Major Urban Projects in Toronto

Analysis of Toronto Waterfront project
Student name
School name
ANALYSIS OF MAJOR URBAN PROJECT IN TORONTO
NEW TORONTO WATERFRONT PROJECT
Project history
Toronto city is located beside a large water body and was founded out of a point of intersections of transportation routes. Its location on Lake Ontario has been instrumental to the city and the country as a whole, the lake has provided an important means of transport for locals.
Toronto town was home to aborigines before the coming of Europeans who used it as the short cut from the lower to upper great lakes. Humber River located on the south end part of the passage. They built a modern trading post in 1750s, Fort Roulle on Ontario shoreline east of Humber.
The birth of urban Toronto is traced through construction of Fort York in 1793 by the British to help counter possible threats from the Americans at the time after their revolution.
Fig 1: Historical photos of Toronto’s waterfront.
Starting with maps of the area from 1668.
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Map, 1680
Much of the trade along the lake was by boat with adjacent factories to the waterfront making good business sense. The lack of available land along the waterfront however limited the growth of shipping, industrial and railway infrastructure in 1940s.
This prompted a massive campaign of lake filling in 1950s to expand the shore land south to the esplanade and the was extended farther south for hundred years that followed into 1950s when the current shoreline was achieved and this left original shoreline north of today’s rail corridor.
The downtown core of Toronto became undesirable for residential due to industry concentration but major roads were built to enable people to commute as jobs were still in this downtown industrial area. Highways were built around the city, with Gardiner expressway cutting the people off from the lake.
The urban revolution of 1970s led to the rediscovery of waterfronts including Toronto waterfronts to catapult them onto world stage. The newly developed waterfronts attracted more residents, more employers, more jobs and more visitors.
Project chronology
In July 1999, a report dubbed “unlocking Toronto port lands” was released by urban development services which provided an assessment of the challenges and opportunities for the land at the port and stated also reiterated the need to revitalize the area.
Later on in November 1999 prime minister of Canada commissioned the formation of a task force to develop a business plan and make necessary recommendations for developing the new waterfront in a bid to host 2008 summer Olympics. The same day Mayor Lastman released the vision document, our Toronto waterfront.
August 28, 2000, city council approved the staff report Our Toronto Waterf...