As Canada’s largest and most populous city, Toronto’s unique hydrogeology and continued urban densification was the primary focus of an investigation on urban resiliency conducted in parallel to the Canada - Netherlands Resilient Cities Summit. From May 26 through 28th, architecture, landscape architecture, and urban design students from the John H. Daniels Faculty of Architecture, Landscape and Design worked in a collaborative design charrette with students from the Delft University of Technology (TU Delft) to identify, map and respond to current and future conditions, looking for opportunities to improve the resilience of Toronto by bridging the gap between periods and locations of water surplus (flood) and water scarcity (drought).

The charrette began with site visits throughout the Don River watershed, beginning upstream at Hogg’s Hollow, where highly variable flood protection measures were surveyed; midstream, where the unique social and spatial challenges of the mid-century Thorncliffe Park tower developments were explored; to the river mouth at Lake Ontario, where industrial channelization, the Gardiner Expressway and the inheritance of toxic materials presents the city with a complicated series of questions. The students, working in small groups, produced maps of each location’s unique hydrological, ecological, social and spatial circumstances. What can, they wondered, architecture and landscape architecture do as a practice of intervention in the face of increasing pressures on the urban fabric? 

The second and third days looked to answer these questions by imagining futures outside of current planning trajectories as a way to respond to each site’s unique challenges, all the while considering each site in relation to the 36,000 hectare watershed of which it is a part. Increasing climate impacts were a given, and each of the design proposals dealt with increasing rainwater volume, sediment, continued toxic inputs and urban densification. Each group responded with a site design that moved across scales and through time. 

On May 28th, the design proposals were presented to a panel of visiting critics, and the next day, in a private audience to King Willem-Alexander and Queen Máxima of the Kingdom of the Netherlands and the official delegation of the Netherlands Consulate.

For more information on the Summit presenters visit:

http://dutchconsulate.wix.com/candutchrcsummit#!presenters/c13d8

Charrette Leaders:

• Liat Margolis, Assistant Professor, Landscape Architecture, University of Toronto
• Dr. Rob Roggema, Professor, Design for Urban Agriculture & Slow Urbanism, VHL University of Applied Sciences and Cittaideale
• Frits van Loon, Senior Lecturer, Chair of Landscape Architecture, Delft University of Technology

Delft University of Technology student participants:

• Agate Kalnpure, Master of Landscape Architecture
• Lena Niël, Master of Urbanism
• Koen Steegers, Master of Landscape Architecture
• Veerle de Vries, Master of Architecture

University of Toronto student participants:

• Jordan Duke, Master of Landscape Architecture
• Rui Felix, Master of Landscape Architecture
• Jasper Flores, Master of Landscape Architecture
• Melissa Gerskup, Master of Architecture
• Andrew Hooke, Master of Landscape Architecture
• Elise Hunchuck, Master of Landscape Architecture
• David Kossowsky, Master of Landscape Architecture
• Jergus Oprsal, Master of Landscape Architecture
• Matthew Perotto, Master of Landscape Architecture
• Anna Rosen, Master of Landscape Architecture
• Raissa Siqueria, Bachelor of Architecture
• Katie Strang, Master of Landscape Architecture

Guest Critics:

• Julie Bogdanowicz, City of Toronto, City Planning, Urban Designer
• Paul Dowsett, Sustainable TO, Principal Architect
• Dr. Jennifer Drake, University of Toronto, Environmental Engineering
• Lisa King, City of Toronto, City Planning, Strategic Initiatives, Policy & Analysis, Senior Planner
• Nico Tille, Vice President at World Council on City Data, Rotterdam, Netherlands
• Dr. Andy van den Dobbelsteen, Director of Architectural Engineering and Technology, Delft University of Technology
• Karl Van Es, Sustainable TO, Intern Architect
• Dr. Anke van Hal, Professor of Sustainable Housing Transformation, Delft University of Technology