Navigating the Underground City: Exploring Toronto’s PATH Through Walking and Research

Toronto’s PATH is one of the largest underground pedestrian networks in the world. It plays a major role in everyday downtown mobility, yet it is often experienced as hidden, fragmented, and difficult to read. This walk invites participants to explore the PATH as both infrastructure and urban experience. We will begin above ground, reflecting on how navigation works at street level and how people orient themselves in the visible city. From there, we will descend into the PATH together and trace a route through several key downtown spaces. Along the way, we will discuss the history and growth of the PATH, the challenges of navigating underground environments, the role of visual cues and spatial layout, and the tension between public access and privately controlled space.

The walk will also introduce Dr. Rotem Mashkov's current research on human experience in urban underground spaces. Using spatial observation together with methods such as eye tracking and physiological sensing, this research examines how people move, orient themselves, and respond to complex underground environments such as Toronto’s PATH.

Walk Start Location:

Nathan Phillips Square; Queen St. and University Ave; Queen Station/Osgoode Station (transit)

Walk End Location:

Union Station; Front Street/Yonge Street