Placemaking Taking Shape in Mississauga’s Downtown Public Spaces
The City of Mississauga is moving forward with plans to redevelop two Mississauga City Centre squares and develop a new downtown park, based on the principles of “Placemaking.” The squares are located between the Civic Centre and the Central Library, while the new park is located west of the Living Arts Centre and north of the recent Daniels development.
Construction of the new park is scheduled to begin in late 2008. Redevelopment of the Civic and Library Squares is scheduled to start in 2009 and will be completed in phases. The completion of these two major projects will begin to implement the Vision Concept Plan established through Placemaking, and to support the on-going programming efforts of My Mississauga.
Two firms, CS&P Architects and Janet Rosenberg + Associates (JRA), both locally-based, award-winning design companies recognized for innovation in the development of successful public spaces, have been retained to prepare detailed plans for these City projects.
This initiative is the result of extensive public engagement conducted in 2005 and 2006 by the City’s Community Services department, in collaboration with Project for Public Spaces (PPS) of New York City, using the principles of “Placemaking” — turning public spaces into vital community places. Community stakeholders, including citizens, arts and sports groups and businesses were consulted to develop a Vision Concept Plan for public space surrounding the Civic Centre. As a result of public meetings, workshops and web-based reviews of draft plans, the final document, “Building Mississauga around Places: A Vision for City Centre Parks and Open Spaces in the 21st Century,” was completed in January 2007.
