A neighbourhood park that became a national model for community-run programming
Dufferin Grove Park
Community organizers turned Dufferin Grove Park into a widely studied model of resident-led park programming, built around a bake oven, rink house, and farmers' market run largely by locals.
.jpg)
Advertisement
Dufferin Grove Park, in Toronto's west end near Dufferin Street and Bloor Street, became known starting in the 1990s for an unusually resident-driven approach to park programming, built up gradually by local community organizers rather than imposed from City Hall. Volunteers and part-time city staff worked together to build a wood-fired bread oven in the park, host regular pizza nights and a farmers' market, and run a well-used rink house that stayed open with a staffed fire and hot food through Toronto's winters.
A model studied elsewhere
The park's model of low-cost, hands-on community programming, often run with minimal formal city funding relative to its level of activity, drew attention from urban planners and parks departments in other cities looking to replicate its success, and Dufferin Grove became a frequently cited case study in discussions of participatory public space management. The park remains an active neighbourhood hub today, still centred on the same community-run bake oven and rink house that built its reputation.
Advertisement
Sources
Continue reading
Toronto Media & Entertainment
Toronto has been a major film and TV production centre since the late 1970s — and, separately, the launchpad…
St. James Cathedral
Founded in 1797, St. James is Toronto's oldest Anglican congregation — though its current Gothic Revival…
Toronto's Shopping Malls
Toronto's two biggest malls anchor very different stories — one holds Canada's highest sales per square foot…
The R.C. Harris Water Treatment Plant
Toronto's drinking water is filtered inside a 1941 Art Deco building so ornate it earned the nickname "Palace…