PUBLIC WORK was appointed by the City of Vaughan to provide a consolidated urban design vision for the renewal of Black Creek in the core of the future Vaughan Metropolitan Centre (VMC). The goal of this assignment was to infuse the Environmental Assessment work being done with a design vision that combines hydrology, ecology, and urban design into an integrated concept for Black Creek in the VMC. Ultimately, the proposal seeks to promote the potential synergies between the creek corridor systems and adjacent public and private realms, conceiving the corridor as a coherent entity able to fulfill the desires of a number of overlapping agendas—including landowners, the City, and the Toronto Regional Conservation Authority (TRCA).
Working collaboratively with diverse stakeholder groups, the proposed alignment of Black Creek creates the possibility for a creek with two contrasting banks: ‘naturalized’ and ‘urban’. Without dissolving the inherent quality and potential of each, the corridor can embody both complimentary characteristics and provide a new identity and quality of life for the VMC.
Along this linear corridor where one of Vaughan’s important natural heritage feature meets its first urban development frontage, Black Creek is renewed as the dramatic line of connection between these two characteristics. In fact, these two attributes must be amplified to produce a memorable new identity to flourish in the VMC, distinctly alternating between coherent parts of intact nature and vital urbanity.
The corridor functions hydrologically and ecologically, using a combination of soft and hard edges along its banks. This creates valuable development parcels and amenity spaces on its east side while allowing for a significant natural reserve on its west. A constantly changing section and composition is created along the length of Black Creek featuring the alternating natural sinuosity of the ecological edge contrasted against a more structured, programmed edge. This organization works to create a civic spine which prioritizes both uncompromising environmental renewal and maximum urban value - combined as a coherent civic gesture and open space system.
The framework vision aims to simultaneously achieve the TRCA’s mandate, the landowner’s development desires, and the City’s urban design and civic ambitions with equal individual care and a positive impact overall. It articulates a form for the renewal of Black Creek with the potential to assemble a coherent open space corridor as a new civic spine for the VMC and create valuable new addresses for Creekside development.
