As many of you know, Toronto has a highly successful public space underneath the Gardiner Expressway called The Bentway. I have ice skated in this space during the winter and I have listened to hard techno in this space during the summer. It has become a public space anchor in the city. Ilana Altman and the team are doing great work. And this week, they just announced that Field Operations (New York) and Brook McIlroy (Toronto) have been hired to design a major expansion. Called The Bentway Islands, this next phase consists of three "islands," totalling 11,500 m2 (~125,000 ft2).

Here's a map:

And here's what the spaces look like today:

Both of these firms do fantastic work, and so I'm excited to see what they come up with. (Field Operations is the firm behind New York's High Line.) But if I can offer two unsolicited (yet related) suggestions, they would be: 1) Let's incorporate more commercial uses and 2) let's aim for these three parcels to not actually feel like urban islands. Generally speaking, the spaces underneath highways aren't the most desirable. They also tend to be surrounded by inhospitable urban environments. Stitching them in and creating continuity in the fabric of the city (existing example, here) is the best way to make the highway above more or less disappear.

As many of you know, Toronto has a highly successful public space underneath the Gardiner Expressway called The Bentway. I have ice skated in this space during the winter and I have listened to hard techno in this space during the summer. It has become a public space anchor in the city. Ilana Altman and the team are doing great work. And this week, they just announced that Field Operations (New York) and Brook McIlroy (Toronto) have been hired to design a major expansion. Called The Bentway Islands, this next phase consists of three "islands," totalling 11,500 m2 (~125,000 ft2).

Here's a map:

And here's what the spaces look like today:

Both of these firms do fantastic work, and so I'm excited to see what they come up with. (Field Operations is the firm behind New York's High Line.) But if I can offer two unsolicited (yet related) suggestions, they would be: 1) Let's incorporate more commercial uses and 2) let's aim for these three parcels to not actually feel like urban islands. Generally speaking, the spaces underneath highways aren't the most desirable. They also tend to be surrounded by inhospitable urban environments. Stitching them in and creating continuity in the fabric of the city (existing example, here) is the best way to make the highway above more or less disappear.