Project Description: (version française ci-dessous)

PRODUCTIVE LINEAR PARK

This proposal is located north of Downtown Toronto, on a decommissioned rail corridor in Don Mills. With the mandate of transitioning the community to a Post Carbon future, this project acts on both a regional and a local scale. Through the integration of leisure and community spaces, transportation systems and urban agriculture, this corridor provides the necessary infrastructure for change. In addition to its more tangible goals, this project seeks to inspire and provide the residents of Don Mills with a positive vision of their future in a Post Carbon world.

Moving beyond traditional urban farming, this proposal integrates multiple uses to create an urban condition along the corridor. Parallel to the gardens, transportation and service infrastructure have been introduced to increase connectivity within the community and the city. The allotment gardens themselves are conceived as backyard extensions, and to provide outdoor growing space to those living in apartment buildings. Owned by a regulating body, the gardens can be purchased or rented with their yield being used to feed local families or to be sold at a local farmers market. Owners/renters may also choose to hire SPIN Farmers to tend to their garden.

This project focuses on the points of intersection between the corridor and the major streets, specifically the intersection at Lawrence Avenue. At this point, one can access an elevated bicycle/small vehicle roadway, a rail-based transit network and a local road serving the allotment gardens. These systems are thoughtfully integrated into the linear park and the existing suburban fabric in order to foster social interactions and spontaneous events.

On a community scale, it is important that we begin to operate in a smaller circle for our day-to-day needs and take more responsibility for what we consume. By providing local food sources, the residents of Don Mills will be given an alternative to the grocery store and the opportunity to be more self-sufficient. This proposal provides a positive vision of how a community can transition away from current, climate-changing ways of life. It is up to architects and designers to communicate this holistic, and positive vision of the future