Re-opening a river’s mouth: examining nature-based flood protection in Toronto's port lands

Keywords: urban river, nature-based solutions, flood protection
Abstract Type: Virtual Paper Abstract

Abstract

This paper critically examines how a river mouth’s re-naturalization is being understood and used as an example of a nature-based solution for flood protection in Toronto. The naturalized Don River mouth is being locally and nationally lauded for enhancing flood protection for the eastern waterfront and consequently enabling a polluted, industrialized area to be commercially developed into a mixed-use neighbourhood while creating new park space and river habitat. This paper both empirically examines nature-based solutions as, in this case, a practice related to mitigating impacts of flooding and as a concept that has, to date, often been subsumed within neoliberal urban sustainability discourses and policies. I conclude with questions, drawing connections between the Toronto waterfront case study and calls for the implementation of and research on nature-based solutions to be more critical of the term itself and directly engage with how these solutions can contribute to more just urban socio-ecological futures.