The following was submitted as part of a competition for public space ideas in Toronto. However, the concept of the Green Link speaks to a broader pattern in urban areas across the world, where power corridors typically function as barriers, are viewed as ugly, and thereby the marker of lower-value neighbourhoods. The same was thought to be true of wetlands, when they were once marketed as swamps, until some clever rebranding brought new respect to an overlooked landscape. I hope the same will be true for power lines.

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Highways: congested. Transit: inefficient. Public Network: nonexistent. As Toronto’s population continues to grow, there will be a greater need for a public network that will allow for residents to move across and experience the city with ease.

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OPPORTUNITY

Toronto’s hydro corridors present untapped possibilities in under-used green space. By connecting our hydro corridors with existing trails, discovery walks, and public spaces, we can create a continuous network that unifies Toronto’s most under-serviced neighbourhoods through a city-wide greenscape.

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MAKING CONNECTIONS

Toronto is a composite of 140+ distinct, fragmented neighbourhoods. A city-wide public network would allow for more interaction and movement between these neighbourhoods. In particular, the Green Link would connect Toronto’s more isolated, suburban Neighbourhood Improvement Areas (NIAs) with urban growth centers and bridge the urban-suburban divide. The Green Link is not about making NIAs dependent on the rest of the city— it is about creating a sustainable, symbiotic relationship that will encourage movement both ways.

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ESTABLISHING IDENTITY

We do not seek to create a singular Toronto experience or identity. The Green Link maintains each neighbourhood’s unique attributes and strengths while also alleviating natural and infrastructural barriers created by the hydro corridor. By identifying major nodes, natural features, and transit connections, each neighbourhood along the Green Link will assert a distinct and different experience for the user. This is what we believe to be the true Toronto experience.

EXPERIENCING LANDSCAPES

The Green Link becomes a city-wide exhibit of Toronto’s landscapes and wildlife. In Toronto’s hydro corridors, we encounter challenging landscapes, valleys, meadows, and waterways, that we will utilize to create multi-faceted experiences and networks— tobogganing in the valley, observing deer at feeding stations, canoeing down the Don River. The Green Link uncovers how Torontonians can use existing landscapes to experience their City in a new way.

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WELCOME TO GREEN LINK

A city-wide network that taps into the opportunities that exist within hydro corridors and the neighbourhoods they run through. In addition to the standard pedestrian paths and bike trails, The Green Link offers different passive and active recreational uses and proposes a new way for Torontonians to move through their city.

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