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Welcome to CityPlace. Thirty-five hectares of formerly unoccupied rail-lands in downtown Toronto are currently undergoing a transformation into an instant neighbourhood. Eventually, CityPlace will be the home to over 15,000 people within 23 buildings, sequestered by the Gardiner Expressway on its southern border and by the still functioning rail-lines on its northern border, it is truly an island of suburban stacked living which is at once surrounded and yet at a distance from downtown Toronto. In CityPlace we are witnessing what the Belgian philosopher Lieven De Cauter describes as the rise of the capsular civilization. Impossible to ignore, condominiums have become the dominant form of new housing in the city of Toronto; a process that has been driven by demographics, political imperative and most of all by the pursuit of profits in the high-stakes game of real-estate development. But lost in this torrent of development is a genuine dialogue about the city we are building. This thesis explores the current state of condo development in downtown Toronto; from the myriad of political, economic and physical factors that have led to Toronto’s vernacular condo typology to the marketing onslaught that targets the base consumerist hyper-individual within all of us and aims to hide the fact that these buildings are more similar than distinct. From the optimistic aims of a city council which seeks to achieve civic benefits from increased density, to the cynical de urbanizing and social polarization that the type typically brings into the downtown. The thesis explores the promise of downtown condominium living and the hybridisation of programme that accompanies the rising real estate values of the downtown core. Programmatic promiscuity and complexity are exploited to bring different user-types from the outside city into the tower. With its unique vertical properties and inherent density, the residential high-rise tower presents new opportunities for urban collective spaces. From introvert to extrovert, the new condo becomes a catalyst for urbanity in the instant neighbourhood of CityPlace.

“It seems to me that Canadian sensibility has been profoundly disturbed, not so much by our famous problem of identity, important as that is, as by a series of paradoxes in what confronts that identity. It is less perplexed by the question ‘Who am I?’ than by some such riddle as ‘Where is here?’” - Northrop Frye Canada is the only country in the world that knows how to live without an identity. – Marshall McLuhan As Canadians we struggle with issues of identity. Our land is so vast that it can never be simply categorized and our culture is so diverse and rich that it can never be reduced to a single group or ancestry. In Ontario, the question of identity is equally complex. Larger than many counties, Ontario is made up of three distinct geographic regions, its edges defined by borders on five US states and two provinces, and it is home to one of the most culturally diverse populations in the world. Ontario holds 40% of Canada’s population and Toronto, it’s capital, is the largest city in the country. Sitting at the very centre of Toronto’s educational and ceremonial core is Queen’s Park, home of the Provincial Legislature the place from which Ontario is governed and the place which is tasked with embodying and representing all of Ontario. Composed of a 19th century building and a generous public landscape, Queen’s Park is easily recognizable at a distance, yet it suffers from a deficit of meaning and identity. The park may ‘work’ in the most basic sense but leaves much to be desired for one of the most prominent, and symbolically significant places in both the city and the province. Over the course of its 150 years of history, the park has seen the disappearance of Taddle creek, various alterations in the landscape, the accrued collection of monuments and memorials, the demolition and construction of several buildings and countless public gatherings. All of these manipulations, deletions, additions and events fail to suggest anything other than our society remains supplicant to greater powers, disconnected from its environment and unsure of its identity. Yet, in spite of all these issues, Queen’s Park is full of potential. The goal of this thesis is to test the capacity of architecture to give voice to a new vision for Ontario’s capital that more fully reflects the forces at work in society. Equally significant for this thesis has been my own parallel quest for meaning and identity as a woman in the 21st century who is both prospective architect and engaged citizen. I deeply felt a need to find architectural sources of inspiration founded on compassion, empathy and an engagement with the land. This desire for meaning has led me to discover the ancestral heritage of Ontario and to take ownership of my own roots. These two streams, one architectural and one personal are woven together to build a design approach for Queen’s Park. The thesis is organized in four parts, completing one cycle of design. Part 1: ‘Stories of Migration’ uses female voices extending back to the land’s geological formation in order to invent a mythology for Toronto and to engage with the voice of the other. Part 2: ‘Capitols of Identity’ uses case studies of civic architecture and public space in Ontario to explore the relationship between power, landscape and place in cities. Part 3: ‘Messages of Queen’s Park’ recovers the lost identity of this urban artifact by forging more meaningful connections to its physical and metaphorical context. And finally, Part 4: offers a concluding vision to the building and landscape which create memorable spaces for civic engagement and play for the people of Ontario.

Once the founding site of the city of Toronto and its second largest watercourse, the Garrison Creek and its original landscape of dense forest and deep ravines have disappeared beneath an aggressive process of development and growth. Yet, despite attempts to subdue the creek, it continues to reveal itself through a collection of buildings, sites and structures, here collectively referred to as artefacts, that mark its path. This thesis presents the lost stories of the Garrison Creek as an investigation into the circumstances surrounding its burial and the city’s futile attempts to control its wilderness. Recounted as an historical narrative through the pairing of archival photographs and stories, this thesis exhibits a catalogue of the politics, betrayal, confusion, characters, voices, lessons and synchronicities that have emerged through the burial of the creek. The structure of this thesis is intended to draw out a definition that describes the tenuous, conflicted and complex relationship between a major North American city undergoing rapid change and the wilderness from which it emerged.

Thesis (M.A.)--York University, 2006. Graduate Programme in Interdisciplinary Studies. / Typescript. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 236-242). Also available on the Internet. MODE OF ACCESS via web browser by entering the following URL: http://gateway.proquest.com/openurl?url_ver=Z39.88-2004&res_dat=xri:pqdiss&rft_val_fmt=info:ofi/fmt:kev:mtx:dissertation&rft_dat=xri:pqdiss:MR19631

Thesis (LL.M.)--University of Toronto, 2004. / Adviser: Bernard Dickens.

Thesis (D.W.S.)--Institute for Worship Studies, 2006. / Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (M.Sc.)--York University, 2007. Graduate Programme in Kinesiology & Health Science. / Typescript. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 42-50). Also available on the Internet. MODE OF ACCESS via web browser by entering the following URL: http://gateway.proquest.com/openurl?url_ver=Z39.88-2004&res_dat=xri:pqdiss&rft_val_fmt=info:ofi/fmt:kev:mtx:dissertation&rft_dat=xri:pqdiss:MR31998

Thesis (Ph.D.)--York University, 2006. Graduate Programme in Environmental Studies. / Typescript. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 311-327). Also available on the Internet. MODE OF ACCESS via web browser by entering the following URL: http://gateway.proquest.com/openurl?url_ver=Z39.88-2004&res_dat=xri:pqdiss&rft_val_fmt=info:ofi/fmt:kev:mtx:dissertation&rft_dat=xri:pqdiss:NR29539

Thesis (Ph.D.)--York University, 2006. Graduate Programme in Language, Culture and Teaching. / Typescript. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 286-314). Also available on the Internet. MODE OF ACCESS via web browser by entering the following URL: http://gateway.proquest.com/openurl?url_ver=Z39.88-2004&res_dat=xri:pqdiss&rft_val_fmt=info:ofi/fmt:kev:mtx:dissertation&rft_dat=xri:pqdiss:NR29534