Toronto Places: A Context for Urban Design

Pleasance Crawford, a Canadian landscape and garden history researcher
and writer, is the editor of Landscape Architectural Review.

This book, which documents 25 “outstanding” Toronto places—as
selected by a six-member international jury—blends insightful
photographs, original essays, and historical research with a record of
the selection process itself.

Toronto Places is an extension of a historical study called Context,
which was initiated by an advisory committee (after the creation of the
city’s Urban Design Awards Programme, in 1990) to help refine the
program’s goals. It includes five categories of places: small place or
project (Berczy Park, York Square, and five others); large place or
project (Mount Pleasant Cemetery, the City Hall precinct, and eight
others); jury’s selection (the site plan for the St. Lawrence
Neighbourhood and the development framework for Harbourfront); and
element (the Bloor Street Viaduct, the O’Keefe Centre canopy, and four
others).

Although few who know Toronto places will agree with every selection,
many will nevertheless appreciate this rich offering of fresh camera
angles and new insights.