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When creating these two pieces, I was clearly looking at the past, present, and future impacts of the Don River straightening.   Insights into the past were linked with the book Remembering the Don: A Rare Record of Earlier Times Within the Don River Valley, by Charles Sauriol `The straightening of the Don river was considered necessary to provide land primarily for industrial purposes, and to also make available an additional railway entrance to Toronto. The Don with a greater depth of water after improvement could also be used to convey shipping. From then on, the lower Don river and lower valley of the Don lost their original appearance. Gone the small five islands in the stream between Queen and Winchester streets; gone the care-free ice skating on the river; the beating to picnic spots upstream. With `the Don Improvement`, the last vestiges of a sylvan loser Don Valley disappeared forever.` The present active changes to the Don River Valley Park Our stunningly beautiful valley system has remained largely overlooked for decades, but not anymore. As the “backyard” to 250,000 residents (and soon another 60,000), representing some of the greatest cultural and economic diversity in Canada, reclaiming and protecting the Don Valley has never been more important. And the future City of Toronto by-laws and re-design of our green infrastructure. Jake Tobin Garrett wrote a very insightful piece, Resilient Parks, Resilient City: The role of green infrastructure and parks in creating more climate-adaptive cities, explaining the essence and positive impacts of properly designed and controlled parks in Toronto. My pieces reflect on the initial and long term impacts the Don straightening has suffered. I hope to show these two together this spring.   The present active changes to the Don River Valley Park Our stunningly beautiful valley system has remained largely overlooked for decades, but not anymore. As the “backyard” to 250,000 residents (and soon another 60,000), representing some of the greatest cultural and economic diversity in Canada, reclaiming and protecting the Don Valley has never been more important.  Aerial photo above Pottery Road and Evergreen Brickworks (TRCA) http://www.discoverthedon.ca And the future City of Toronto by-laws and re-design of our green infrastructure. Jake Tobin Garrett wrote a very insightful piece, Resilient Parks, Resilient City: The role of green infrastructure and parks in creating more climate-adaptive cities, explaining the essence and positive impacts of properly designed and controlled parks in Toronto. My pieces reflect on the initial and long term impacts the Don straightening has suffered. I hope to show these two together this spring.
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