Just last week, I had the opportunity to volunteer at The Don
Dialogue panel on April 21th and listen to inspiring panelists talking about changing the Don River watershed.
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| A view of the River Valley Park, looking south from the Brickworks. (Brenda Webster Tweel with Felipe Avila, The Globe and Mail) |
The aim of the panel was to discuss the future of the Don
Valley River, the possibility of converging the space into a park, spanning
from Pottery road (North of Bloor) all the way to Corktown Common at the mouth
of Lake Ontario (details here).
What striking and inspiring about this panel is the vision
painted by Geoff Cape, CEO of Evergreen (Evergreen Brickworks locates just next
to Don River Valley, on Bayview) and the panelists – including architechtures
from USA, and City of Toronto managers. (details on speakers here)
What did I take away?
The thing I learn from this panel is the thousands of green
spaces built and being built at this moment. In the US, there are Chicago’s
project 606 (building public space with garden and bike trail on existing elevated
railway) and Brooklyn Bridge Park (park space on piers, on the wasted old
industrial space) – two I was most impressed with among many others.
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| Credit: The 606 Chicago |
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| Brooklyn Bridge Park (credit: Urban Omnibus) |
These projects not only re-purpose the old, wasted structure/
land, but also bring green spaces to urban city, giving people a community
space, separate from the concrete and cement roads. It brings people in the
heart of the city closer to nature.
For me, these are proofs of incredible things we can
achieve. These are the basis for my renewed faith and hope in humanity, in the
power to do good. The proofs that we can do anything, we can contribute
positively to climate change, if we all put our mind to it.
It is now Toronto’s turn. The wheel is now in motion for a
Don River Valley park, among others ideas and plans all over Don River, from
north to south – a cable car, bike lanes, bike trails, connecting bridges, renaturalizing
the mouth of Don River,… With all the inputs and proposals, now is the
opportunity to reshape the Don River Valley space. What is needed is the input
from passionate people, from all walks of life.
There is two coming events at
Evergreen Brick Works about the Don Valley, a film screening of documentary Accidental Parkland on May 10th, and an ecological panel on May 25th.
Registration is free at evergreen.ca
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