When it comes time for Greenbuild each fall, host cities go at great lengths to showcase their most recent, cutting edge, and sustainably designed buildings sprouting up around the city. In the case of Toronto, you would be mistaken to look for “new” buildings to highlight the city’s green buildings stock. Here, sustainable design begins by looking backwards.
Over the past decade, the city of Toronto has worked tirelessly to repurpose its abandoned building stock. Settled along Lake Ontario, Toronto had long been criticized for disconnecting the city’s residents from the water front, giving priority to shipping and industry. As the level of productivity for those services reduced at the end of the twentieth century, the city took a strong stance to open the water front back up and re-cultivate its natural beauty. Now, imaginatively constructed boardwalks line the inner harbor boat yards, artificial wetlands help reduce excessive water discharge, and the occasional sandy patch of beach reminds you that it is occasionally warm here. (8 degrees C on Oct 1!) Most notable perhaps is the beautifully inspired Music Garden which provides the unique opportunity to traverse through a symphony of trees and gardens, each section of the garden representing another movement of the musical genius of Bach’s Suite No.1.
To the east of city center lies the Distillery District, an abandoned warehouse strip that has been reinvented as a center for culture, cuisine, and loft-style living. I lucked out on Saturday as Nuit Blanche took over the city. A 12 hour event from 8pm till 8am, Nuit Blanche provides the experience of Toronto as transformed by local artists. It’s hard to walk a block or two without seeing a warehouse opened up to a temporary installation or the side of a building displaying the wild projection of a graphic designer’s imagination set free. Nearby in an open parking lock, the newly popular food trucks gather together to serve the adventurous. Lines stretch around the block, but it seems well worth the wait. (and now it’s 3 C!)
This spirit represents a very important perspective on sustainability: a city and community at large taking the opportunity to revision itself, find new purpose in what was left behind, and enable a new generation to give second life to the product of several generations past.