This exhibition highlights the role of parks, open spaces, and the public realm in fostering climateaction in Toronto’s inner suburbs. Urban green spaces range from expansive ravine networks to pocket gardens, and from street rights-of-ways to school yards and green roofs. Regardless oftheir scale, they are valuable tools for urban climate change mitigation and adaptation.

Toronto’s parks fulfill essential social and environmental prerogatives, including mitigating urban heat island effect, supporting biodiversity, and improving air quality. Similarly, they offer crucial water management goals and reduce the impact of extreme weather events. Well designed parks also act as inclusive gathering places, fostering social interaction, health, and well-being.

“Parks in Action” aims to demonstrate how climate action in the public realm is generative of participatory design and social engagement—from the scale of small local installations “hubs” to“tower communities” along urban watersheds. Central to this work is the link between social equity and climate adaptation—ensuring that all communities, regardless of their socio-economic backgrounds, have equal access to green spaces and their benefits.

The work in this exhibition is the result of collaborative efforts between community members and researchers from across the University of Toronto and Toronto Metropolitan University. It was guided by interdisciplinary research initiated by a 2020-21 School of Cities Urban Challenge Grant titled “Towers in the Park: A Prospective for Equitable Resilience,” and housed at the Daniels Faculty Centre for Landscape Research led by Assistant Professor Fadi Masoud. The Climate Action Hubs are a collaboration with the City of Toronto’s TransformTO climate action and TMU’sSchool of Urban and Regional Planning led by Assistant Professor Victor Perez-Amado.