Exploring Toronto
A Guide to 28 Unique Public Spaces
A full-colour guide to dozens of unique outdoor spaces that highlight Toronto as a sustainable, liveable city.
Toronto is rich in public spaces — deeply incised ravines, lively neighbourhoods, lush gardens and parks, iconic bridges, even repurposed industrial silos and undercrofts of elevated highways. Urban designer Ken Greenberg and Toronto aficionado Eti Greenberg have combed the city on foot and by tandem bike, discovering some of Toronto’s best outdoor public spaces.
, they have gathered twenty-eight of their favourite spots, each offering something unique — a flash of ingenious design, a surprise vantage point, or simply relief from the hum of traffic. Ken and Eti bring their distinctive perspective, informed by years of work in urban design, to each of their choices, providing readers (and explorers) with the full story of the history, design, and appeal of each one-of-a-kind place.
Ken Greenberg is an urban designer, teacher, writer, former director of urban design and architecture for the City of Toronto and principal of Greenberg Consultants. He is the author of Walking Home: The Life and Lessons of a City Builder and Toronto Reborn: Design Successes and Challenges. He was selected as a Member of the Order of Canada in 2019 and was awarded an honorary doctorate by the University of Toronto.
Eti Greenberg (1944–2024) managed Toronto’s Euclid Cinema, acted as an art dealer, worked for two Toronto city councillors, taught Tai Chi, and was a Shiatsu and acupuncture therapist. She was passionate about Toronto, and walked everywhere, while she also discovered new places via tandem bike and kayak.
