{"id":38325,"date":"2026-05-09T10:26:06","date_gmt":"2026-05-09T10:26:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/38325\/"},"modified":"2026-05-09T10:26:06","modified_gmt":"2026-05-09T10:26:06","slug":"why-cant-toronto-build-good-parks","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/38325\/","title":{"rendered":"Why can\u2019t Toronto build good parks?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Open this photo in gallery:<\/a><\/p>\n

Parks such as Sugar Beach and Love Park (pictured) by landscape architects CCxA provide reasons to linger, writes Alex Bozikovic.Katherine KY Cheng\/The Globe and Mail<\/p>\n

Toronto\u2019s<\/a> parks and recreation department has a problem: It is not good at making parks.<\/p>\n

This is among the most important tasks of city government, and for a generation, Toronto has generally failed. Since 1998, it has spent billions building and rebuilding its parks and centres. Almost none of the results are distinctive, memorable or even comfortable. <\/p>\n

Typical recent parks offer little seating, little shade, few trees and no reason to linger. There is never a caf\u00e9, too rarely a washroom, rarely a water feature. Playgrounds, sculpture and chin-up bars are thrown together seemingly at random.<\/p>\n

Look at the corner of Queen Street and Augusta Avenue in the downtown. There, the city is tearing down a couple of buildings to create a park that will, in official language \u201ccelebrate the creative spirit of Queen West.\u201d<\/p>\n

Why is this getting built? Because the area is allegedly short on parks. City dogma is that population growth demands increased park space. Yet there are three parks within 300 metres and two more being planned. What will this little project actually do?<\/p>\n

It will tear down a successful cultural venue. After acquiring two buildings here, the city leased one to It\u2019s OK, a Black-led not-for-profit that built a thriving cultural venue. Now, It\u2019s OK Studios will be relocated and the building will be demolished, leaving an awkward gap in the streetscape. <\/p>\n

On to design: How exactly do you celebrate the creative spirit? With endless, convoluted process, apparently. Design and public consultation are being mushed together in an effort scheduled to last two years.<\/p>\n

Opinion: What Toronto can learn about transit, museums and parks from Melbourne<\/a><\/p>\n

P&R has commissioned three design options by Janet Rosenberg & Studio. In one, a steel ribbon weaves upward into a sculptural form and dips down to provide uncomfortable, awkward seating. Another offers a grid of trees crowded with scattered cylinders, boxes, tables and stacked logs. Each of the three is overwrought and stuffed with incompatible ideas. <\/p>\n

The problems of vague planning, endless consultation and confused design are all connected by the organization\u2019s lack of conceptual rigour. What does it believe a park is for? How does it decide what a specific park should be like? <\/p>\n

I asked this recently of Prapan Dave, the department\u2019s head of capital projects, and Katie Black, a project manager (who is not involved with the Queen-Augusta park). Ms. Black\u2019s answer included \u201ccommunity visioning,\u201d the parks facilities master plan, the city\u2019s bird-friendly development guidelines<\/a> and input from the local councillor. \u201cThere\u2019s a lot that we need to think about,\u201d Mr. Dave said. <\/p>\n

Way too much. All those impulses cancel each other out. Look at the Queen-Augusta park\u2019s \u201cguiding principles\u201d: It should be simple and \u201ccalming\u201d but also \u201ca destination.\u201d It should be a horse, or maybe a sheep, and it\u2019ll end up as a camel.<\/p>\n

Several kinds of dysfunction are linked together here, and they will not be easy to unwind. <\/p>\n

Bozikovic: For Toronto, more sprawl or a green future?<\/a><\/p>\n

Where to begin? First, take stock. P&R general manager Terry Ricketts should ask outside experts to review its $4.3-billion 10-year capital strategy, launched in 2019. Ask hard questions about every park and every pricey new recreation centre. What is each new project going to do for the city? <\/p>\n

Second: Develop clear principles for design and operations. Landscape architect and academic Fadi Masoud pointed the way last year<\/a> in Spacing, arguing that parks should be classified by size, function, ecological role and social purpose. Think of them as a system of infrastructure, not as islands. <\/p>\n

Third: Cut back on consultation. Ask the public early on what they imagine. Then hire excellent design professionals and, as does Montreal<\/a>, let the experts make a coherent place. <\/p>\n

Will Toronto\u2019s new car-free street pave a different path?<\/a><\/p>\n

That sort of thing does happen in Toronto \u2013 just not at P&R. Waterfront Toronto has procured excellent parks, including Sugar Beach and Love Park by landscape architects CCxA. These began with strong formal and conceptual ideas and followed through with appropriate materials, planting and furnishings. They provide places to sit and reasons to linger.<\/p>\n

In the Don Valley, the not-for-profit Evergreen shaped the city-owned Evergreen Brick Works into a radical mix of activities including offices, a school, a farmer\u2019s market and a good restaurant. The landscape architecture serves the specific genius of the site. <\/p>\n

Toronto has new tools to implement this agenda. Last month, city council approved reforms through the \u201cToward a Beautiful City<\/a>\u201d initiative led by chief planner Jason Thorne. This effort makes room for design competitions and other \u201cquality-based selection\u201d processes. <\/p>\n

Those approaches provide focus and vision \u2013 two things that Toronto is seriously lacking.<\/p>\n

A showcase park should begin with a crystal-clear brief, then be built and maintained through a rigorous plan led by design professionals. <\/p>\n

Meanwhile, most small parks should be simple. At Queen and Augusta, the right choice is to add some lush plantings and comfortable seating on half of the site, then leave It\u2019s OK in place. Work with what you have, design with restraint and add only what\u2019s needed. That is how a great city gets built.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Open this photo in gallery: Parks such as Sugar Beach and Love Park (pictured) by landscape architects CCxA…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":38326,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[164,224,238,214,212,239,17,211,230,231,227,213,210,235,171,234,143,222,249,215,216,229,225,226,219,240,220,244,245,247,242,246,94,243,217,142,233,113,232,241,223,236,48,237,228,221,218,248],"class_list":{"0":"post-38325","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-toronto","8":"tag-alberta","9":"tag-arts-news","10":"tag-bc","11":"tag-breaking-news","12":"tag-breaking-news-video","13":"tag-british-columbia","14":"tag-canada","15":"tag-canada-news","16":"tag-canada-sports","17":"tag-canada-sports-news","18":"tag-canada-trafficcanada-weather","19":"tag-canadian-breaking-news","20":"tag-canadian-news","21":"tag-economy","22":"tag-education","23":"tag-environment","24":"tag-federal-government","25":"tag-foreign-news","26":"tag-globe-and-mail","27":"tag-globe-and-mail-breaking-news","28":"tag-globe-and-mail-canada-news","29":"tag-government","30":"tag-life-news","31":"tag-lifestyle","32":"tag-local-news","33":"tag-manitoba","34":"tag-national-news","35":"tag-new-brunswick","36":"tag-newfoundland-and-labrador","37":"tag-northwest-territories","38":"tag-nova-scotia","39":"tag-nunavut","40":"tag-ontario","41":"tag-pei","42":"tag-photos","43":"tag-political-news","44":"tag-political-opinion","45":"tag-politics","46":"tag-politics-news","47":"tag-quebec","48":"tag-sports-news","49":"tag-technology","50":"tag-toronto","51":"tag-travel","52":"tag-trudeau","53":"tag-us-news","54":"tag-world-news","55":"tag-yukon"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38325","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=38325"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38325\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/38326"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=38325"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=38325"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=38325"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}