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WexPOPS was the first plazaPOPS, funded by Park People’s Public Space Incubator Grant, Ken and Eti Greenberg and the Balsam Foundation.

Collaboratively designed with a working group comprised of local residents, business owners, and community organizations, WexPOPS popped up for six weeks, transforming 10 parking spaces in the iconic Wexford Heights Plaza in Scarborough

For 6 weeks in the summer of 2019, WexPOPS popped up in 10 parking spaces in the parking lot of the Wexford Heights Plaza in Toronto, inviting the public to spend time in the parking lot the way they might in a traditional public space: There is no cost to enter and everyone is welcome.

Check out the full report
on WexPOPS here!

The first plazaPOPS, funded by Park People’s Public Space Incubator Grant, funded by Ken and Eti Greenberg and the Balsam Foundation, popped up in the Wexford Heights BIA in July 2019. As a pilot project, WexPOPS demonstrated the potential for a community lead design process in partnership with a Business Improvement Area in creating equity in Toronto’s urban landscape. Throughout the installation, the site was programmed by events, concerts and other community initiatives.


For WexPOPS, plazaPOPS was engaged in a community design process with the help of our Community Working Group, comprised by local residents, Scarborough community organizers and business owners. Masters of Landscape Architecture students from the University of Guelph were engaged in the community design process through Professor Brendan Stewart’s Community Design studio.

I was in the parking lot in the middle of a hot day; it was amazing how cool it was under the umbrellas; I could look up and see butterflies, people walking by, and life around me. It was just ‘wow’
– WexPOPS visitor

We live in this neighbourhood and there’s nowhere to sit anywhere! WexPOPS is a good place for people to sit, have a coffee. I saw lots of people doing that!
– Local Business Owner

WexPOPS transformed 10 parking spots in Wexford Plaza into a vibrant community gathering space for 6 weeks in 2019
Photo: Kat Rizza
WexPOPS was programmed throughout the summer with concerts, workshops, exhibitions and more!
Photo: Kat Rizza
WexPOPS was a popular hang out spot for people to catch up with friends, wait for the bus, or watch the world go by
Photo: Kat Rizza
A small stage hosted many musicians throughout the summer
Photo: Kat Rizza
Umbrellas provided protection from the hot sun, while native plants attracted humans and pollinators alike
Photo: Kat Rizza
WexPOPS’ programmed events included concerts, dances, and a pre-Caribana party for local youth
Photo: Kat Rizza
WexPOPS helped link the sidewalk along Lawrence Ave E with the shops beyond the parking lot
Photo: Kat Rizza

Engagement process

The plazaPOPS approach is grounded in a thorough community-led design process creating projects that reflect local culture, encourage local stewardship, and create a legacy of stronger networks in a community. For the WexPOPS pilot, the process was guided by a Community Working Group comprised of local residents, community organizations, local business owners and city staff, who determined the project’s charter, overall design, and programming through a series of meetings.

Master’s of Landscape Architecture (MLA) students from the University of Guelph and graduate business and planning students from the University of Toronto’s Rotman CityLAB fellowship program attended working group meetings and contributed to the planning and design of the project.

Many others supported the initiative, including the City of Toronto’s Public Realm Unit, Scarborough Arts, the Toronto Region Conservation Authority (TRCA), and a number of local businesses who donated in-kind contributions. The Kiriakou family, owners of the Wexford Restaurant and the plaza, generously hosted the project.

To further encourage public participation and community engagement, the plazaPOPS team hosted open houses at key community organizations, including a local seniors’ home and a community hub for newcomers. After hosting an open house at the nearby Arab Community Centre of Toronto’s youth drop-in program, twelve local youth were hired as site stewards, visitng the site daily to water plants, manage waste, and set up and take down umbrellas.

I felt everyone’s opinion was heard, andI felt that everyone’s opinion was valued. I definitely took ownership of WexPOPS!

-WexPOPS Working Group member

Events at this POP
Takeout Talent Night

Aug 17, 5:00pm

We cordially invite you to Wexford Heights, grab your fave local takeout, and enjoy it at WexPOPS during an evening of music by Pete Eastmure, spoken word/DJ by Berma, printmaking by Nigel Martin, dance by Megha Subramanian, and an inspiring talk by Howard Tam. Co-curated with Scarborough Arts.

Scarborough Cycles Group Ride

Aug 13, 6:30pm

Join us for a group ride from our Lawrence-Orton Bike Hub to ‘plazaPOPS’, Scarborough’s newest pop up community gathering place located at Wexford Heights Plaza.
Pop-up PATTY-O

Aug 1, 4:30pm

Come lime with us at our WexPOPS PATTY-O with sounds by Mix Master Caesar, a talk by Howard Tam, eats by local Jamaican Halal resto Rose’s, and much more! FREE! This pre-Caribana weekend hang is brought to you by our partners the Working Women Community Centre!
WexPOPS Showcase

Jul 28, 4:00pm

An evening of local musicians, dancers, and artist workshops, featuring Tamla Matthews, Diar, Neetika Sharma and Krystyna Czereyska. Co-curated by Scarborough Arts, and featuring an urban ecology walk hosted by the Toronto Region Conservation Authority.
WexPOPS Launch

Jul 5, 6:00pm

We invited the community to help us transform the Wexford Heights Plaza into a green oasis!

Host land owners & collaborators

The Kiriakou Family – Owners of Wexford Heights Plaza
2072 Lawrence Ave E
Hosted the project, providing 10 parking spaces

Wexford Heights BIA

Our anchor project hosts and connection to the local business community

AC Waterjet
123 Crockford Blvd
Donated CNC milling services to create the WexPOPS signs and the Wish Tree.

CAS signs co

2080 Lawrence Ave E
Donated all the printing for WexPOPS signs

Photo fast
2078 Lawrence Ave E
An employee from photo fast provided a DJ set for our Patty-O event!

Working Women Community Centre

Hosted PATTY-O community event

Rose’s Kitchen
2602 Eglinton Ave E
Provided reduced cost food for the PATTY-O event.


Site & neighbourhood context

On the traditional territory of the Mississaugas of the Credit, Haudenosaunee, and Huron-Wendat, Wexford was a small rural village that transformed into the bustling district when Scarborough was developed in the 1960s. Today, Lawrence Ave E within Wexford Heights is one of the most delicious stretches of Toronto, home to over 60 amazing restaurants and over 200 small businesses in total!

Wexford Heights Plaza in Scarborough in 1977 (Toronto Star)
Tony Kirakou and his family ran the Wexford Restaurant for 63 years, and now own several plazas in the neighbourhood
In the early 1960s, Wexford transitioned from rural to suburban land uses
Today, Wexford-Maryvale is a typical Toronto suburb with residential enclaves line by strip mall main streets
Pharmacy and Lawrence Aves looking southest, 1973
Murals throughout the neighbourhood commissioned by the Kiriakou’s tell immigration stories that all end in Wexford
54 East magazine proposed a “Souk Shade” shelter in the early 2000s as part of new ways of thinking about strip malls’ role in urban vitality

WexPOPS Collaborators

None of this would be possible without our vast network of collaborators!

Project Team

Brendan Stewart
Co-Lead


Daniel Rotsztain
Co-Lead

Linda Raeside
Wexford Heights BIA Coordinator


Kasia Knap
ACCT Youth Coordinator

Angela Koh
Working Women Community Centre program coordintor

Bryan Peart
Community Centre program coordintor

Ben O’Hara
Fabricator

Echo Railton
Mural artist


Youth Site Stewards

Abiola Ramat Ayorinde
Adebayo Fortunatus Adeoluwa
Aderibigbe Dasola
Adeyemo Funmisola Adebisi
Daniella Dan-Agboola
Efe Riches Uwuigbe
Ehiagwina Eghemen Rebecca
Fashina Baqiat Olajumobi
Kowe Fortune Olamide
Okoh Favour

Community Working Group

Minaz Asani-Kanji
Local resident


Roger Bissoon
Local resident


Huda Bukhari
Arab Community Centre of Toronto

Laura Dijana Higgins
Friends of Edge Park, Friends of Wexford Park, Local resident

Mariana Hernandez
Local resident


Hanbo Jia

Agincourt resident


Suyeon Jin
For You Telecare Family Services

Tim Mowers
Maryvale Community Association

Louise O’Neill
Friends of Cedarbrook & Thomson Memorial Parks

Shadi Shami
Arab Community Centre of Toronto

Sudipto Sengupta
Local resident

Nadira Tabassum
Shwasti

Hanna Kassim
Al-Isra

Debra McGonegal
Scarborough Centre for Healthy Communities

Wehbe Zeidan
Local resident

Abboud Zleik Working
Local resident

Yani Zhao
Wexford BIA board member, owner of Blue Ocean Spa

University of Guelph
Masters of Landscape Architecture design students

Carly Balestra

Kimberley Beech

Skylyssa Carville

Kendra Cheeseman

Sihao Chen

Sita Ganesan

Massimiliano Gatta

Brennan Guse

Samuel Heaman

Quinn Howard

Jessica Karafilov

Sima Kuhail

Hanna Leufven

Christine Pedersen

Amirhossein Sadeghiesfahani

Kevin Todd

Bim Troell

Alanna Van Ommen

University of Guelph
Research Assistants

Beth Bray
Skylyssa Carville
Sima Kuhail
Kevin Todd

University of Toronto
CityLab Students

Lucy Cu
Michael Gubermani
Fi Nguyen
Igor Samardzic

OCADU Research Assistant

Molly Connor

Project Advisors

Rafael Gomez Associate Professor
Centre for Industrial Relations
and Human Resources
University of Toronto

Howard Tam
Principal
ThinkFresh Group




Our WexPOPS Summary Report provides an at-a-glance look at our collaborative community design process, and an overview of our impact drivers and measurements of success. As a process and a product, WexPOPS positively contributed to the social, economic, and environmental well-being of its community.

Project Partners

It takes a village to pop a plaza!

Transforming parking spaces into places would not have been possible with the collaborations and partnership of organizations across sectors

Wexford Heights BIA

Project Host

There are more than 245 business members that form the Wexford Heights BIA who are governed by a Board-of-Directors. This is truly a vibrant community and the most multi-culturally diverse area of the Greater Toronto Area. With so many cultural groups making Scarborough their home, this area is rich in restaurants that cook-up a variety of food from every corner of the world. Just a drive along Lawrence Avenue East (The Wexford Area) and you can see, shop and taste items from many cultures

The Wexford Heights BIA was our anchor partner and project host, connecting plazaPOPS with the business community and co-presenting our summer of programming. WexPOPS launched alongside Wexford Height’s landmark “Taste of Lawrence” street festival.


University of Guelph

Partner

The University of Guelph is like no other university in Canada. Research-intensive and learner-centred, our campuses span urban hubs and rural communities. We are known for excellence in the arts and sciences and for our commitment to developing exceptional thinkers and engaged citizens.

The University of Guelph supported plazaPOPS as a co-presenter and research lead for the project.

Scarborough Arts

Arts Partner

Scarborough Arts, a not-for-profit charitable organization, serves the Scarborough community by developing, delivering, and promoting innovative arts programming and cultural initiatives in collaboration and partnership with the community.

Scarborough Arts participarted in the Community Working Group process and co-presented several events at WexPOPS. They funded interactive artist workshops throughout the summer, supported funding of our mural artist, and provided honoraria for the musicians and performers at our landmark events!

Mural Routes

Arts Partner

Mural Routes activates communities by facilitating the creation of responsive, collaborative murals, and provides opportunities to build and advance careers in mural art.

Mural Routes facilitated our call for mural artists to provide the landmark stage mural at the centre of WexPOPS!

Toronto and Region Conservation Authority

Ecological Partner

Since 1957, Toronto and Region Conservation Authority (TRCA), as enabled through the provincial Conservation Authorities Act, has taken action to enhance our region’s natural environment and protect our land, water and communities from the impacts of flooding and increasingly extreme weather events — Ontario’s leading cause of public emergencies.

All the native plants in WexPOPS were transplanted to the Meadoway, the TRCA-lead transformation of a hydro corridor in Scarborough into a vibrant 16-kilometre stretch of urban greenspace and meadowlands that will become one of Canada’s largest linear urban parks.

City of Toronto

Partner

The City of Toronto supported plazaPOPS by participating in the Community Design Process. Maili Sedore and Robert Mays from Transportation Services contrbuted their expertise to the design and safety considerations of WexPOPS!

Arab Community Centre of Toronto

Youth Partner

The Arab Community Centre of Toronto (ACCT)is a non-political, non-religious, and non-profit organization that works with newcomers of all backgrounds across Toronto.

We worked with the ACCT throughout WexPOPS, initially hosting an open house to discuss potential designs, which lead to a core-partnership to hire our Youth Site Stewards in a supportive hiring process that gave over 50 youth employment skills!

Working Women Community Centre

Programming partner

Working Women Community Centre is a women-focused settlement agency that provides support to newcomers in Toronto. Since 1974, we have been making a difference in the lives of immigrant women and their families.

We hosted an open house at the WWCC’s Victoria Hub location and partnered with them to produce our PATTY-O Caribana party!

Funders and Sponsors

WexPOPS – the first plazaPOPS! – was supported by Park People’sPublic Space Incubator Grant funded by Ken and Eti Greenberg and the Balsam Foundation, and the City of Toronto’s BIA Innovation fund, along with a number of local sponsors.

Thank you to our funders and sponsors!

Park People

Funder

Park People launched its Public Space Incubator (PSI) program in 2018 to spur on new models of publicly accessible open spaces in dense cities like Toronto

Ken and Eti Greenberg

Funder

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 has managed Toronto’s Euclid Cinema, acted as an art dealer, worked for two Toronto city councillors, teaches Tai Chi, and is a Shiatsu and acupuncture therapist. She is passionate about Toronto and walks everywhere, while also discovering new places via tandem bike and kayak.

The Balsam Foundation

Funder

The Balsam Foundation exists to enable and galvanize the well-being and potential of our communities.

They are committed to a future where all Canadians benefit from a high standard of health and well-being. For this reason, our funding will reflect approaches that put people first, strike a balance between personal and collective wellness, and acknowledge the impact of social determinants of health and the context within which people live, work and play.

City of Toronto

Funder

In partnership with the Wexford Heights BIA, plazaPOPS received a BIA Innovation Fund.


The BIA Innovation Fund was a grant that provides funding to BIAs to test innovative and creative solutions to local challenges and share their findings/results with other BIAs.

University of Guelph – Landscape Architecture

Funder

As a core project partner, the University of Guelph’s Landscape Architecture program contributed administrative services and countless in-kind donations including the time of Professor Brendan Stewart

Grow Better Gardens

Sponsor

Grow Better Gardens donated all the soil and mulch that were essential to transforming 10 parking spots into a green oasis!

AC Waterjet

Sponsor

Local waterjet cutters donated the labour for the landmark WexPOPS sign and Wexford Wish Tree!

CASco Signs

Sponsor

We were lucky to have a sign shop so close to WexPOPS, right in the Wexford Heights Plaza!

The Saboohi family were extremely generous in their donation of all the signs at WexPOPS, and we continued to work with them in future years

University of Guelph – Physical Resources

Sponsor

The University of Guelph’s Physical Resource department grew and donated the decorative and edible annuals that called WexPOPS home!

Media coverage

As the pilot plazaPOPS, WexPOPS got the attention of local and international media, fulfilling the goal of our Community Working Group to “put Wexford on the map”!

See more media coverage

Explore plazaPOPS

Coming soon: TowerPOPS
Media coverage
Our findings

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PlazaPOPS is funded by the City of Toronto’s Main Street Recovery and Rebuild Initiative, as part of Government of Canada support through the Federal Economic Development Agency for Southern Ontario (FedDev Ontario).

Research for plazaPOPS is funded through a SSHRC Partnership Development grant, in partnership with the City of Toronto and the University of Guelph’s School of Environmental Design and Rural Development (SEDRD) in the Ontario Agricultural College.