Guided Tour of plazaPOPS: Paradise in a Parking Lot Exhibition

Join the leaders of plazaPOPS for a guided tour of their exhibit at the Urbanspace Gallery at 401 Richmond!

plazaPOPS: Paradise in a Parking Lot invites visitors to celebrate the significant role that strip malls play in the social, cultural, and economic life of Toronto’s inner suburbs and the public health of local communities.

The exhibit also shares the work and future potential of plazaPOPS, a community-based not-for-profit public space organization that turns parking spaces into people places along Toronto’s strip mall main streets through partnership, co-creation, research, and advocacy.

Having completed 12 pop-up installations between 2019 and 2024, the exhibit reflects on lessons learned, shares the organization’s motivations and beliefs, presents its collaborative, multi-disciplinary and cross-sector model, and reports key social, economic and public health related research findings.

As Toronto’s city building community works to create a more just, democratic, resilient and reconciliatory future, how can the privately-owned public space (POPS) of the strip mall parking lot be further supported and enhanced, an environment that serves the daily needs of nearly 1 million Torontonians?

The tour will showcase plazaPOPS’ integrated approach to community based design, its policy advocacy efforts, and its vision for the future.

Registration Note: This event is open to OALA members only. Please ensure you are logged in and registering with your user account email address.

Photo Consent: By attending, you grant us permission to take photographs or videos during the event. If you do not wish to be photographed, please notify us during registration.

Photo credit: Kat Rizza