exercise and social and cultural activities. This requires a change in the way parks have historically been planned and designed in many of these municipalities.
Thriving Places is designed as a case study toolkit highlighting new urban parks and open spaces in the Greater Golden Horseshoe that showcase creative ideas for planning, designing, programming, and engaging community in public spaces in intensifying neighbourhoods.
“We don’t always need to look to cities such as New York, Vancouver, and San Francisco for creative park ideas when so many municipalities across the GGH are stepping up with innovative projects.”
Explore inspiring new urban parks in the Greater Golden Horseshoe (ON).