The Parkland Strategy guides long-term planning for Toronto’s parks, including where the City adds new parkland and improves existing parks. It fulfills the Provincial Planning Act’s requirement for a parks plan, allowing the City to receive parkland from new developments and help address the increasing need for parks as Toronto’s population grows.
A city-wide community engagement process launched in October 2024 as part of a five-year review of the Parkland Strategy. Feedback is being collected on the changing needs and priorities of residents for recreation spaces and parks.
Every five years, the City reviews the Parkland Strategy. This review is an opportunity to assess what is working well and what may need adjustments to ensure the Strategy continues to reflect the needs and priorities of residents. The review will focus on key areas such as:
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Parks are essential elements for a good quality of life by supporting personal wellbeing, social connection, healthy living and ecological sustainability. Toronto’s park system will expand and improve as the city’s population grows to ensure that parkland is accessible, functional, connected and resilient.
The 2019 Parkland Strategy is guided by the following principles:
Toronto’s parks cover approximately 13 per cent of the city, with over 1,500 parks across 8,000 hectares. These parks are essential for the health and wellbeing of residents and for the environment. As Toronto grows, so does the demand for parks, along with the need for more high-quality, accessible spaces.
The Parkland Strategy uses data to create maps that assess Toronto’s park system in different ways, including how much parkland is available (measured in square metres per person) for residents in different neighbourhoods. This helps identify which parts of Toronto are ‘Parkland Priority Areas.’
When new buildings are developed, the City requires the developer to either provide on-site land for new parks or a payment (also called cash-in-lieu of parkland). The Strategy helps decide where it is more important to get new parkland instead of money.
Example: If a developer wants to build high-rise apartments in a high-density area with few parks, the City might ask for part of the development site to become a new park rather than accepting cash-in-lieu of parkland.
The level of access to high-quality parkland varies across different areas of the City. The Strategy identifies particular areas that require a closer look at their local parks and a plan to improve them.
Examples:
The City has a budget to buy land for parks, but with limited funds, it must prioritize which properties to purchase. The Strategy has a checklist to help evaluate which properties are most important to buy, focusing on areas identified as high priority.
Example: The City bought some of the land for Lower Yonge Park because the area had few parks and will need more as the neighbourhood’s population grows.
When the City is designing a new neighbourhood, the Strategy helps determine what parks the neighbourhood should include and how those elements align with the community’s needs.
Example: In the Port Lands, the City used the Strategy to plan future park space, ensuring there would be enough parks for new residents in the area.
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The Parkland Strategy was adopted by City Council in 2019.Community engagement leading up to the Strategy happened in two phases where more than 7,000 residents and stakeholders provided input.
Phase 1 was from May to October 2017 and focused on:
Phase 2 was from January to September 2018 and focused on: