Green Roofs - Living Architecture Monitor - Spring 2018 - 18

Photo courtesy Public Work for the City of Toronto - TOcore

unique opportunity for public education and engagement and foster a
stronger connection between residents and the local ecosystem.
Toronto, Ontario was the first major city in North America to
require green roofs on most new construction. Since 2009, when the
Green Roof Bylaw passed, the city has seen more than 500 green
roofs installed. In the Fall of 2016, the city saw another progressive
green infrastructure idea brought to the table. City Councillors
proposed to cover the rail corridor in downtown Toronto with
parkland, providing the city with much needed green space and the
opportunity to connect neighborhoods currently separated by the
rail tracks. The park, aptly named the Rail Deck Park is a contentious
issue for some, in a city facing continual budget constraints and a
lineup of other big budget infrastructure projects.
A recent report by Ryerson University's City Building Institute,
a multi-disciplinary research center, entitled The Opportunity of the
Rail Deck Park, provides multiple justifications for a major investment
in the Rail Deck Park in the downtown core. The Report focuses
attention on the area's projected population growth and the lack of
green space.
The report states that residents of downtown Toronto have much
less parkland on both an area and per person basis than the citywide
average. The citywide average for parkland is 300 square feet per
person but in the downtown core this drops to only 45 square feet
per person. Parkland accounts for just under seven per cent of all
land in the valuable downtown core. The city has experienced rapid
growth with a 20 per cent increase in people living downtown
between 2011 and 2016, while the rest of the city only grew by three
LIVING ARCHITECTURE MONITOR / SPRING 2018 / 18

per cent over the same period. As
the downtown population continues to increase, the strain on
parkland will only become more
prominent, especially since most
people live in condominiums
with no access to a backyard.
The Ryerson Report maintains that the Rail Deck Park can
be financed partly through fees
accumulated through Toronto's
cash-in-lieu program for which
the city has already generated a
significant amount. Given the
high value of downtown property,
most developers opt to pay the
cash-in-lieu of land designated as
green space. The cash-in-lieu of
parkland provision has accumulated over CDN $128 million in
reserves for the downtown area
over the last ten years.
The CDN $1.6 billion
estimated price tag of the Rail
Deck Park appears reasonable,
when compared to other major
infrastructure investments that

Toronto is currently considering - including rehabilitating the
entire elevated highway called
the Gardiner Expressway for
$3.6 billion and $3.5 billion for a
one stop underground subway in
the north-eastern part of the city.
In a November 2017 Toronto
Staff report, Rail Deck Park -
Results of Feasibility Analysis &
Next Steps for Implementation, the
next phases of the rail deck are
provided in detail. Upon Toronto
City council approval, the design
of the park could begin as soon
as 2019, with one idea being to
host an International Design
Competition.
The Rail Deck Park provides
Toronto with an opportunity
to take advantage of the last
large expanse of land to build a
unique cultural landscape. The
park will likely provide a number
of environmental benefits such
as stormwater management,
improved air quality and
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Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Green Roofs - Living Architecture Monitor - Spring 2018
