Our Durham Meadoway project has received an Honourable Mention in the Urban Design category of the 2024 AIA Canada Design Awards!

The Durham Meadoway is a proposed 27-kilometre long active transportation route and linear park that will run from Pickering to Oshawa through the Gatineau Hydro Corridor. The Durham Meadoway will transform this underutilized land into a regenerative landscape with a public realm that serves the surrounding communities. The route will connect to existing trails and parks— most notably, the GTA Trail Network and Rouge National Urban Park. Once complete, this new route would also connect to the Meadoway in Scarborough, allowing people to walk, jog, or bike from Oshawa to downtown Toronto without leaving nature behind.

Marking a first of its kind for Durham, the Meadoway creates a valuable blueprint for how an underutilized corridor can be transformed into a regional destination.

The Meadoway has the potential to create new social spaces and a signature destination with its own distinct sense of place. There is an opportunity for a public realm that celebrates the cultural expression of Durham’s diverse community, including First Nations, Inuit, and Métis peoples, settlers, and new immigrants. Programming and amenities can provide multiple types of experiences for visitors and residents alike.

The Meadoway also presents an opportunity to build much-needed biodiversity in the region by allowing a meadow habitat—home to many insects, birds, mammals, and herpetofauna—to flourish. Since the Gatineau Hydro Corridor is ineligible to support large trees due to the transmission towers and lines, we can instead create a landscape where pollinators can thrive on local grasses, flowers, and plants. In this way, the Meadoway builds pathways for biodiversity and enhances local green infrastructure, helping to transition Durham Region into a low-carbon, climate-resilient future.

The Durham Meadoway emphasizes the importance of active transportation, connectivity, community integration, and environmental stewardship for the future linear park.

Learn more about The Durham Meadoway Visioning Study and read about the AIA Canada Design Awards winners here.

Visualization by Future Landscapes.