With a nod to Jane Jacobs’ “sidewalk ballet” — a phrase coined to describe the vital human activity that defines a well functioning public realm — plazaPOPS and the Ballet of the Parking Lot invites visitors to celebrate the significant role that strip malls play in the social, cultural, and economic life of Toronto’s inner suburbs and the public health of local communities.
The exhibit also considers the work and future potential of plazaPOPS, a community based not-for-profit public space organization that turns parking spaces into people places along Toronto’s strip mall main streets through partnership, co-creation, research, and advocacy.
Having completed 12 pop-up site installations between 2019 and 2024, the exhibit reflects on lessons learned, shares the organization’s motivations and beliefs, presents its collaborative, multi-disciplinary and cross-sector model, and reports key social, economic and public health related research findings.
Curated by:
plazaPOPS