plazaPOPS supports community-led transformations of parking lots and other under-invested spaces, into free, safe and accessible gathering places to support thriving culture, community and small businesses.
Largely located along strip mall main streets, we partner with local community groups, property owners, and small businesses to support and celebrate the community connections and small businesses that define the vitality of neighbourhoods.
“All the businesses in this plaza benefit from plazaPOPS and its events! We love it!”
– Mohamoud Jirdeh,
owner of Sahan Restaurant
“I love this place. It’s somewhere to be alone, to read, to sit. Or, to meet friends. Scarborough needs more places like this!”
-Wexford Blooms visitor, 2024
“I simply enjoyed just sitting there, in the breeze, and mostly I liked it at sunset. I didn’t feel like I was in a parking lot at all”
-WexPOPS visitor, 2019
Regulars hang out at Wexford Blooms 2gether on Lawrence Ave E in 2024
Photo: Kat Rizza
Photo: Kat Rizza
One of many nights at the Wexford Blooms 2gether hub in 2024
Photo: Kat Rizza
Photo: Kat Rizza
ThistlePOPS popped up in the Albion Islington Square BIA in North Etobicoke, featuring 4 sites including the hub, pictured
Photo: Tupac Espinoza
Photo: Tupac Espinoza
WexPOPS at night, August 2019.
Photo: Brendan Stewart
Photo: Brendan Stewart
Dancing to live music at the Wexford Dhaba in July 2024
Photo: Kat Rizza
Photo: Kat Rizza
Hanging out at our pre-Carribana LIMIN’ / PATTY-O party at WexPOPS, August 1st 2019
Photo: Kat Rizza
Photo: Kat Rizza
Booths along Pharmacy Ave provided cozy places to eat
and meet friends in 2023 and 2024
Photo: Kat Rizza
and meet friends in 2023 and 2024
Photo: Kat Rizza
WexPOPS from above, during the ‘WexPOPS Showcase’. July 28, 2019
Photo: Triple Point Media
Photo: Triple Point Media
The ‘Summer of Joy’ Festival at ThistlePOPS in Rexdale, July 30, 2022
Photo: Duane Cole
Photo: Duane Cole
Scenes from our first ‘Movie Night’ at WexPOPS: Wexford Blooms, August 8th 2023
Photo: Kat Rizza
Photo: Kat Rizza
A community-driven approach
plazaPOPS collaborates with community organizations, Business Improvement Areas (BIAs), property owners, small businesses, and local residents as part of our work across different neighbourhoods. With these partners, we facilitate a community design process to create “pop-up” installations designed for the unique conditions of strip mall main streets that aim to celebrate and enhance all the things that make these areas special.
Places for people to meet
plazaPOPS invites anyone and everyone to gather and experience our co-created spaces in different ways – to linger and people watch, smell the flowers, meet a friend for a bite to eat, wait for the bus, or attend one of our many free events.
There is no cost to enter and everyone is welcome!
Advocating for long-term change in our cities
By demonstrating the social, economic and environmental benefits of trading parking spaces for people places, our research initiative aims to inform and inspire the long-term evolution of car-centric spaces into vibrant people-places. This includes advocating for policy change to make it simpler and cheaper for community groups to initiate their own transformations, and catalyzing ongoing partnerships between local residents, community organizations and businesses.
Our Vision
Strip mall main streets* where people connect, small businesses thrive, local culture is celebrated, and nature is nurtured
*We’re using “strip mall main streets” to describe the wide arterial roads lined by strip malls that can be found throughout a city. While they were designed for the car, strip malls have become bustling with pedestrians and transit riders attracted to their diverse (and often delicious) locally-owned businesses
Our Mission
We turn parking spaces into people places, through partnership, co-creation, research, and advocacy
Our Values
1. A culture of care
Integrating care and responsibility into everything we do. This means making sure our work with various communities, partners, and the environment is healthy and sustainable.
2. Relationship building
Nurturing trusting relationships and building unlikely bridges across sectors. Our work is shaped by the relationships we build and the opportunities we create together.
3. (Re)investing in the community
Working with the local community, including property and small business owners to ensure our projects benefit them, contribute to local economic growth and keep resources circulating locally.
4. Flexibility and experimentation
Each project is an opportunity to learn and strengthen our approach while inspiring an imagination of possibility.
5. Sharing resources
Sharing our designs, community processes, research findings to make it easier for others to pop plazas in their own communities.
Check out our Strategic Plan for more details, along with our strategic priorities!
