LURA partnered with DTAH and the City of Toronto to shape the future of two new parks in Spadina-Fort York, located at 10 Ordnance Street and 801 Wellington Street West. This ambitious project embraced a collaborative approach, engaging the community to co-create a vision and design that reflect shared values and aspirations.

The process fostered meaningful partnerships with the public, interested community partners, and Indigenous communities. Together, they shaped every project stage—from envisioning the parks’ purpose to exploring design options and finalizing a preferred plan.

LURA took the lead in leading and facilitating this inclusive engagement journey. Highlights included lively community pop-up events, an open house, online feedback forms, and in-depth discussions through the Community Advisory Committee (CAC) and Indigenous Advisory Circle (IAC) (IAC). The CAC and IAC offered valuable feedback and guidance at key decision points during the engagement process. The IAC also enriched the process by integrating Indigenous history and Placekeeping principles into the park designs.

This collaborative effort reflects a commitment to designing parks that are green spaces and vibrant, inclusive hubs rooted in community and cultural significance.”

The Caledon Rail to Trail Project (CRT) aims to transform 36 km of the former Orangeville Brampton Railway into an active transportation route and utility corridor. After the Town of Caledon acquired this section in April 2022, a community engagement process was launched from January to June 2024. The process was designed to raise awareness, gather feedback from landowners and residents, and inform the preliminary trail design.

LURA supported the Town of Caledon by developing and implementing a comprehensive engagement strategy that targeted diverse stakeholders. The process began with adjacent residential landowners invited to three engagement sessions and a follow-up meeting. These sessions aimed to address potential concerns related to privacy, maintenance, and environmental impacts. Engagement with adjacent commercial landowners involved site visits and needs assessments, providing opportunities to discuss safety and operational impacts. Broader community involvement included two public open houses and an online survey, both gathered feedback on trail amenities, accessibility, and environmental considerations.

The engagement revealed varied perspectives. While adjacent landowners voiced concerns about privacy, maintenance, and safety, the broader public was overwhelmingly supportive. Residents emphasized the need for accessible and sustainable design, prioritizing amenities that would enhance recreational and transportation options for all.

With LURA’s guidance, the CRT Project is evolving based on community input. As the design advances, ongoing engagement will ensure the project aligns with local needs, promoting connectivity, recreation, and sustainable development in Caledon.

In partnership with DTAH, LURA delivered one of the City’s most robust public engagement programs focused on park redevelopment. This project aimed to redevelop an important community asset in one of Toronto’s most diverse neighbourhoods, which has many recently arrived Canadians.

With this project, LURA recognized the need to devote additional resources to reaching and engaging individuals commonly missed in public consultations, such as new Canadians, people whose first language or language of most comfort is not English, and families. LURA hired five community ambassadors from the St. James Town community through the St. James Town Community Corner, a local community hub focused on resident engagement and well-being. These ambassadors provided an important touchpoint with community members during a challenging point in the COVID-19 pandemic when lockdowns required individuals to remain physically distant. Ambassadors leveraged their connections and network to spread the word by text, email, and phone to raise awareness about the project, gather feedback, and assist with the translation of materials into four different languages commonly spoken in St. James Town (Tagalog, Tamil, Hindi, and Arabic). These ambassadors were pivotal in reaching and maintaining relationships with community members who rely on this park’s outdoor space.

LURA worked with Indigenous facilitator Bob Goulais to support logistics, notetaking, and coordination of a series of Indigenous Sharing Circles. The Sharing Circles brought together Indigenous community members to discuss opportunities for meaningfully practicing Indigenous place-keeping on this site and recognize the relationship of the people, the land, and water to the story of St. James Town and Toronto. LURA provided strategic advice and support to the City’s Youth Resource Group, which shared its aspirations and visions for the park. In addition, LURA designed, facilitated, and reported on public meetings, neighbourhood workshops, questionnaires, and pop-ups in the park to provide information and gather feedback from community members.

The Cootes to Escarpment EcoPark System is a visionary collaboration uniting nine organizations and agencies in the Burlington-Hamilton area—including municipal governments, conservation authorities, and non-profits—to protect, connect, and restore over 1,900 hectares of natural lands. This partnership aims to create a thriving network of green spaces that safeguard biodiversity and offer sustainable recreation and education opportunities.

At the heart of this initiative are six core heritage land areas, managed under a cohesive framework guided by dedicated Management Plans. Several properties within the EcoPark System fall under the Niagara Escarpment, where NEPOSS classifications inform land stewardship practices. LURA played a key role in this transformative project as part of a multidisciplinary team preparing five of the six Management Plans.

LURA led a dynamic engagement process, organizing information-gathering sessions to uncover valuable insights about each heritage site’s unique challenges and opportunities. By designing and facilitating Stakeholder Advisory Committee meetings and public consultations, LURA ensured a broad spectrum of voices shaped the plans. Indigenous rightsholders were central to this process, offering invaluable perspectives throughout every phase.

The resulting Management Plans deliver actionable solutions, including priority management recommendations, EcoPark System Guidelines, and tailored site management tasks for partner agencies. They also provide clear strategies for monitoring progress and evaluating success, setting the stage for long-term stewardship of this vital ecological corridor. This collaborative effort exemplifies the power of partnership to create lasting environmental benefits.