Toronto’s Central Waterfront is an active harbor framed by parkland, institutions, businesses, and industry, and also a habitat for rare plants and animals.
This report describes climate, geology, hydrology, soils, plants, and wildlife of the Central Waterfront and interprets the resources and hazards, opportunities and constraints these afford for urban development. It offers guidelines for design and planning and recommends a plan of action. Its value, beyond Toronto, lies in its comprehensive treatment of natural processes in the city and its systematic examination of the interplay among natural processes and human purposes. The project introduced innovative mapping methods, and some of the maps have been discussed and reproduced in numerous publications.
This report was produced at Wallace McHarg Roberts & Todd (WMRT) for the Toronto Planning Board’s Central Waterfront Planning Committee to help them develop a plan that would balance the many competing demands on the waterfront and to avoid or resolve potential conflicts. I was project director and co-authored the report with Narendra Juneja.