Here’s how Toronto’s breathtaking new waterfront neighbourhood will be built

Toronto’s upcoming futuristic neighbourhood is slowly but surely starting to come to fruition along the city’s waterfront, as construction crews prepare to embark on the next phase of work this spring. 

Quayside is a major component of the City and Waterfront Toronto’s Port Lands Flood Protection project, which will connect the rest of the city with greenspaces along the lake and enable the construction of much-needed housing in the area. 

Once developed, the eastern waterfront is set to serve as the home to over 100,000 people, and will unlock nearly 240 hectares of land for new infrastructure, streets, public spaces, and amenities. 

The concept for the community’s public realm was developed in collaboration with landscape designers West 8 and DTAH  in coordination with WSP and Indigenous subject matter experts, MinoKamik Collective. 

The neighbourhood’s design leads with ecology in mind and introduces the concept of the “healing forest,” or a place of quiet and communion with nature amid the busy city. Through several community engagements, Waterfront Toronto says that one point that consistently emerged was the need for healthy and diverse plantings. 

“The Indigenous engagements featured much talk about the use of biodiverse plant species that would be resilient and adaptable to local urban conditions. We also heard about the importance of making people feel connected to nature on an emotional level,” Waterfront Toronto wrote in a new blog post. 

The area’s planting strategy includes open planters with biodiverse tree plantings. Photo: Waterfront Toronto. 

As a result, the community’s public realm will feature a more naturalized environment, including open planters, Indigenous plants, and species that are capable of adapting to tough urban conditions. 

The area is also set to see multiple transportation upgrades in the future. Currently, the community is dominated by four vehicular lanes on Queens Quay East and what Waterfront Toronto calls an “uninviting intersection” underneath the Gardiner at Lake Shore Boulevard East and Parliament Street that feels unsafe for pedestrians. 

As a result, Quayside’s design seeks to improve pedestrian and cyclist connections, which includes extending Queens Quay further to the east as well as the realignment of Parliament Street. 

Waterfront Toronto is also working with MinoKamik Collective to come up with innovative ways to showcase Indigenous artists. Photo: Waterfront Toronto. 

Through a different project, the corporation is also working on the design of the Waterfront East Light Rail Transit (LRT) from Bay Street to the Port Lands, which seeks to improve connections between the area and the rest of the city. 

Construction is set to occur in stages, with the first phase (the revitalization of Small Street) expected to begin this spring. Parliament Street and Queens Quay will follow next, work schedules are still being finalized and are subject to change.