Our first site visit was to the Corktown Common, a new park in Toronto’s West Don Lands neighbourhood. The park was built on remediated industrial lands and acts as a major flood protection landform and recreational amenity for the city. It’s a really great example of how cities can integrate resilience strategies into common public spaces.
John Wilson was our fabulous host and guide. He told us the history of the park and how it came to be. He described the nature of watersheds in Toronto, flood and stormwater management practice, park design, city-building and the future development of the West Don Lands, among other interesting things.
John is the former Chair of the Task Force to Bring Back the Don, he sat on the Technical Advisory Committee for the Environmental Assessment of the West Don Lands Flood Protection and is a member of the West Don Lands Committee, CodeBlueTO and the Friends of Corktown Common.
