PARKS in CRISIS Part 6 - Are Privately Owned Public Spaces the Answer to Parks Deficit

8/19/2019 PARKS in CRISIS Part 6 - Are Privately Owned Public Spaces the Answer to Parks Deficit

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PARKS IN CRISIS part 6: Are privatelyowned public spaces the answer to

parks deficitAPRIL 21, 2015  | BY KIMBERLEY NOBLE

Over the next year, City of Toronto politicians and planners will befaced with an unprecedented challenge: how to create amenable

public open spaces in and around a massive re-development proposalfor the north-west corner of Front Street and Spadina

 Three developers ! "iamond Corp, #ioCan and $llied ! havecombined forces to spend an estimated %& billion dollars to transformthe '& hectare bloc( that has been home for decades to The )lobeand *ail and a Toyota dealership

http://spacing.ca/toronto/2015/04/21/parks-crisis-part-6-privately-owned-public-spaces-answer-parks-deficit/http://spacing.ca/toronto/author/kimberleynoble/http://spacing.ca/toronto/author/kimberleynoble/http://spacing.ca/toronto/2015/04/21/parks-crisis-part-6-privately-owned-public-spaces-answer-parks-deficit/

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 The + million s-ft proect, one of the largest proposed for the city.score, is (nown as The /ell, for its location on the historical bloc( of/ellington Street /est The builders are proposing a mix of roughlyhalf commercial 0o1ce and retail2 and half residential to create whatdesigners envision as this city.s version of developments li(e

3ondon.s 4utler.s /harf 

 To accomplish this, the builders want to be trusted to provide, and ta(ecare of, most if not all the public amenities traditionally reuired astrade-o5s for the development approval

 The consortium has already as(ed the city to drop conventionaldemands for internal roads through the proect in favour of pedestrianwal(ways and bi(e paths /hat.s more, the developers hope to foregothe usual par(land dedication in exchange for an agreement to

construct and maintain a networ( of privately-owned pla6as andwal(ways that will be open to the public

$s part of the deal, which would ultimately enable these companies tobuild a series of large o1ce and condo towers, they.d also li(e tolandscape, and loo( after, adacent sections of public land on/ellington, Front and the historical enclave of "raper Street

7articipants called the ongoing negotiations complex and delicate 8owthey end will provide the best loo( yet at to how the city views the

provision of so-called privately-owned public spaces 07O7S2 in high-growth downtown districts The policy, pic(ed up from 9ew or( Citythree years ago, is intended to create a networ( of pla6as, pathwaysand other open spaces that can augment the dearth of conventionalpar(s in an increasingly dense downtown;n 9ew or(, planning o1cials in the late &s began o5ering privatedevelopers additional height and density in exchange for light andpublic open space This ?incentive 6oning@ generated hundreds ofpla6as, arcades, wal(ways and poc(et par(s owned and maintained byproperty managers 9ew or( ournalist $dee 4raunhas described the

4ig $pple.s 7O7S as ?urban nesting dolls AthatB were built to providethe public with shortcuts, shelter and gathering spaces@

/ill Toronto.s 7O7S achieve similar results Or is this primarily a publicrelations exercise that does little toward ameliorating the underlyingproblem

http://www.riocan.com/development-portfolio/development/front-street-and-spadina-avenue-(the-well)http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Butler's_Wharfhttp://untappedcities.com/2013/02/28/midtown-arcades-pops/http://www.riocan.com/development-portfolio/development/front-street-and-spadina-avenue-(the-well)http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Butler's_Wharfhttp://untappedcities.com/2013/02/28/midtown-arcades-pops/

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3ast wee(, Spacing revealed that hundreds of millions of dollars haveDowed into par(land reserve funds, much of it from high-densitydevelopment in the core 4ut while the city can point to a handful ofnew par( acuisitions and partnerships, it.s struggling to invest in newpublic open space in areas experiencing signiEcant population growth

 To counter those di1culties, city planning o1cials point to the growinginventory of 7O7S downtown, which, they say, have added a millionsuare-feet of open space in the core since +>>> The planningdepartment is also aiming to improve signage and encourage buildersto create better open spaces at the base of their buildings, using toolssuch as site plan agreements

$pproving and promoting 7O7S loo(s good to this municipality7iggybac(ing on ! or expanding slightly ! plans that developersalready have in place, in exchange for a bit more height or density,

appears to be highly economical 7O7S, in theory, provide some of thebeneEts of public par(s without reuiring the city to maintain lawns,trees, gardens or infrastructure /hat.s more, 7O7S can be builtwithout depleting the city.s par(land reserve funds?$s Toronto continues to grow,@ according to a *ay, +>&, sta5 reportadopted by council, ?there is an increasing need and demand to createnew par(s and open spaces as places of retreat, relaxation andrecreation that contribute to the health and well-being of Cityresidents $s land values increase, however, it is not always possible topurchase properties to create new public par(s in areas of the City that

are most in need@ 9ew 7O7S guidelines include classiEcations for pastand future 7O7S, plus standards for access, materials, lighting andsignage

 et there.s no consensus on the e5ectiveness of 7O7S policies ?)iventhe whole dysfunctional nature of what.s going on in 7F#, ; thin( thewhole 7O7S thing has been relatively successful,@ said a former cityinsider 4ut, he added, ?7O7S should never have been seen as areplacement for public par(s@

http://spacing.ca/toronto/2015/04/13/parks-in-crisis-part-1-all-built-up-and-no-place-to-go/http://spacing.ca/toronto/2015/04/13/parks-in-crisis-part-1-all-built-up-and-no-place-to-go/http://www.toronto.ca/legdocs/mmis/2013/pg/bgrd/backgroundfile-59381.pdfhttp://www.toronto.ca/legdocs/mmis/2013/pg/bgrd/backgroundfile-59381.pdfhttp://www.toronto.ca/legdocs/mmis/2014/pg/bgrd/backgroundfile-70176.pdfhttp://www.toronto.ca/legdocs/mmis/2014/pg/bgrd/backgroundfile-70176.pdfhttp://www1.toronto.ca/City%20Of%20Toronto/City%20Planning/Urban%20Design/Files/pdf/P/POPS_guidelines_Final_140529.pdfhttp://spacing.ca/toronto/2015/04/13/parks-in-crisis-part-1-all-built-up-and-no-place-to-go/http://www.toronto.ca/legdocs/mmis/2013/pg/bgrd/backgroundfile-59381.pdfhttp://www.toronto.ca/legdocs/mmis/2013/pg/bgrd/backgroundfile-59381.pdfhttp://www.toronto.ca/legdocs/mmis/2014/pg/bgrd/backgroundfile-70176.pdfhttp://www.toronto.ca/legdocs/mmis/2014/pg/bgrd/backgroundfile-70176.pdfhttp://www1.toronto.ca/City%20Of%20Toronto/City%20Planning/Urban%20Design/Files/pdf/P/POPS_guidelines_Final_140529.pdf

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;ndeed, 7O7S policy remains contentious even in its birthplace Someof 9ew or(.s best-(nown urban explorers spent years scrutini6ing7O7S to get a sense of whether the city was selling its light and air toocheaply /illiam 08olly2 /hyte closely examined these spaces, andcompiled his Endings in a & boo( and related Elm called ? The Social3ife of Small Hrban Spaces@ $lmost a generation later, 8arvard urban

planning expert Ierold Jayden visited all =>' of the city.s designated7O7S and published his Endings in a +>>> study entitled, ?7O7S,7rivately-owned 7ublic Space, The 9ew or( [email protected] research found that &L of 9ew or(.s 7O7s were of?marginal uality@ $s he wrote in an op-ed in the New York Times in+>&&, many of *anhattan.s 7O7S ?were and are practically useless,with austere designs, no amenities and little or no direct sunlight@

"uring a panel discussion at 9ew or(.s Centre for $rchitecture lastsummer, Jayden also described a process he called ?7O7S creep@

/hereas advocates point to the beauty and popularity of successfulspaces such as the Seagram pla6a and 7aley 7ar(, about half of 9ew

 or(.s landlords are not in compliance with their 7O7S agreements

Miolations range from minor infractions 0allowing garbage to pile up inthe spaces2, to ma(ing designated 7O7S space inaccessible orinhospitable 0by removing seating or loc(ing gates2, and even

https://vimeo.com/111488563https://vimeo.com/111488563http://www.gsd.harvard.edu/#/people/jerold-kayden.htmlhttp://ca.wiley.com/WileyCDA/WileyTitle/productCd-0471362573.htmlhttp://www.nytimes.com/2011/10/20/opinion/zuccotti-park-and-the-private-plaza-problem.html?_r=0http://www.nytimes.com/2011/10/20/opinion/zuccotti-park-and-the-private-plaza-problem.html?_r=0https://vimeo.com/111488563https://vimeo.com/111488563http://www.gsd.harvard.edu/#/people/jerold-kayden.htmlhttp://ca.wiley.com/WileyCDA/WileyTitle/productCd-0471362573.htmlhttp://www.nytimes.com/2011/10/20/opinion/zuccotti-park-and-the-private-plaza-problem.html?_r=0

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enclosing and decorating 7O7S arcades so they become the formidablyelegant lobbies of private buildings 9ew or( has learned the hard waythat creating and maintaining public space carries the usual caveatattached to o5ers of a free lunch, Jayden saidJayden, who runs 9ew or(.s own 7O7S database, has concluded that

7O7S policies pose three substantial dangers: they undermine 6oningreuirementsN they signal to developers that 6oning exemptions are forsaleN and they are not euitable because, unli(e public par(s, few 7O7Sare eually accessible to every citi6en

 The /ell.s open space proposal

 That hasn.t stopped many 9orth $merican cities, with the recentaddition of Toronto, from adopting and adapting a 9ew or(-style 7O7Spolicy 4ut this trend raises the uestion: if the results fall so far shortof the mar( in the city where this approach to public space originate,what chance will the policy have of wor(ing in Toronto

Spacing contacted people involved with The /ell.s 7O7S approval,visited each of the approved 7O7S-designated sites and analy6ed theCity.s new interactive database Our conclusion: at this uncture,

 Toronto.s &>>-plus 7O7S fall short of establishing a networ( of highuality open spaces, and certainly don.t compensate for the inability of the city to use existing resources and regulations to create new par(space in high-growth areas

http://apops.mas.org/http://www1.toronto.ca/City%20Of%20Toronto/City%20Planning/Urban%20Design/Files/pdf/P/POPS_iMap_June2014.pdfhttp://apops.mas.org/http://www1.toronto.ca/City%20Of%20Toronto/City%20Planning/Urban%20Design/Files/pdf/P/POPS_iMap_June2014.pdf

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Some, certainly, provide iconic and well-used spaces, such as ?the7asture@ between the T" 4an( towers, or the fountain tuc(ed betweenthe wings of Commerce Court $ few have trees and ledges wherepeople can sit to tal( and eat their lunches 4ut many including thenew ;ceboat Terrace in City7ar(, site of last summer.s unveiling of the

Erst 7O7S plaue, or the landscaped pla6a in front of Tridel.s tower at'>> Front Street /est ! appear to be desultory, and o5er fewamenities to pedestrians

 Toronto architect and scholar Cheryl $t(inson ! who has studied thehistory of 7O7S, as well as that of the /ellington /est corridor !recommends that the city exercise a high degree of caution 7O7S, shewrites in a study pending publication in the urban studies

 ournal Spaces and Flows, ?are generally often perfunctory responsesto an ever-diminishing, truly public realm in uantity, connectivity, andcollective consciousness@

/hat.s critically needed, $t(inson continues, ?is a strategy forintegrating public space of signiEcant scale, continuity and impact intothe highly dense core neighbourhoods where they may form a part ofthe daily social, cultural, and transportation networ( rituals of thesecommunities@Kverybody who agreed to be interviewed, on or o5 the record,conceded that 7O7S are not, and should never be seen as, areplacement for par(s City planners, however, defend the strategy?7O7S are important part of framing a city.s open space,@ says Iames

7ara(h, manager of urban design for the city.s Toronto and Kast or(district $t a recent Canadian Hrban ;nstitute.s symposium on place-ma(ing, he o5ered a series of current and future examples A7"FBshowing how 7O7S can lin( downtown developments and networ(s ofurban pla6as

http://www.condo.ca/building-green-makes-sense-many-levels/pops-public-space-300-front-tridel-green-building-standard-toronto-condo-ca/http://atkinsonarchitect.com/academic.htmlhttp://spacesandflows.com/https://www.dropbox.com/s/7s3xyr5bs9oxt6h/JParakhpops.pdf?dl=0http://www.condo.ca/building-green-makes-sense-many-levels/pops-public-space-300-front-tridel-green-building-standard-toronto-condo-ca/http://atkinsonarchitect.com/academic.htmlhttp://spacesandflows.com/https://www.dropbox.com/s/7s3xyr5bs9oxt6h/JParakhpops.pdf?dl=0

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 The open space planned for The /ell is poised to become downtown Toronto.s most ambitious 7O7S, and its evolution in coming years willbe well worth watching The developers are going to great lengths toappease the city.s reuests for light and air: the latest plans include acomplete redesign and repositioning of a 'P-storey o1ce tower tocreate 'Q additional minutes of sunlight on city-owned ClarenceSuare

$ revised open-space proposal, submitted to the city.s "esign #eview7anel in late *arch, includes an ambitious internal networ( oflandscaped gardens, pedestrian wal(ways, glass-covered seating,child-friendly water features and 7arisian-inspired Dexible furniture ;twill include wide leafy openings to both Front and /ellington

7O7S space will be extended to open onto "raper and a cantileveredlandscaped berm will turn public land on south side of Front Street intoa multi-level public par(ette $ll together, the owners have proposedtransforming 'PL of the site ! about a hectare ! into new public

open space;t.s still a far cry from 9ew or(.s largest and most successful 7O7S,the Seagram 7la6a, which ta(es up Q=L of the site.s 7ar( $venuefootprint 4ut by allowing The /ell developers to create privatelyowned public spaces instead of insisting that they turn over land for acity-owned par(, the city, The /ell.s landscape designer ClaudeCormier says, will receive high uality urban design and public

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clarence_Squarehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clarence_Squarehttp://www.cca.qc.ca/en/exhibitions/2024-seagram-plazahttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clarence_Squarehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clarence_Squarehttp://www.cca.qc.ca/en/exhibitions/2024-seagram-plaza

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accessibility without incurring the cost of construction andmaintenance

4ut what options does Toronto have ?There is no money to maintain apublic par(,@ Cormier adds ?The city is limited in terms of what AitB can

do@ 8e is optimistic, however, that this new synthesis of private visionand public access will produce the sort of great public open spaces thatseem to be elusive under existing par(land funding mechanisms

?This will be open urban space,@ he says ?This will not be a mall@Seagram Plaza photo by Trevor Patt Part 1: All bilt p bt no place to growPart !: "here the money #owsPart $: The perils o% cash&in&liePart $ sidebar: Section '! e(plained

Part ': The tale o% two parksPart ): The system worked *slowly+ %or a west end park Part ,: Are privately&owned pblic spaces the answer to parks de-cit.

7 COMMENTSNeither the author nor Spacing necessarily agrees with posted comments. Spacing reserves theright to edit or delete comments entirely. See our Comment 7olicy.

& Sean Galbraith

11 MONTS AGO

To me, in the current climate, POPS seem like a bit of a necessary evil. Theyaren’t great, but really they are about as good as we’ll get until the city nuts upand spends some cash.

don’t like when they are in the form of large pla!as in front of properties "like iscommon in N#$ and as in several e%amples in Toronto& they drastically breakupa uniform street frontage, and shift any at grade retail way back from the street "presume impacting their commercial viability&. 'niform street frontages arecomfortable for people. "This is also a reason why breaking up street frontages

with micro public parkettes instead of cash(in(lieu isn’t great either&)ut also don’t like that they aren’t necessarily permanent. f they remain inprivate ownership, they can always be re*uested for redevelopment by the owner and the onus is on the city to say no. $ase in point, the N+ corner of #onge andglinton. -$, this formerly open pla!a "which while not great all there was at theintersection in terms of open area& was provided in e%change for the city closinga street through the block to allow for the development. ast forward to a few

https://flic.kr/p/dnXovphttp://spacing.ca/toronto/2015/04/13/parks-in-crisis-part-1-all-built-up-and-no-place-to-go/http://spacing.ca/toronto/2015/04/14/parks-crisis-part-2-money-flows/http://spacing.ca/toronto/2015/04/15/parks-crisis-perils-cash-lieu/http://spacing.ca/toronto/2015/04/15/parks-crisis-sidebar-section-42-works/http://spacing.ca/toronto/2015/04/16/parks-crisis-part-4-tale-two-parks/http://spacing.ca/toronto/2015/04/17/parks-crisis-wabash-park-system-actually-worked/http://spacing.ca/toronto/2015/04/21/parks-crisis-part-6-privately-owned-public-spaces-answer-parks-deficit/http://spacing.ca/comment-policy/http://www.seangalbraith.com/http://spacing.ca/toronto/2015/04/21/parks-crisis-part-6-privately-owned-public-spaces-answer-parks-deficit/#comment-783841https://flic.kr/p/dnXovphttp://spacing.ca/toronto/2015/04/13/parks-in-crisis-part-1-all-built-up-and-no-place-to-go/http://spacing.ca/toronto/2015/04/14/parks-crisis-part-2-money-flows/http://spacing.ca/toronto/2015/04/15/parks-crisis-perils-cash-lieu/http://spacing.ca/toronto/2015/04/15/parks-crisis-sidebar-section-42-works/http://spacing.ca/toronto/2015/04/16/parks-crisis-part-4-tale-two-parks/http://spacing.ca/toronto/2015/04/17/parks-crisis-wabash-park-system-actually-worked/http://spacing.ca/toronto/2015/04/21/parks-crisis-part-6-privately-owned-public-spaces-answer-parks-deficit/http://spacing.ca/comment-policy/http://www.seangalbraith.com/http://spacing.ca/toronto/2015/04/21/parks-crisis-part-6-privately-owned-public-spaces-answer-parks-deficit/#comment-783841

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years ago when the owners wanted to build more retail on the pla!a/ andvoila/ no more POPS "and no, the new rooftop open space isn’t a satisfactoryreplacement/ if takes an effort to get to it, it doesn’t count&.

'se of public spaces in Toronto is already so tightly restricted by city rules andregulations. 0o we want more spaces which are sub1ect to the whim of privatelandowners as well2

POPS take the Public out of Public Space/ what we are left with is 1ust PrivateOpen Space/ a POS.

+ !hri"t#$her Kin%

11 MONTS AGO

remember the private3public raised park in St 4amestown. antastic idea untilthe condo owners suddenly reali!ed that they were going to be sharing it withundesirables on occasion, at which point all 5public6 access points were removed

' Ra&'#n(

11 MONTS AGO

$an someone point to some successful POPS in Toronto2 have not seen anythat impress me. 7m missing something2 Seems to me 1ust developers scamsto get more density and leave the public without decent open public space.

R#%er B

11 MONTS AGO

 7s in N#$, Toronto needs to find a way to enforce violations of e%isting POPSpolicies. 8iberty 9illage has a townhouse development with publicly accessiblewalkways that were closed off years ago with gates, but because the city’s 'rban0esign POPS group is taking many years to tabulate e%isting POPS, the vastma1ority can’t be verified by the city. found out from the 0evelopment applicationand local planner.’ve also had a planner n North #ork re*uest a property manager on:umberStone 0rive remove the large ;private property no trespassing’ signsaimed at a public walkway that provides a convenient link in a developmentwhere POPS paths were allowed to replace streets. The planner told me thatproperty management ignored his calls, and he told me that the "at that timeupcoming& city POPS program would solve these problems. t took me about ayear of re*uests, to finally get this overworked planner to spend some time in the

 7rchives and verify the POPS, but that’s the only way it can be verified since it’snot in any internet database.

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streets, adding stairs, not allowing through views so that a person can see that apath traverses the development, and placing multiple ;private property noparking’ signs pointed at pedestrian paths. The ;private property’ words are in bigtype, and would give most people the impression that they are trespassing. nlaw the sign is only supposed to be aimed at the "often unlikely or impossible&

person who wished to park on the path or park space.= )re(eri*+ E'ri*h

11 MONTS AGO

see the line at the bottom of Toronto’s POPS map, 57ccess to some POPSlocations may be refused in certain circumstances,6 and it makes me cringe.These aren’t public spaces without a strong commitment to making them fullypublic. Of course, 5in certain circumstances6 access even to fully public spacesmay be refused= but the disclaimer on the map suggests spaces that are less

than, possibly much less than, public. POPS can only serve as ade*uate public(ish spaces to the e%tent the city and their owner3operators strive to keep themfully public.

P R#%er B

11 MONTS AGO

 7s the article seems to point to, POPS can have some benefits and are usuallybetter than nothing, but generally they shouldn’t be thought of as substitutes forpublic parks, streets and connections. +hile some developers and propertyowners embrace the concept, most will be constantly working against public

access. The city neither has the regulations or the manpower to make privateowners fulfill the goals of public park space and access. The +ell is an e%ampleof a replacing public with private.

Q enr& Ar%a"in"+i

11 MONTS AGO

One of the best e%amples of a POP was the parkette which stood at the corner of )ay and 0undas Streets for over two decades, owned by the developers of theaton $entre. t was used by thousands during the day, but at night a desolateno man’s land. n my book "7 8ife in the

$ity, http:RRwwwsmashwordscomRboo(sRviewR&Q=&Q< & is a chapter whichdeals with the park and some of the stories around it. POPs can be good, butthey can also be abused and bad.

$omments are closed.http:RRspacingcaRtorontoR+>&=R>R+&Rpar(s-crisis-part-P-privately-owned-public-

spaces-answer-par(s-deEcitR