Human centric design: Christie Pits Park
When people are asked to think of their favourite urban design project you often hear some big names: Brooklyn Bridge Park, piazzas in Italy or boulevards of Paris.
But honestly the best example of human centric urban design I have seen is a little park just down my street.
Christie Pits Park is a park off Bloor street that separates Koreatown from Bloorcourt. It’s not Toronto’s biggest park and it’s not Toronto’s prettiest park. In fact it’s most known for its three baseball diamonds and for being where many an underage university student has gone to drink. Despite living in the area since last September I really didn’t spend time in the park, as neither a baseball player nor underage drinker I just didn’t think it was for me. But then the dog days of summer hit and with no outdoor space of my own I did what urbanites do everywhere and headed to the park.
I would pack a bag with a blanket, book and drink of choice ( coffee, tea, wine... no one is judging) and pick a spot along the grass to bask in the sun. On really nice nights I even started packing up my dinners to eat in the park. It truly did become my figurative "backyard". And what surprised me the most being there so much was that it was the backyard for the whole neighbourhood- every age, ability and preference seemed to congregate here for one reason or another. And I mean it was a nice park but it wasn't the only one in the area. I had been to many other parks and none were ever as busy as this. The more I thought about it the more I realized Christie Pits was not designed like many other parks in the city ( i.e. solely for children and dogs), yes there were amazing playgrounds and lots of spaces for pups to run but it also had a lot of design features specifically targeted with the people in the neighbourhood in mind.
Looking at the surrounding neighbourhoods to the park the population is pretty diverse. The park is right in the middle of Bloorcourt ( an older Portuguese area) and Koreatown, and only a couple blocks away from Little Italy. Due to the stock of relatively affordable housing it also attracts a lot of students and young (often immigrant) families, whilst maintaining its population of elderly Italian and Portuguese citizens. While the surrounding area is very low rise residential, lot sizes are small and often divided into apartments so a good chunk of people don't actually have backyards.
On any given day there are kids whizzing along on bikes and scooters, heading to the big playground in the centre of the park. There are dozens of youth playing basketball non-stop in the courts, while there friends watch by, hanging out on the conveniently placed picnic tables and ping pong tables. Old men jabber away in Portuguese and Italian on park benches that are set up to face each, actually encouraging extended conversation. Dozens of students lounge along the grass: bikes pile up, slack lines are set up between trees and many a casual drink is had with friends over a picnic blanket. The more athletic type head to the baseball diamonds or wide sports fields near the bottom of the park. And even those with mobility constraints, or moms with heavy strollers, are able to enjoy the fun with paved paths running through the entire park. There are bathrooms so you don't need to head home when the kids need to pee, and a seemingly perfect distribution of trees so that the park can feel secluded and peaceful without feeling dark and dangerous. The main hill becomes a movie theatre every Sunday night, a concert hall on Fridays and the site of a festival Saturday. In winter the slopping back side of the back becomes the perfect sledding area.
Somehow 21 acres is able to become the backyard to a whole host of diverse residents, each group of people having their own space whilst still being able to enjoy the company of each other. While it may not win any awards for looks, Christie Pits brings a type of beauty to the area that every city aspires to have: the beautiful sights and sounds of dozens of diverse strangers enjoying something different, together.
Christie Pits Park is a park off Bloor street that separates Koreatown from Bloorcourt. It’s not Toronto’s biggest park and it’s not Toronto’s prettiest park. In fact it’s most known for its three baseball diamonds and for being where many an underage university student has gone to drink. Despite living in the area since last September I really didn’t spend time in the park, as neither a baseball player nor underage drinker I just didn’t think it was for me. But then the dog days of summer hit and with no outdoor space of my own I did what urbanites do everywhere and headed to the park.
I would pack a bag with a blanket, book and drink of choice ( coffee, tea, wine... no one is judging) and pick a spot along the grass to bask in the sun. On really nice nights I even started packing up my dinners to eat in the park. It truly did become my figurative "backyard". And what surprised me the most being there so much was that it was the backyard for the whole neighbourhood- every age, ability and preference seemed to congregate here for one reason or another. And I mean it was a nice park but it wasn't the only one in the area. I had been to many other parks and none were ever as busy as this. The more I thought about it the more I realized Christie Pits was not designed like many other parks in the city ( i.e. solely for children and dogs), yes there were amazing playgrounds and lots of spaces for pups to run but it also had a lot of design features specifically targeted with the people in the neighbourhood in mind.
Looking at the surrounding neighbourhoods to the park the population is pretty diverse. The park is right in the middle of Bloorcourt ( an older Portuguese area) and Koreatown, and only a couple blocks away from Little Italy. Due to the stock of relatively affordable housing it also attracts a lot of students and young (often immigrant) families, whilst maintaining its population of elderly Italian and Portuguese citizens. While the surrounding area is very low rise residential, lot sizes are small and often divided into apartments so a good chunk of people don't actually have backyards.
On any given day there are kids whizzing along on bikes and scooters, heading to the big playground in the centre of the park. There are dozens of youth playing basketball non-stop in the courts, while there friends watch by, hanging out on the conveniently placed picnic tables and ping pong tables. Old men jabber away in Portuguese and Italian on park benches that are set up to face each, actually encouraging extended conversation. Dozens of students lounge along the grass: bikes pile up, slack lines are set up between trees and many a casual drink is had with friends over a picnic blanket. The more athletic type head to the baseball diamonds or wide sports fields near the bottom of the park. And even those with mobility constraints, or moms with heavy strollers, are able to enjoy the fun with paved paths running through the entire park. There are bathrooms so you don't need to head home when the kids need to pee, and a seemingly perfect distribution of trees so that the park can feel secluded and peaceful without feeling dark and dangerous. The main hill becomes a movie theatre every Sunday night, a concert hall on Fridays and the site of a festival Saturday. In winter the slopping back side of the back becomes the perfect sledding area.
Somehow 21 acres is able to become the backyard to a whole host of diverse residents, each group of people having their own space whilst still being able to enjoy the company of each other. While it may not win any awards for looks, Christie Pits brings a type of beauty to the area that every city aspires to have: the beautiful sights and sounds of dozens of diverse strangers enjoying something different, together.
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