A new 820 m2 park is coming to 464-470 Queen St. W., at the corner of Queen Street West and Augusta Avenue in the Alexandra Park neighbourhood. The park design will be shaped through community engagement and is proposed to include lighting, seating areas, plantings and more.
The timeline is subject to change. A base park is the area that is cleared and prepared for future park features and amenities.
Take the online survey to give feedback on each of the three design options.
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This project has been classified as an Involve project based on the International Association for Public Participation Spectrum. This means we work directly with the public, stakeholders and rightsholders throughout the design process to ensure that ideas and aspirations are understood and considered in the design process.
This project has a Community Advisory Committee made up of representatives of the local community and identified stakeholder groups. The Committee offers feedback, guidance and advice to the project team at key points during the community engagement process, meeting one to two times per phase. They have an advisory role and do not make decisions or represent the whole community.
This project has an Indigenous Sharing Circle made up of community members who are Indigenous to Canada and represent a diversity of Indigenous backgrounds and experiences. The Circle provides feedback and engage in meaningful discussions on Indigenous Placekeeping elements at the park throughout the community engagement process, meeting in each phase. They have a critical advisory role and do not make decisions or represent all Indigenous communities.
In this phase, the City worked with community members, the Community Advisory Committee, and the Indigenous Sharing Circle to develop a draft vision statement, guiding principles and big moves for the new park, which will help shape design options in Community Engagement Phase 2.
The vision is co-created with the community to describe the ideal future park. It is a big-picture statement that should inspire everyone toward a common understanding of the project’s overall goals and objectives.
The new park at 464-470 Queen Street West will be a clean, green, and accessible public space that offers a much-needed break from the hustle and bustle of the city. It will be a place of refuge and reprieve: a peaceful, inclusive, and vibrant destination where people of all ages, abilities, interests, cultural and economic backgrounds can come together to rest, reflect, and connect.
The park will recognize the many First Nations, Métis, and Inuit peoples who call this area home, acknowledging that Toronto is situated on Treaty 13 and Dish with One Spoon territory. It will honour Indigenous teachings, including seven generations thinking and reciprocity with nature.
The park will foster meaningful relationships between people and nature, while celebrating the rich arts and culture of Queen West through its design and use. With native and medicinal plants, gardens, adequate seating and shade from the elements, and public art, the park will support the well-being of both humans and animals year-round.
The guiding principles are high-level directions that reflect the community’s most important values and ideas for how the park should look and feel. They help to clarify the vision statement and guide how the park should be designed by describing the desired outcomes.
The park should feature durable and multi-use infrastructure that is accessible and easy to maintain. The design should support year-round enjoyment and embrace sustainable, long-lasting materials that reduce upkeep.
The park should provide a retreat from the busy streets, offering shelter from the elements and a comforting atmosphere where visitors can sit, reflect, and recharge.
The park should serve as a destination that draws people from across Toronto, with distinctive, innovative features and public art that reflect and celebrate the creative spirit of Queen West.
The park should integrate native plants and landscapes that honour Indigenous environments and histories. This connection to nature should foster coexistence between people, plants, and wildlife.
The park should welcome people of all ages, abilities, and backgrounds. It should be a gathering place where friends and strangers alike feel a sense of belonging and community.
The park should provide space and amenities for eating, dining, and socializing, including tables, seating, and gathering areas that encourage people to connect and spend time together.
Big moves are the main priorities for the design of the park. They are specific directions to the design team that flow from the vision and principles and help to make them a reality.
On September 23, the Indigenous Sharing Circle met to learn about the project and share feedback to draft a vision statement, guiding principles and big moves to inform the design process.
Participants suggested that the park should incorporate signage to recognize First Nations, Métis, and Inuit peoples who call the City home, and acknowledge that Toronto is situated on Treaty 13 territory. It was also suggested to recognize the traditional lands of the Anishinaabe, Wendat and Haudenosaunee Nations, and the Wampum agreements that governed their relationships.
From August 29 to September 18, community members who are Indigenous to Canada could apply to be a member of the Indigenous Sharing Circle. Members will provide insight and feedback on key project elements to help shape the park design.
On August 6, the Community Advisory Committee met to learn about the project, draft a vision statement for the new park and develop initial draft guiding principles and big moves to inform the design process.
Download the combined June and August 2025 Community Advisory Committee meeting summary.
From July 4 to August 1, an online thought exchange activity gathered ideas for the new park. The activity received a total of 304 thoughts and 6,106 thought ratings from 333 participants.
Respondents were asked what they would most like the character of the new park to be, what they would like to do at the park, and what park features they feel are most important. Responses are shown in parentheses below.
Respondents selected their top three choices for what they would most like the character of the new park to be:
Respondents selected all activities that they would like to do at the park:
Respondents selected all features that they felt were most important:
Additional comments that were highly rated by participants included:
Review a summary of the July 2025 Thought Exchange activity results, including the top thoughts and themes.
From May 23 to June 16, community members could apply to be part of the project’s Community Advisory Committee.
In this phase, the City and the design consultant will build on the outcomes of Community Engagement Phase 1 to develop design options for the new park. These options will be shared with the community, Community Advisory Committee and the Indigenous Sharing Circle for feedback, which will help shape the preferred design.
The anticipated outcome of this phase is the selection of a preferred design.
Design Option A, Cultural Ecology, celebrates the rich diversity of Queen Street West through the gathering of cultural elements. These elements could be art pieces, park furniture, lighting, plants and materials which show the unique diversity and history of the community and would be accompanied by educational signage that shares their significance.
The layout of this design option shows park features spread across the park in a grid-like pattern. This layout also features a north-south “aisle” through the park – a pathway wide enough to allow for temporary tents or tables for small events such as community craft or farmers markets.
Seating options include accessible benches with and without backs, bistro tables and chairs, and wooden decks with ramp access, which offer places to gather, pause, and reflect. The decks and a stacked log feature create opportunities for informal play.
Overhead, deciduous trees provide shade in the summer and sunlight in the winter. While lively and active, this park design will still allow for clear sightlines and open access.
This design option invites exploration, discovery and dialogue and is a living expression of Queen West’s cultural fabric.
The image below shows Design Option A’s trees.
The image below shows Design Option A’s trees lightened to make the features more visible.
Design Option B, Stories, seeks to create a park that shares knowledge, experiences and stories between the Queen West community and park visitors.
This design option features a central plaza and a long, ribbon-like sculpture, looping through and around the park, representing a community without a beginning or end. The ribbon sculpture occasionally rises from the ground to create seating and informal play elements. On the west side of the park, the ribbon loops around and above stage for small performances or the impromptu sharing of stories. A mirrored surface behind the stage reflects visitors into the scene, suggesting that each person is part of the ongoing narrative.
The open plaza area in the centre of the park is framed by large planting beds with native plants and trees which would support biodiversity and stormwater management through plants and natural processes.
Seating in this design option includes raised areas of the ribbon sculpture, seatwalls at the edges of the planting beds and bistro tables and chairs.
This design option invites visitors to read and interact with the community’s stories and provides an opportunity to reflect on what their own story is within Queen West’s evolving history.
Design Option C, Theatre, features green plantings in the middle of the park in a shape inspired by the children’s book Memengwaa: the Monarch Butterfly by Indigenous author Dorothy Ladd. The raised planting beds are divided by a boardwalk and bordered by seatwalls and seating features, allowing visitors to immerse themselves in the planted landscape or look through it towards the activity of the Queen West streetscape. Spaces between the curved planting areas create seating areas for individuals and groups of visitors.
On the south and east edges of the planting beds, seatwalls change height and shape to create opportunities for sitting, leaning, climbing, resting and informal play. On the north and west sides, the planting beds are bordered with logs and boulders that also function as seating.
Plantings will prioritize native trees and plants which are suited to urban conditions and will support biodiversity, seasonal interest, long-term resilience, and cultural value with Indigenous significance. A separate garden on the east side of the park is contained within a circular bench feature.
This design option creates a dialogue between nature and city life on Queen West, inviting visitors to observe, gather and participate with the vibrant urban landscape.
On March 17, an in-person open house took place to share information about the three design options for the new park and collect community feedback.
On January 28, the project team met with the CAC to review and gather feedback on three draft design options for the new park.
Download the CAC Meeting 3 summary
On January 20, the Indigenous Sharing Circle (ISC) met for a second time. The ISC had an opportunity to review three proposed design options and provide feedback.
In this phase, the preferred design for the park will be shared with the community on this page and the project mailing list. The project will then move into the detailed design phase where the design team will work through the technical details and plans for the construction contractor.