Toronto’s Cultural Heritage Landscapes Forum:
From Plan to Action
Saturday, Nov. 5, 2016
9 am–4:30 pm, Metro Hall
UPDATE! ALL PRESENTATION VIDEOS ARE NOW AVAILABLE!
Click on the following or visit the new TEYCPP YouTube channel to see the full playlist:
Julian Smith:
Brendan Stewart:
Wendy Shearer:
Carolyn King:
Stephen Robinson:
Mark Warrack:
Catherine Nasmith:
Madeleine McDowell:
Michael McClelland:
Mary MacDonald:
What have we learned? Alex Bozikovic & Paul Bedford in conversation:
Please share your ideas and comments with us!
Background on the Forum:
The Cultural Heritage Landscapes Forum (CHLF), co-hosted by the four Community Preservation Panels in association with the City of Toronto, took place at Metro Hall on Nov. 5, 2017.
The City has been tasked by the provincial Heritage Act to come up with guidelines to help define, nominate, designate, and thereby protect our cultural heritage landscapes (CHLs).
The Heritage Act defines CHLs as “a defined geographical area of heritage significance which has been modified by human activities and is valued by a community…Examples may include…villages, parks, gardens, battlefields, main streets and neighbourhoods, cemeteries, trailways, and industrial complexes of cultural heritage value.”
The purpose of the Forum was therefore to stimulate awareness of, interest in, and positive action towards the development and implementation of a Toronto Cultural Heritage Landscape Guideline, as anticipated in the the Official Plan Amendment OPA 199 on new Heritage and Public Realm Policies.
Sessions included: An explanation of cultural heritage landscapes; case studies; and an in-depth policy discussion.
Our eminent speakers were:
- Julian Smith, Architect and Director, Willowbank Centre for Cultural Landscape
- Brendan Stewart, Landscape Architect and Urban Designer, ERA Architects
- Wendy Shearer, Landscape Architect and Cultural Heritage Specialist
- Carolyn King, former Chief of the Mississaugas of the New Credit First Nation
- Stephen Robinson, Senior Heritage Planner, City of Guelph
- Mark Warrack, Manager, Culture and Heritage Planning, City of Mississauga
- Catherine Nasmith, Architect and President, Architectural Conservancy of Ontario
- Madeleine McDowell, Educator and Heritage Advocate
- Michael McClelland, ERA Architects and Advisory Council of The Cultural Landscape Foundation
- Mary MacDonald, Senior Manager, Heritage Preservation Services, City of Toronto
- Paul Bedford, Urban Mentor, former Chief Planner, City of Toronto
Our moderator was Alex Bozikovic, Architecture Critic, The Globe and Mail, and co-author of Toronto Architecture: A City Guide.
Update, November, 2017:
At the November 30 meeting of the Toronto Preservation Board, the CHLF Organizing Committee presented their Summary Report and Transmittal Letter on the Forum and its outcomes. The letter outlines the Ministry of Tourism, Culture and Sport’s request for feedback from municipalities in Nov., 2017, on proposed new land-use planning guidelines that would include cultural heritage landscapes. The Forum Committee indicated its intention to forward to the province a copy of the Summary Report and the printed proceedings of the Forum.
Stay tuned for more updates on CHLs in Toronto and where we go from here!