Our findings

We learn a lot as we work with communities to trade parking spaces for people places!

Our research and findings have been published in reports, articles, and presentations, contributing to advocacy for more investment in social infrastructure.

plazaPOPS publications

Operating in the ‘grey area’: Creating civic commons on private parking lots along Toronto’s strip-mall main streets

This chapter tells the story of plazaPOPS, a collaborative, community-based initiative in Toronto, Ontario established in 2018. plazaPOPS makes do with a ubiquitous suburban scene: the commercial strip-mall plaza and its distinctive parking lot, which are privately owned public spaces or ‘POPS’ . It explores how a partnership-based community-driven process can create accessible and vibrant gathering spaces within strip-mall parking lots that support social life and local businesses.

Ambiguously public space, consensual appropriation and partnered publicisation

Co-written with University of Guelph Sociologists Mervyn Horgan and Saara Liinamaa, This article develops a suite of concepts to show how the project uses ‘consensual appropriation’ and ‘partnered publicisation’ to take advantage of ‘ambiguously public spaces’ in one of Toronto’s most diverse and public space starved inner suburbs.

Messy Cities: The Ballet of the Parking Lot

Messy Cities: Why We Can’t Plan Everything argues that spontaneity and urban workarounds are not liabilities but essential elements in all thriving cities. plazaPOPS has a chapter describing the essential messiness of our process and how it takes a guild of community weavers to bring all the pieces together!

Wexford Blooms 2023 Economic Impact Report

plazaPOPS is here to support the local economy! Our Wexford Blooms 2023 Economic Impact Report is an opportunity to share the catalyzing effects of investment in community economic development, from hiring 39 Building Up trainees (who went on to get long term jobs in the construction industry), local youth (for many, it was their first job), supporting local artists, and of course, eating all the delicious eats that Wexford restaurants are famous for!

Strategic Plan – 2024-2027

As plazaPOPS celebrates its 5th anniversary of transforming parking spaces into people places, we are excited to share our strategic plan—a dynamic framework crafted to set the course for our organization’s evolution and sustainable growth. A strategic plan is not merely a document: it’s the compass guiding us through the complexities of change, enabling us to navigate with purpose and clarity.

ThistlePOPS 2022 Economic Impact Report

The measurements of success were defined by our Community Working Group as part of the engagement process and represent the local residents’ hopes, dreams, and visions for their community.

Featured articles

Paradise in a Parking Lot: A Pragmatic, Partnered Approach to Enhance the Public Realm of Suburban Main Streets

Landscapes Paysages
October 1, 2021

Brendan Stewart explores plazaPOPS’ big idea: to create a form of social infrastructure and local economic development that is tailored to the conditions of the suburbs, where the need for public realm enhancement is often great, but difficult to achieve due to the limited amount of land in public ownership.

plazaPOPS: Accessing the urban suburban

Ground
May 10, 2020

Brendan Stewart, Daniel Rotsztain, and Karen Landman explore the theoretical motivations of plazaPOPS and what happens when you meet theory with practice

WexPOPS pops-up in a vibrant suburban stripmall

Spacing
August 14, 2019

Brendan Stewart and Daniel Rotsztain reflect on the insights, challenges, opportunities and rewards of WexPOPS, the plazaPOPS pilot, shortly after it popped down in 2019

Presentations

16 July 2025
Roots and Rising
Panel hosted by South Asian Voices in Urban Planning in Toronto, Ontario

10 July 2025
Wexford Walk
Walking tour led by Sneha Mandhan with the City of Toronto Planning Division as part of the Ontario Professional Planners Institute conference in Scarborough, Ontario

2 May 2025
Wexford Walk
Walking tour led by Naziha Nasrin and Brendan Stewart with the City of Toronto Planning Division as part of Jane’s Walk in Scarborough, ON

4 April 2025
The Ballet of the Parking Lot
Talk by Brendan Stewart at SafeTO, hosted by the City of Toronto

1 April 2025
The Ballet of the Parking Lot
Talk by Naziha Nasrin at the Ontario Business Improvement Area Association conference in Collingwood, Ontario

16 March 2025
Community Iftaar
Talk by Naziha Nasrin at the Community Iftaar, with Mehedi Khan, plazaPOPS board member and founder of Muslims in Public Space in Toronto, Canada

3 March 2025
The Ballet of the Parking Lot
Talk by Brendan Stewart and Naziha Nasrin at the LABASH Conference hosted at the University of Guelph, Guelph, Ontario

3 July 2024
Paradise in a Parking Lot: Unlocking the Vibrancy of the Suburban Public Realm Through Pop Up Gathering Spaces
Talk by Brendan Stewart and Daniel Rotsztain at the International Association of People-Environment Studies in Barcelona, Spain

6 June 2024
Building Toronto Together: Co-creating Equitable Social Infrastructure in Toronto’s Inner Suburbs
Panel with Naziha Nasrin at the Project for Public Space’s International Placemaking Week in Baltimore, Maryland

27 July 2023
Paradise in a Parking Lot: Unlocking the Vibrancy of the Suburban Public Realm Through Pop Up Gathering Spaces
Talk by Brendan Stewart and Daniel Rotsztain at the Perennial Plant Association’s National Symposium in Niagara Falls, Ontario

23 June 2023
Paradise in a Parking Lot: Unlocking the Vibrancy of the Suburban Public Realm Through Pop Up Gathering Spaces
Talk by Sara Udow as part of Park People Conference in Toronto, Ontario

22 June 2023
Paradise in a Parking Lot: Unlocking the Vibrancy of the Suburban Public Realm Through Pop Up Gathering Spaces
Talk by Brendan Stewart and Daniel Rotsztain as part of the Environmental Design Research Association’s conference in Mexico City, Mexico

22 September 2022
Paradise in a Parking Lot: Unlocking the Vibrancy of the Suburban Public Realm Through Pop Up Gathering Spaces
Talk by Brendan Stewart and Daniel Rotsztain as part of the OALA-OPPI Conference in London, Ontario

16 September 2021
plazaPOPS: Tactical Urbanism for Social Infrastructure in Toronto’s Strip Malls
Talk by Brendan Stewart and Daniel Rotsztain as part of Bluewater Association for Lifelong Learning Lecture Series in Owen Sound, Ontario

30 May 2020
plazaPOPS: Tactical Urbanism for Social Infrastructure in Toronto’s Strip Malls
Talk by Brendan Stewart and Daniel Rotsztain as part of the Making Do in Urbanism and Arts conference in Portland, Oregon

18 September 2019
plazaPOPS: Improving Public Amenity Through the Suburban Strip Mall
Talk by Karen Landman and Brendan Stewart at the International Federation of Landscape Architects conference in Oslo, Norway

6 April 2019, 6:30-8:00pm
plazaPOPS: Supporting Strip Mall Retail with Social Infrastructure
Talk by Brendan Stewart and Daniel Rotsztain at the ACO’s Disappearing Main Streets Symposium in Toronto, Ontario

27 March 2019
Supporting Strip Mall Affordability with Public Spaces
Talk by Daniel Rotsztain at Danforth/Coxwell branch of Toronto Public Library in Toronto, Ontario

20 March 2019
plazaPOPS: Improving public amenity through the suburban strip-mall
Talk by Brendan Stewart, Daniel Rotsztain and Karen Landman as part of the SEDRD Speaker Series in Guelph, Ontario

7 March 2019
plazaPOPS: Tactical urbanism
Talk by Brendan Stewart at the Council for Educators in Landscape Architecture Conference in Sacramento, California

We learn a lot as we work with communities to trade parking spaces for people places!Our research and findings have been published in reports, articles, and presentations, contributing to advocacy for more investment in social infrastructure.

plazaPOPS publications

Featured articles

Presentations

Explore plazaPOPS

We learn a lot as we work with communities to trade parking spaces for people places!

Our research and findings have been published in reports, articles, and presentations, contributing to advocacy for more investment in social infrastructure.