Winter Placemaking in the Downtown Yonge BIA

The winter months in the City of Toronto’s Downtown Yonge Business Improvement Area (“DYBIA”) are a time of reduced pedestrian activity, decreasing from 130 thousand per week in the summer to 90 thousand per week in the winter" (Diego, 2022), and the lowest consumer spending for the city (“Animating Winter in Toronto: First Steps - Update,” 2019). This study examines how different cities, as well as planning organizations, have improved the economy, equity and culture during the winter months using winter placemaking. A literature review was conducted on the topics of winter city planning and placemaking across North America. Qualitative research was accumulated through 11 semi-structured interviews with 12 professionals who are involved in winter placemaking or winter planning, either as city staff employees or planning professionals. The findings from these interviews supplemented by a policy scan were used to create six case studies on the cities of Montréal, Winnipeg, Regina, Saskatoon, Edmonton, and Toronto. The interviews were then compared to find common themes of how to improve the winter months in cities. The common themes are winter culture, winter design and winter equity. The outcome of the research includes recommendations on how the DYBIA and the City of Toronto could improve winter culture, winter design and equity within the DYBIA and the City.