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A full-colour guide to dozens of unique outdoor spaces that highlight Toronto as a sustainable, liveable city.
Toronto is rich in public spaces — deeply incised ravines, lively neighbourhoods, lush gardens and parks, iconic bridges, even repurposed industrial silos and undercrofts of elevated highways. Urban designer Ken Greenberg and Toronto aficionado Eti Greenberg have combed the city on foot and by tandem bike, discovering some of Toronto’s best outdoor public spaces.
In Exploring Toronto, they have gathered twenty-eight of their favourite spots, each offering something unique — a flash of ingenious design, a surprise vantage point, or simply relief from the hum of traffic. Ken and Eti bring their distinctive perspective, informed by years of work in urban design, to each of their choices, providing readers (and explorers) with the full story of the history, design, and appeal of each one-of-a-kind place.
Ken and Eti’s excellent adventure takes you to a diversity of places where Toronto’s urban structure intersects with three natural features — Lake Ontario, the ravine network and the escarpment. Their shared experience brings strangers together as they reveal special places of delight and joy.
Ken and Eti have such a passion for and knowledge of Toronto’s parks and greenspaces. Whether you’re visiting Toronto or have lived here for years, you’ll learn something new and be inspired to get out and explore the great public spaces in our city.
Resident and visitor alike will delight in Eti and Ken Greenberg’s voyage of discovery through many of Toronto’s parks, landmarks and neighbourhoods as well as the rivers, ravines and lakeshore that sit alongside them.
Ken & Eti showcase civic gems that make Toronto the fun, liveable and playful city that it has become – many of which they had a hand in creating over two remarkable careers. An essential guide for anyone who wants to experience the city's unique character and charm.
A gem of a book — as are its authors — who each embody the joy of the unique public spaces they’ve chosen to highlight. Treat yourself — and your friends — to this charming, informative book that encourages us to engage with the delight that intention can engender: urban places that are ours to discover.
Exploring Toronto is a beautiful tribute to the people and places that have shaped the city’s public landscape. Ken and Eti have made a meaningful and lasting contribution to the places they feature, and with this book they invite readers to walk alongside them as they discover, rediscover and celebrate the city they have helped to build and that they dearly love.
Ken and Eti’s intimate insights, stewardship and love of Toronto — its people and places — reveal the diversity, energy, beauty and soul of this wonderful urban palimpsest.
Exploring Toronto is a love letter to the city I chose to call home. A similarly fascinating book for locals and for visitors.
Our city is so unfinished, and the Greenbergs provide insights into unfamiliar gems awaiting discovery, informed details about the city’s urban growth, and sensibilities that provide each place with a personality and feeling.
The insights in this book will be of interest to newcomers and longtime residents alike. Exploring Toronto is a guidebook, a history book, and a playbook for building the next generation of Toronto's unique public spaces.
Eti Greenberg (1944–2024) managed Toronto’s Euclid Cinema, acted as an art dealer, worked for two Toronto city councillors, taught Tai Chi, and was a Shiatsu and acupuncture therapist. She was passionate about Toronto, and walked everywhere, while she also discovered new places via tandem bike and kayak.
- Contents
- Foreword
- Toronto: Walking the City
- Unique Public Spaces Map
- Toronto Islands
- Toronto Music Garden
- Sugar Beach
- Canada Malting Silos
- Trillium Park
- The Bentway
- Canoe Landing at CityPlace
- Puente de Luz (The “Yellow Bridge”)
- Victoria Memorial Square
- Berczy Park
- Regent Park
- Rush Lane (a.k.a. “Graffiti Alley”)
- Grange Park
- Kensington Market
- Front Yard Stories
- The Beltline
- West Don Lands
- Port Lands Bridges
- The Don Valley
- Trinity Bellwoods Park
- Roncesvalles (a.k.a. “Roncy”)
- High Park
- Humber Bay Shores Park
- Humber Bay Arch Bridge
- Old Mill Bridge
- Leslie Street Spit
- The Beach
- The Guild of All Arts (Clark Centre for the Arts)
- Acknowledgements
- Index
- About the Authors
- About 8 80 Cities