Then the angel showed me the river of the water of life, bright as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb through the middle of the street of the city.
On either side of the river is the tree of life with its twelve kinds of fruit, producing its fruit each month; and the leaves of the tree are for the healing of the nations.
Revelation 22:1-2
Our younger daughter works for Dream one of the biggest property developers in Toronto, so likely Canada. She knows more about the creation of condo projects than I could ever take in and she seems to be quite clever in managing a multitude of spreadsheets as the various buildings come to fruition.
This week she shared with the family that Dream will partner in the shift in plans for a five hectare parcel of highly coveted land along the Toronto waterfront. That might not seem like a big chunk of property but it's worth a gajillion bucks in the Big Smoke. For years the talk was that a Google company called Sidewalk Labs was going to transform the site into a high-tech neighbourhood complete with public wi-fi, heated and illuminated sidewalks and so-called “raincoats” for buildings.Despite the relentless rah-rah there was a bunch of concerns, including data gathering and privacy.
The release on Tuesday included these proposals:
Highlights of the project include more than 800 affordable housing units in the first phase of development, a two-acre forested green space, a multi-use arts venue, and an urban farm that will be housed on top of one of Canada’s largest residential mass timber buildings. The project will also be the first all-electric, zero-carbon community at this scale, Waterfront Toronto said in a news release.
By the end of the project, at least 30 per cent of the residential spaces housed at Quayside will be affordable units owned by the City of Toronto and operated by a non-profit partner, according to city councillor Joe Cressy -- who sits on Waterfront Toronto’s board and represents the Spadina-Fort York riding where the community will be housed.
This development ticks a lot of boxes for a modern city, from alternatives to concrete, which requires a lot of energy to produce, to much-needed affordable housing, to signficant green space and urban gardening.
A recent report shared that green space is shrinking in most Canadian cities as the land becomes more valuable. Everything from small urban woodlots to golf courses are swallowed up. It's clever to use the terms "community forest" and "overstorey" to describe the areas in Quayside which will be green.
It makes me think of the passage from the book of Revelation as the end of our Christian bible. Scripture begins in a garden (Genesis) and ends in one. The garden of Revelation has a river with pure water and lots of trees along its banks "for the healing of the nations."
We are aware that developers are in this for the moolah, but we Groundlings can celebrate any practical example of the "new heaven and new earth, can't we?
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