It's no secret that the Don River has seen better days. What used to be a sparkling habitat for many different animals and fish has become a dirty and polluted channel funneling at an un-natural 90 degree angle into Lake Ontario. There is no shortage of interest in and support for reviving the Don, and next Saturday, March 29th, the Toronto and Region Conservation Authority (on behalf of Waterfront Toronto) is hosting a Public Presentation, Discussion, and Drop-In on the progress of the Don Mouth Naturalization and Port ...

On Friday, Waterfront Toronto announced the winning design for the Jarvis Slip Design Competition. The winning team, Claude Cormier Architectes Paysagistes Inc., designed the "Sugar Beach" proposal (Warning: large PDF file), which is similar to HTO Park a little west of the Jarvis Slip. The proposal most prominently features a number of multi-coloured umbrellas along a sandy beach that lead up to the water's edge, and also creates a strong connectivity between the space and the streetscape to its north.   Waterfront Toronto's news release states that the jury ...

  Last night Waterfront Toronto unveiled the submissions of three finalists vying to design a new public space at the foot of Jarvis Street, part of the under-construction East Bayfront community. Detailed descriptions of each of the submissions can be found on the Waterfront Toronto website, or by visiting the rotunda at Metro Hall where the design panels for each firm can be viewed until this Friday, January 25th. As is increasingly the case with these competitions, each of the designs is impressive in ...

Last week the Waterfront Regeneration Trust hosted a conference entitled Beyond Regeneration: The Trail Ahead. The conference was both a celebration of the organization's accomplishments and a forum for exploring what more could be achieved along this significant stretch of waterfront real estate. The subject of the conference was the Waterfront Trail, a 650-kilometre trail that runs along the Lake Ontario and St. Lawrence River shorelines from Niagara to the Ontario/Quebec border. A number of local and international speakers gave presentations outlining their visions for waterfronts ...

One of the ways we interact with public spaces is through their representation in media like film, photography, and literature. It might be the perspective we achieve from seeing a familiar place reflected through someone else's eyes, and it might be the pride we feel from seeing our public spaces writ large, but there's something satisfying about the moment something distinctively Toronto dips into a story or picture. Diaspora Dialogues, a charitable society that "supports the creation and presentation of new fiction, poetry and drama that reflect the complexity of the city back to Torontonians through ...

I just got back from the Leading With Landscape lecture, where it was announced that the the team led by Michael Van Valkenburgh Associates, Inc. (MVVA) won the Lower Donlands Design Competition. I thought this was the best design, re-imagining the space in creative ways while addressing the needs of the city and the future neighbourhood. To see the finer details of the plan, have a look at the design panels (PDF) the team presented. The winning team: Michael Van Valkenburgh Associates, Inc. (MVVA), New York & Massachusetts, USA Limno Tech Inc., Michigan, USA Applied Ecological Services Inc., ...

Last week I went to the see the presentations of the four design teams vying for the opportunity to redevelop the Lower Donlands. A massive amount of information was given, which was to be expected given the size of the area they've been asked to redevelop and the various goals they were required to achieve. Since the public exhibition at BCE Place closes tonight, I thought I'd offer some highlights from the notes I took at the presentation last week. If anyone was at the presentation and remembers anything I haven't included, please leave a ...

A few weeks ago Christopher Hume wrote a piece in the Star about "Project Symphony," a development planned for the foot of Jarvis Street: A showdown is looming on the waterfront. At stake is nothing less than the look, feel and form of future development along Lake Ontario. No one can say how it will end, but already there are deep concerns about whether waterfront regeneration will live up to expectations. The story starts — as it so often does in this part of town — with TEDCO (the Toronto Economic Development Corp.). The municipal agency ...

With Mayor David Miller unveiling an ambitious plan to tackle climate change, you may be wondering how you can kick in. Well, the Toronto and Region Conservation Authority (TRCA) is recruiting members for the 2007 - 2009 term in a number of Watershed Committees: Humber Watershed Alliance Don Watershed Regeneration Council Etobicoke Mimico Watersheds Coalition These committees were established to "help protect, restore and celebrate the natural, cultural and recreational features of these watersheds. The watershed committees are responsible for facilitating the implementation of actions advocated in various planning and management documents." If ...

New York's Projects for Public Spaces (PPS) recently dedicated their website to discussing what they call "The Waterfront Renaissance." It's a great read, and there are more than a few articles that got me thinking about the process of waterfront revitalization in Toronto. Over the past hundred years, shipping and industry have dispersed from riverfronts, seafronts, and lakefronts, making cities around the world rethink what to do in these prime locations--the birthplace, in most cases, of the city itself. As humans we are naturally drawn to explore the water's edge, which makes it deeply ...