Green Infrastructure Ontario Releases Follow-Up to State of Large Parks in Ontario’s Golden Horseshoe
Sourced from Green Infrastructure Ontario
Green Infrastructure Ontario (GIO) and the Greenbelt Foundation presents an accessibility analysis evaluating the current and planned large park distribution and identifies underserved communities in need of new, large park creation in the Golden Horseshoe.
Improving Access to Large Parks in Ontario’s Golden Horseshoe: Policy, Planning, and Funding Strategies reinforces the critical role of large natural parks, which has grown even more evident in the COVID-19 pandemic with the vast increase in park usage, and the challenges of establishing them in an environment of increasing land values, development, and land scarcity.
Large parks are important and have a large impact, yet large parks are not easy to get to for many residents of the Golden Horseshoe (GH). Review the report today to discover policy themes in large park funding, planning, and establishment, and be inspired by recommendations, strategies, and models that could help address the projected gap in large park supply in the Golden Horseshoe.
Intended as both a guide for park funders, planners, and policy makers, as well as an advocacy tool to promote further investment in large parks, when you review the report you will discover recommendations to overcome barriers to the equitable funding, planning, and establishment of new large parks in the Golden Horseshoe, the need for a regional strategy for large park planning and intergovernmental coordination, and recommendations toward the establishment of innovative funding and legislative approaches and partnerships to increase the size and quality of large parks.
It is recommended that funders and decision-makers be considering ways to fund and deliver programming to reduce barriers and improve equitable access to existing parks. Examples of local programs and transferable models to develop best practices to increase equitable access across the region are offered.
Find and share the full report here: https://greeninfrastructureontario.org/gio-and-partner-resources/
Improving Access to Large Parks in Ontario’s Golden Horseshoe: Policy, Planning, and Funding Strategies is a follow-up to the State of Large Parks in Ontario’s Golden Horseshoe, published in 2019. That report was the first-ever regional scale analysis of park supply in the Golden Horseshoe and was intended to inform our understanding of what large parks we have, their capacity, and how this will evolve with population projections identified in the growth plan. We found that there is a shortage of large park supply across the region, and that this limited supply will not keep up with population growth if governments do not prioritize large park planning.
From the Living Architecture Monitor
