For a long time, the parks, parkettes and ravines scattered around Toronto were regarded as “nice to have” and as “frills,” advocate Dave Harvey says, but now he believes people have come to see them as vital infrastructure akin to schools, roads and hospitals. Harvey, the co-executive director of Park People, told Global News the pandemic was a key moment for many in the city, who went from appreciating their local green spaces to categorizing them as one of the most important things in their lives. “We heard those stories during the pandemic of people saying that parks literally were their lifesavers,” he said.
But access to those lifesavers in Toronto is slowly dripping away. Population growing faster than parks The city is all but built up, with a slew of new towers growing across the city, particularly in the downtown. Those new buildings are increasing Toronto’s population and reducing the average amount of parkland available to each resident.
Story continues below advertisement Data shows that, while the total amount of parkland in Toronto grew marginally in the past decade, the city’s population grew much faster. Between 2011 and 2021, the census shows around 180,000 new people came to call Toronto home. At the same time, data from the city shows it added roughly 19 acres of parkland.
Over the past decade, the amount of parkland per 1,000 people dropped from 31 to 29 hectares — and it could get worse. More on Toronto Ontario considering expanding pha.