Discussion Dufferin Grove Park is an engaging
grown food and other ecologically beneficial functions, offering a tranquil green place for recreation and restoration. It also does much more. Serving as a focal point to the neighbourhood, the park welcomes a diverse community through deliberate social inclusion and cohesion. Through its features, its programming and Friends of Dufferin Grove, the park encourages community members to take ownership of Dufferin Grove. This sense of ownership needs to be fostered during or even before the initial design stages of a project, and the design process itself needs to be completely inclusive. Time must be taken and patience exercised so that as many stakeholders as possible can contribute. The design of a park is a community exercise in learning, sharing, facilitating and empowering. New policies that support sustainable practices rely on an informed and engaged public, willing to work for change in the building of better cities. A park must leave room for change, adaptation and experiments with a palette of activities and features. These become potential building blocks for sustainability both in the public park and in one’s private life at home. As we design new parks and revitalise old ones, official policies need to be massaged and innovative approaches explored to manage each new and renewed park so that it is responsive to its own neighbourhood. Parks provide accessible opportunities to engage with life that exists outside of ourselves, and this steers us towards a reverence for all living things. The formalism that limits us to certain traditional aesthetics has to step back: if a park is to be a form of art, then it is one that emerges and develops as plants do, as families in a neighbourhood grow, as the spirit of a place evolves. A park must embrace both social and ecological change, build trust and provide a forum for discussion. This is the critical role of the urban park as something absolutely essential to sustainable design. *
opposite page: building the cob -wall house from the foundation to the sculptural walls and organic form. The community made this building, learning valuable, sustainable construction lessons in the process. The wandering walls include the sinks and counter that address Toronto Public Health’s request for proper facilities for food preparation. The walls also form a couryard, a gathering place related to healthy nourishment for children and visitors. below: The water sculpture is part of a native plant art garden – an opportunity to experience an alignment of aesthetics, culture and ecology. The garden and fountain were designed and made by Gene Threndyle. A natural hill is used as an informal amphitheatre during the annual Cooking Fire Theatre Festival. Various theatre groups participate in this week-long event; here a performance by the on-site Clay and Paper Theatre Company.
nucleus of social activity. It is an example of a park in a large city that demonstrates that urban parks are essential components of urban infrastructure in the evolution of sustainable cities. So how does Dufferin Grove inform designers who wish to thoughtfully design urban parks and other public open space? What design processes can we use that respond to the social needs of individual communities and in so doing, enhance sustainability? As a park, Dufferin Grove plays its role in carbon sequestration, rainwater infiltration, the celebration of locally
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weather matters: On Site review 21
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