Toronto Waterfront Research Articles

The Impact of Organizational Crafting on Planning

The paper demonstrates that organizational landscapes play a central role in planning processes, and presents an analysis of the complex interrelationship between organizational structures and political, economic, and social factors. Using the redevelopment of the Toronto waterfront as a case study, the paper explores how organizational conflicts among levels of government and their agencies led to a fragmented redevelopment process and a planned environment that failed to meet public expectations. The narrative also highlights the generally unpredictable nature of organizational effects, often resulting from the dynamics of self-interested organizations. The final conclusion is that organizational crafting plays an essential role in the achievement of planning objectives, despite difficulties in predicting and controlling its long-term consequences.

Developing sustainability: sustainability policy and gentrification on Toronto's waterfront

A “three pillar” concept of sustainability guides the current publicly funded planning and redevelopment process on Toronto's waterfront. While this concept serves as a guiding framework, sustainability is largely defined in planning and redevelopment policy and practice by multi-level public sector urban intensification policy and a reliance on the private sector-led implementation of new sustainable communities. This study connects perspectives on “policy-led gentrification” and “third-wave gentrification” with an exploration of public plans and development strategies for the new West Don Lands waterfront neighbourhood. It traces how sustainability objectives are integrated into a gentrification process driven by public sector planning and development policies and private sector development interests. Components of the integration of sustainability into gentrification practices are the sale of publicly owned waterfront lands to private developers and public sector financial and educational incentives for private real estate development that meets Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design sustainability targets.

Cultural Feast Awaits On the Waterfront

Back to table of contents Previous article Next article Annual MeetingFull AccessCultural Feast Awaits On the WaterfrontJim RosackJim RosackSearch for more papers by this authorPublished Online:5 May 2006https://doi.org/10.1176/pn.41.9.0031Nestled on the Toronto waterfront is the home of certainly Canada's—and potentially one of the continent's—richest and most diverse cultural centers for the arts. For more than 30 years, Harbourfront Centre has been the home of internationally renowned programming in the arts, culture, education, and recreation.Harbourfronte Center, at 235 Queens Quay West, occupies 10 acres on the Toronto waterfront just south of the city's central business district. A short cab ride from the Toronto Convention Centre or your hotel, the complex includes contemporary design as well as the site's original industrial buildings, restored to create spacious and inviting artistic venues.The York Quay Centre, the “nerve center” of the complex, inhabits an old trucking garage that is now home to 10 performance, dance, and exhibition spaces. York Quay Centre also includes four working craft studios as well as several art galleries. The Photo Passage at York Quay Centre exhibits often stunning contemporary photographic exhibitions. At Case Studies, Uncommon Objects, and StudioWorks, contemporary artists, designers, and craftspeople display their works year-round.The Premiere Dance Theatre, on the third floor of the historically restored Queens Quay Terminal building, is a 450-seat venue home to accomplished dance, theatrical, and literary productions. The Harbourfront Centre Theatre, housed in a 1920s-era ice house, also boasts 450 seats and enjoys particularly excellent acoustics resulting in an intimate and ideal performance space for music, dance, and stage productions.Harbourfront Centre is also home to the CIBCstage, considered by many Torontonians to be the city's finest outdoor concert venue. The lakeside amphitheater seats 1,500 with standing room for an additional 3,000. The stage presents musical acts, outdoor films, ballet, symphony, and opera spring, summer, and fall.If it is food you are looking for, Harbourfront Centre is home to many fine and casual dining establishments. Unfortunately, during the annual meeting one of the sites favorite food destinations, The World Café, will not be open. In the middle of the site, The World Café is an “outdoor food extravaganza” that from June to September offers a variety of international cuisines prepared by a rotating selection of Toronto's best restaurants. However, the popular Pier 4 at Harbourfront offers both fine and casual dining with a nautical theme, housed within the historic storehouses of the pier and surrounded by water on three sides.The complex is also a center for “learning, doing, and creating,” not just watching a performance. Children and families will delight in the School by the Water. Founded in 1979, the school's educational program is host to 30,000 children a year, ranging from kindergartners to kids of high-school age. The history of the waterfront, the arts, environmental issues, and urban planning are all taught in day-long waterfront classes.With so much to offer, a day spent at Harbourfront Centre will indeed be well spent.Information on Harbourfront Centre is posted at<www.harbourfrontcentre.com>. Check for an updated schedule of events planned during the annual meeting at<www.harbourfrontcentre.com/noflash/info/schedule.php>.▪ ISSUES NewArchived

Impact on the Fate of Toxic Contaminants in the Toronto Waterfront — Should the Toronto Main Sewage Treatment Plant Outfall Be Moved Farther Offshore?

Abstract A fate model, TOXFATE, is coupled with a hydrodynamic model of the waters off the Toronto waterfront, Lake Ontario. The Toronto waterfront is here defined as a rectangular area, 48 km long by 10 km wide, of the lake delimited on the west by Etobicoke Creek and in the east by the Rouge River. Data were collected in 1987 in support of the Toronto Main Sewage Treatment Plant (STP) pilot site study, Municipal and Industrial Study for Abatement (MISA). It provides an excellent baseline database. The object of the fate-modeling study is to assess the change in organics concentration if loadings from the Main STP and other local sources were changed or the outfall location moved farther offshore. Loadings of contaminants from local sources in the Toronto waterfront area are between 0.5% to 25% of contaminants that enter Lake Ontario from other sources. Results show that if sources of local loadings were reduced, changes in water concentrations would be noticeable within 1 to 2 kilometres from shore. Only a small area of the waterfront is affected directly by local sources since waters in the Toronto waterfront area are replaced approximately every 9 days (as computed from the hydrodynamic simulation). Therefore, toxic contaminants that enter from local sources are readily dispersed in the rest of the lake. Simulations also show that the extension of the Toronto Main STP outfall to a new location farther offshore will result in a dilution of toxic contaminants 10 times greater than that obtained at the present STP outfall. A complete set of figures, including an interactive analysis of the computer simulations, is available on the Web site www.butx.com/toronto.

Retrofitting a stormwater management facility with a wetland component

The City of Toronto has built a stormwater management system, the Etobicoke Stormwater Management Facility (ESWMF), along the Lake Ontario shoreline. The Facility represents an innovative stormwater management solution that integrates two previously separate water quality improvement technologies ‐stormwater wetlands and flow balancing systems. The facility, besides improving water quality, will provide aesthetic, recreational and educational benefits. A conceptual plan to retrofit a wetland component within the ESWMF using three wetland design options is presented. The application of this ecotechnology at other stormwater discharges along the Toronto waterfront is discussed. The paper concludes with a review of the policy implications.

Ontario‐great lakes shoreline management: An update

The growth of international experience with integrated coastal zone management (ICZM) since the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development in 1992 provides an opportunity to apply new concepts to assist a variety of coastal regions facing similar management concerns and issues. Significant political and social changes within the province of Ontario in Canada are resulting in important and fundamental impacts on existing Great Lakes shoreline management policies and programs. Reforms to the Planning Act alter the role of the provincial government in land use planning and place increased responsibilities with local municipalities. Funding cutbacks and program reductions have removed staff and support from the Great Lakes Shoreline Management Program, endangering its very future. Recent management initiatives by the Toronto Waterfront Regeneration Trust suggest the potential for the application of concepts and principles from ICZM on the Great Lakes. There is a need for improved leadership and direction by all levels of government, as well as by communities and citizens, in efforts to incorporate concepts and experience from current initiatives in ICZM. This will allow for the development of a stronger, more effective, and more efficient approach for Great Lakes shoreline management in Ontario based on concepts and practices related to ICZM.

Pilot-Scale Study of Satellite Treatment Options for the Control of Combined Sewer Overflows

Abstract Combined sewer overflows (CSOs) have been recognized for many years as a pollution problem within the Great Lakes ecosystem. CSOs were identified as a source of contamination in 10 of the 17 Canadian “Areas of Concern” designated by the International Joint Commission, and were considered a major problem in Hamilton Harbour and the Metropolitan Toronto Waterfront. Satellite treatment systems (located upstream in the sewerage system) were identified as being significantly more cost effective than other CSO control options in a feasibility study conducted for Metropolitan Toronto. Consequently, a multi-agency initiative was established in 1993 to examine the treatment of CSOs at a pilot-scale facility in the City of Scarborough. The technologies evaluated during two experimental seasons in 1994 and 1995 included a vortex separator, a circular clarifier, a horizontal-flow plate clarifier and an inclined rotary drum screen. Performance of the technologies is being assessed against a draft policy proposed by the Ontario Ministry of Environment and Energy. Results to date have indicated that the vortex separator and the plate clarifier under “best conditions” were capable of 50% TSS removal and 30% BOD5 removal and should be capable of satisfying the policy.

Great Lakes United Position Statement on RAPs

The Toronto waterfront area of Lake Ontario is part of the Toronto and Region Area of Concern (AOC), partly due to elevated contaminant levels in fish and the resulting restrictive fish consumption advisories. Data collected by the Province of Ontario were used to investigate long-term (1975–2011) temporal trends of mercury, polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), mirex, and toxaphene levels in multiple fish species collected from the Toronto waterfront area. Recent (2000–2012) mercury and total PCB levels in fish from the Toronto waterfront area were compared to those for other regions, including other AOCs, of the Canadian waters of the Great Lakes. A similar comparison of fish PCB levels was also conducted for the Canadian AOCs for a historical scenario. Mercury and PCB levels in fish from the Toronto waterfront area demonstrated significant decreasing trends over time in multiple species, and recent mercury levels are well below the current consumption advisory benchmarks. In some cases, PCB levels remain above the current consumption advisory benchmarks and above the levels observed in fish from other AOC and non-AOC regions of the Canadian Great Lakes. Half-life calculations for these species indicate that it may take 8–26 years for total PCB concentrations in certain fish species to decrease below the current consumption advisory benchmarks. Sustained monitoring of PCBs in fish from the Toronto waterfront area is recommended to aid in ensuring that recovery continues.

A Three-Dimensional Nested Hydrodynamic/Pollutant Transport Simulation Model for the Nearshore Areas of Lake Ontario

A three-dimensional hydrodynamic/pollutant transport quality simulation model was developed to simulate the currents and pollutant transport in Lake Ontario and its nearshore areas. The computational efficiency of the model was improved by using an implicit scheme to compute barotropic pressures. The model was applied to Lake Ontario using a 4-km-square grid to simulate wind-induced circulation under isothermal and stratified conditions. A nested model approach was used to study the currents and pollutant transport in the nearshore area along the Metropolitan Toronto waterfront and the mouth of Mimico Creek. In this approach, three models were nested using the following spatial discretization: a 2-km grid for Lake Ontario, a 500-meter grid for the Metropolitan Toronto waterfront, and a 100-meter grid near the mouth of Mimico Creek. An interpolation scheme applied at the open boundaries minimized truncation errors generated by using different grid sizes. Two cases which consisted of lake stratified and isothermal conditions were selected for model calibration. Predictions of lake circulation patterns and conductivity were in good agreement with field measured time series data.

Spatial Discourses and Social Boundaries: Re‐imagining the Toronto Waterfront

THIS ARTICLE EXAMINES the work of a recent Canadian royal commission investigating the future of the Toronto waterfront. It is particularly concerned with the emergence of a new kind of spatial discourse and how it affected the perception of the area, definition of the issues, and planning strategies. Focusing on changing forms of discourse opens a window on the historical processes through which spatial meanings and the experience of space change. Spatial discourses elaborate ideologies of place that often relate to the construction of social boundaries. Using ideologies of place, people describe the kinds of places that exist, explain their nature, evaluate them (employing cognitively and emotionally salient imagery to create a symbolic landscape), identify with them, and imagine places as they ought to be (thus creating moral landscapes), [waterfront, discourse, ideology, boundaries, planning, Canada]

Spatial Discourses and Social Boundaries: Re-imagining the Toronto Waterfront

Spatial Discourses and Social Boundaries: Re-imagining the Toronto Waterfront

Assessing the impact of sewage effluent on the ecosystem health of the Toronto Waterfront (Ashbridges Bay), Lake Ontario

The ecosystem health of the Toronto Waterfront (Ashbridges Bay), Lake Ontario which receives treated sewage effluent was investigated during 1987 and 1988 by means of a functional and structural battery of tests. The functional tests included in situ size-fractionated primary productivity, Algal Fractionation Bioassays (AFBs), unfiltered and filtered bioassays, and sediment assays with Daphnia magna and Hyalella azteca. The structural evaluation involved the biomonitoring of the components of the ‘microbial loop’, such as bacteria, autotrophic picoplankton, heterotrophic nanoflagellates, and protozoa. The experimental results reveal a diversity of physiological responses to the complex nutrient and contaminant regimes by the indigenous phytoplankton. There was no evidence of the impact of chlorination on the primary productivity of the Bay. The overall productivity was higher during the post-chlorination period than the pre-chlorination phase. The high rates of microplankton + netplankton productivity near the outfall have been attributed to the bioavailability of nutrients which, quite possibly, exert ameliorating effects on metal toxicity. In contrast, the low ultraplankton rates have been interpreted to be due to their well-known sensitivity to contaminants. The Effluent Receiving Water Bioassays (ERWB) with filtered and unfiltered experiments provided interesting insight and appear to be a potentially useful assessment tool. Generally, the unfiltered water compared to the filtered was toxic to the offshore test phytoplankton. This demonstrates a unique ecological adaptation to the prevailing in situ conditions by the Bay community which might be important from the restoration point of view. However, the offshore population was found to be sensitive to the particulate-bound toxicity as indicated by the unfiltered bioassays. Consequently, it is essential to probe the complexity of nutrient-contaminant interactions which ultimately appear to determine the toxicity and the resulting health of the biota. Furthermore, our experiments have shown that the particulate-matter is an important carrier of both nutrients and contaminants in Ashbridges Bay. The sediment bioassays for Station 419 indicated that sediments were toxic during both the pre- and post-chlorination phases. Both solid and liquid phase testing indicated toxicity of sediment to the acute Daphnia test. The Hyalella chronic assay showed good survival during the 4-wk period of the experiment, in contrast to the toxicity observed for phytoplankton and Daphnia. This may be due to large mounts of organic matter available in the Bay. The invertebrate bioassays confirmed the lack of impact of chlorination. Finally, the ‘microbial loop’ seems to be a sensitive, rapid, and an early warning bioindicator of anthropogenic stress. The multi-trophic battery of structural and functional strategy adopted in our laboratory appear to be holistic and effective. The strategy has a considerable potential for developing eco-technology for a badly needed assessment and restoration of ecosystem health of the Great Lakes as well as other perturbed environments in the world.

Restructuring the Toronto Harbour Commission: land politics on the Toronto waterfront

Drawing on the theoretical approach of the French regulation school, this paper examines changes to a port authority, the Toronto Harbour Commissioners, both from an historical perspective and within the context of global, national and local forces. Following a discussion of the Commission's establishment, the paper focuses on the most recent wave of waterfront redevelopment beginning in the late 1960s. During this period, the Commission faced serious challenges resulting from the urban region moving toward a Fordist regime of accumulation. Contrary to the expectations of a regulation approach, the Commission's institutional mandate and organizational structure remained intact. By the late 1980s, however, the Commission was being assailed by the local state, by business, community and environmental groups, by the national government, and by the global production system. This ensemble of voices for change will bring about new institutional arrangements which will reflect a fuller correspondence with the current regime of accumulation.

Urban Planning in Twentieth-Century North America: From Success to Irrelevancy?

The Liveable Metropolis, a colourful brochure from the Metropolitan Toronto Planning Department, slid last fall through my mail slot, announcing yet another proposed plan. It follows on the heels of the City of Toronto's Cityplan '91. Again, Metro has produced a mountain of paper after hours and hours of talk, though probably no more than yet another planning exercise such as resulted in the recent Regeneration on Toronto's waterfront. Like Vancouverites, or at least those active in the urban political scene in what have been rapidly growing cities, Torontonians love to dream about rearranging the environment. The planning 'industry' just keeps going endlessly, operating more smoothly, if less conspicuously, than that other great intellectual enterprise of recent times, the redrawing of the Constitution

Distribution of Chlorobenzenes, Pesticides and PCB Congeners in Lake Ontario Near the Toronto Waterfront

Abstract Concentrations of 89 toxic organic pollutants (25 contaminants, including chlorobenzenes and pesticides, and 64 PCB isomers) were measured in Lake Ontario along the Toronto Waterfront area during the spring, summer and fall of 1987. Data indicate that Humber Bay, the inner harbour, and the areas near the Toronto Main Sewage Treatment Plant (STP) are the most polluted. While contaminant levels in some offshore areas are high, average levels for most contaminants are similar to whole-lake levels. Lake Ontario receives large amounts of pollutants from atmospheric sources and the Niagara River. Consequently, the impact of both local and whole-lake sources is felt in the Toronto Waterfront Area. Thus, even if all local sources of pollution were removed, the Toronto Waterfront Area would probably remain affected by other sources, primarily the Niagara River. Concentrations of toxic pollutants would remain approximately the same as far as two kilometers from shore.

A Living Memorial

Situated like an oasis in the concrete corridors that characterizes much of Toronto's waterfront, is Metropolitan Toronto's Coronation Park, a 6 acre island of green between Strachan Avenue and HMCS York. Its remarkable stand of mature trees is perhaps the only such grove that has been planted by humanity in Toronto's two century old obsession of pushing the shoreline outwards into Lake Ontario. The park's achievement moreover is a notable testimony to the efforts of conservationists and war veterans who created and protected it.

Use of a bromobenzoate for cross-adaptation of anaerobic bacteria in Lake Ontario sediments for degradation of chlorinated aromatics

The capacity of anaerobic micro-organisms in the sediment of a freshwater lake to degrade halogenated benzoates was investigated. Sediments collected from Lake Ontario along the Toronto waterfront (Ontario, Canada) were incubated with halogenated benzoates and dehalogenation was measured by high pressure liquid chromatography (HPLC). Following adaptation to monohalogenated benzoates (3-bromobenzoate, 3-chlorobenzoate), cross-adaptation to complex halogenated aromatics (3,5-dichlorobenzoate, 4-amino-3,5-dichlorobenzoate), was assessed by monitoring their depletion by HPLC. Prior adaptation to 3-bromobenzoate resulted in a more rapid depletion of the complex halogenated aromatics (3,5-dichlorobenzoate and 4-amino-3,5-dichlorobenzoate) than prior adaptation to 3-chlorobenzoate. The results suggest that cross-adaptation may be an approach to a more rapid biodegradation of complex pollutants in lake sediments or in wastewater treatment systems, with the 3-bromobenzeate preferred over the 3-chlorobenzoate as the adaptation substrate.

Planning Urban Waterfront Industrial Districts

The process by which one particular section of Toronto's waterfront, Ashbridge's Bay, was developed during the 1889-1910 period is analysed in the context of broader industrialization and urban reform movements. Primary sources, largely from the Toronto Harbour Commissioners'Archives recently opened to the public, and the City of Toronto Archives, provide the basis for the analysis. Evidence demonstrates that Toronto's influential 1912 waterfront plan, crucial in reshaping the lakefront, was built on numerous previous schemes for improving the port, the harbour, and adjacent areas. Ownership of Toronto's waterfront remained under the control of civic authorities more from pragmatic considerations than from a commitment to serve community-wide interests.

The Toronto Harbour Commission Archives

The development and management of Toronto's waterfront are issues that have challenged the city's administrators and citizens since the late 18th century. The sheltered waters of Toronto Bay, protected to the south by a narrow peninsula of slowly shifting sand, was one of the principal features that attracted Simcoe to the area, and the harbour continued to dominate the growth of the city until the middle of the next century. As Sandford Fleming remarked before the Canadian Institute in June 1850, "To the unequalled excellence of this harbour..., the most facile outlet for the productions of the back country, is principally due the rapid and uninterrupted progress in commerce and in wealth of the western capital."1 This role was soon largely usurped by the burgeoning network of railways that spread out from Toronto, but the harbour remained an important thoroughfare for certain types of cargo, especially those involved in resource extraction, and recreational use. Its efficient management provided competition for the railways as well as opportunities for diversified industrial expansion, but it was a resource that could not be taken for granted. Natural forces and years of human neglect would lead to its steady deterioration. Fleming continued his address before the Canadian Institute by noting that the maintenance and improvement of the harbour, "so as to ensure a continuance of prosperity, becomes, therefore, of the utmost importance," and, although the shape and character of the waterfront have changed considerably, its development has remained an important issue in Toronto.

Port Authorities as Urban Land Developers

Port authorities have been important presences in Canada's port cities, playing major roles in determining the physical form and land-use functions of urban waterfront lands. Their formative roles warrant attention from scholars concerned with the city-building process in Canada. This study focuses upon one such body, The Toronto Harbour Commissioners, and how and why it has functioned as a land development agency. An analysis of the commissions Outer Harbour project between 1912 and 1968 shows the commissions central concern with land development: ostensibly presented as a harbour facility, the project was actually intended to be a key component in the commissions proposed redevelopment of Toronto's central waterfront for profitable commercial and residential use. The project also reveals the significance of landfilling in the commissions urban development role, and, incidentally, explains the existence of the three-mile artificial headland projecting out into Lake Ontario from Toronto's waterfront. The role of the commission as a development agency is explained in terms of its original 1911 mandate, which in turn reflects the intentions of the Toronto Board of Trade, the body that had led the drive to create the commission.