Between the New River and the Movies: Meet the Port Lands’ McCleary District
City of Toronto: City Planning, Urban Design: Julie Bogdanowicz; Sonja Vangjeli; and Adrian Phillips. Waterfront Secretariat: Fred Martin and Christian Giles. Parks and Recreation: Danny Brown. External of the City: CreateTO: Paul Arkilander. Lassonde Art Trail: November Paynter. University of Toronto: Shelby Riskin.
The mouth of the Don River has been renaturalized and the area is now protected from floods, ushering in a new complete community. The McCleary District will evolve into an area housing thousands of residents and will feature a new park, school and other community services.
Join staff from the City of Toronto and CreateTO as well as staff from the Lassonde Art Trail, Shelby Riskin (University of Toronto) and staff from SpruceLab.
Highlights along the walk include:
Learning about the Indigenous and natural history at the mouth of the Don River, a former marsh.
Walking the newly opened Don Roadway – a complete street which includes riverside trails, bike lanes and lush planting.
Hearing about the planning study underway for the McCleary District, including recent Indigenous placemaking design work by SpruceLab. Review the four private development applications in the area.
Visiting the newly installed public art work ‘Trajet’ by Caroline Monnet and Dean Baldwin Lew on the banks of the new Don River. This is the first work along the forthcoming Lassonde Art Trail, opening this summer in Biidaasige Park. The artwork commemorates 11,000-year-old footsteps of Indigenous ancestors that were found during the excavation of Toronto’s harbour in the early twentieth century.
Meeting Shelby Riskin, a scientist from the University of Toronto who has been studying the ancient seed that sprouted during the excavation of the new Don River, as well as microorganisms that came back to life.
Exploring the existing creative film cluster in the area and discussing how the new neighbourhood will protect and enhance this cluster with new commercial spaces to support creative uses.
A post-walk social gathering is being organized at Reids Distillery, 31 Logan Ave. Children welcome. Food and non-alcoholic beverages available.
Walk Start Location:
Don Roadway and Lakeshore Blvd E (south-west corner, by the river)
Walk End Location:
400 Commissioners - Waste Transfer Station
Date:
Language:
Saturday, May 2
English
Start Time:
2:30:00 PM
Duration:
2:00:00
Theme:
Architecture and Urban Planning, Arts and Culture, Environment and Sustainability, History and Places, People and Communities, Infrastructure, flood protection, Don River renaturalization, Indigenous history and placemaking/placekeeping, film sector, public art,
Accessibility:
Walk leader will use audio amplification, Industrial area with accessible public sidewalks
Attendees Identify You: