Toronto often feels shabby. There are many examples but the renovation of College Park comes to mind. The general idea was good — skating trail, landscaping, sculptural giant frogs — but the execution seems cheap and the details look rough and unthoughtful. There’s a clunky Zamboni-storing field house, expanses of lawn turned to mud and natural pedestrian routes blocked by obstacles. It should be great, like New York’s Bryant Park, but it’s shabby.
This is why a new city of Toronto plan called “Towards a Beautiful City — A Path Forward” is important and encouraging. A reset in how the city creates and takes care of the public realm has been a long time coming and could be a game changer if its full potential is met.
Think Toronto is shabby and ugly? Changing this one thing could help halt the city’s race to the bottom – Toronto Star, April 25, 2025
Photo: Canmenwalker, CC BY 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
