PARK AS URBAN FABRIC
TORONTO, ONTARIO
THIS ALEXANDRA PARK CONCEPTUAL REDEVELOPMENT STUDY REDEFINES THE INTEGRATION OF GREEN SPACE WITHIN DENSE URBAN NEIGHBOURHOODS. THE FAILED INTEGRATION OF SHARED PUBLIC GREEN SPACE WITHIN THE EXISTING ALEXANDRA PARK NEIGHBOURHOOD’S MODERNIST RESIDENTIAL DEVELOPMENT OCCURRED IN PART BECAUSE OF THE DISCONNECT BETWEEN THE COMMUNITY’S GREEN SPACES AND THE OPEN STREETS PATROLLED BY THE POLICE. WHAT WAS INTENDED AS A UTOPIA VISION OF COMMUNAL URBAN PARKLAND BECAME A SERIES OF UNPATROLABLE HIDING SPACES FOR SHADY ACTIVITY, EVENTUALLY MAKING THE NEIGHBOURHOOD DEVELOPMENT UNSAFE.
THIS NEW MODEL ATTEMPTS TO SOLVE THESE ISSUES THROUGH THE INTEGRATION OFF THE NATURAL LANDSCAPE INTO THE FABRIC OF THE DENSE URBAN CORE. BY APPROACHING GREEN SPACE AS AN URBAN FABRIC, RATHER THAN AS INDIVIDUAL FIGURES DOTTING AND INTERRUPTING AN OTHERWISE CONTINUOUS URBAN LANDSCAPE, IT IS POSSIBLE TO INCORPORATE GREEN SPACE INTO THE CITY WITHOUT THE DRAWBACKS THAT RESULT FROM UNPATROLLED URBAN GREEN SPACES. THIS IS ACHIEVED BY EXTENDING THE EXISTING GREEN URBAN FIGURES, SUCH AS NEARBY PARKS, ALONG STREETSCAPES AS WELL AS DEVELOPING ARCHITECTURE THAT FEATURES VEGETATION ON ACCESSIBLE TERRACED LEVELS ELEVATED JUST ABOVE STREET LEVEL.
THROUGH THESE SIMPLE GESTURES, ‘PARK’ BECOMES AN URBAN FABRIC, WHICH IS AS MUCH A PART OF THE STREETSCAPE AS THE ARCHITECTURE, ROADS, SEWERS AND SIDEWALKS.
