Winterways

Winterways in McDougall Lane

Winterways is a pilot project demonstrating the potential of Toronto’s laneway network to sustainably support the health and vibrancy of our communities during the city’s long and taxing winter season. Throughout COVID-19 social life was pushed almost entirely outdoors. The pandemic demonstrated that Toronto’s public open space network lacks the capacity to meet its population’s needs year-round and that the majority of these spaces are not suitably designed for winter use.

How do you make a space attractive when the sun sets at 5 pm and it’s -20C?

How do you provide residents with opportunities to connect to nature year-round when most plant species can’t survive a hard frost?

Despite Toronto being a four-season city, we haven’t answered these questions with the design of our outdoor venues. This means our public life goes into “hibernation” during the colder months which negatively impacts individual mental and physical wellbeing. The Winterways pilot is seeing the creation of a temporary, winterized, alternative public open space that will provide cultural experiences to encourage people to get out to safely socialize, celebrate the holiday season, and shop locally! The Laneway Project, in partnership with the Queen Street West BIA and ShowLoveTO and with the generous support of their sponsors, local property owners, and businesses, will transform Queen West’s McDougall Lane (intersecting Graffiti Alley) into an alpine winter wonderland with pop-up art and light installations, seasonal greening, and live programming!

What’s On

From mid-November to mid-January McDougall Lane will become an alpine retreat in the urban heart of Toronto. The scene will be set with playfully scaled, mountain-themed evergreen planters, dichroic glass clouds and starlike lights evoking the Aurora Borealis, QR activated soundscape elements, and window art displays providing an escape to different times and places — real and fantastic — to satisfy the wanderlust of visitors. Throughout November and December 2021, the laneway will be activated with live musical performances, activities, and refreshments. Follow The Laneway Project and the Queen Street West BIA on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram @QueenStWestBIA and @ lanewayproject for more information and announcements on Winterways and other projects!

About The Laneway Project

The Laneway Project is a not-for-profit social enterprise and full-service placemaking firm founded by the late Michelle Senayah in 2014. Their mission is to integrate Toronto’s laneway network into the city’s public realm by transforming these underutilized spaces into complete public shared places that support the vitality of our communities. This city has over 2,400 public laneways, which represent more land area than parks and other open spaces combined in many Downtown and Midtown neighbourhoods. Currently, in Toronto, laneways are largely underutilized as simply utilitarian service access routes for private property. However, laneways have great potential to contribute local social, environmental, and economic benefits, if, during their design, thought is given to creating attractive, people-friendly spaces. Key components of this work include introducing public art, green infrastructure, street furniture, pedestrian lighting, traffic calming measures, and programming into these spaces. The Laneway Project has worked with over thirty communities across Toronto to activate and transform their laneways using these elements. The Laneway Project has overseen the integration of laneways as people-friendly spaces into city planning plans, policies, guidelines and regulations, and developed accessible public resources to assist grassroots organizations in undertaking their own independent laneway initiatives. A special mention and honour to Michelle Seneyah, who was the Executive Director and co-founder of The Laneway Project. She was Toronto’s laneway expert who passed suddenly in June 2021. Her friendship to the Queen Street West BIA will never be forgotten, and her ground-breaking community work has left a legacy and movement that will carry on. thelanewayproject.ca @lanewayproject Sponsors