A rendering of a Kingston Road revisioning in Toronto, ON. Redesign elements include pocket parks, crosswalks, occupiable medians, and temporary parking lot activities. Source: Chris Hardwicke, Sweeny Sterling Finlayson &Co
Kingston Road, a six-lane highway in Toronto, Ontario, became the subject of several “revisioning” sessions. The first of these visions emerged from a two-week design charette sponsored by Canadian Architect magazine and the City of Toronto in 2006, which recommended an incremental design strategy. The vision include pocket parks connecting crosswalks and medians, and temporary uses set in urban parking lots to create a denser public space and help bridge the six-lane roadway.iHardwicke, Chris. Creating Walkable Environments along Suburban Arterial Roads. Case study: Cliffside Neighbourhood, Kingston Road, Toronto. Walk21 Toronto Conference Papers. 2007.
The city of Toronto then sponsored its own study with recommendations to rezone adjacent land uses for denser development and redesign the roadway to accommodate bicycles and pedestrians to be adopted in Toronto’s official five-year plan.iCity of Toronto City Planning. Staff report for action – Final Report – Kingston Road ‘Avenue’ Study. 2009.