REGENERATION — The Living City

A proposed research program asking what it would take for Toronto's ravines, water, and climate defenses to become measurably healthier, not just less harmful, rejecting “net-zero” as too narrow a goal.

It has two connected parts: All-Ravines-One-Year, where every ravine in Toronto's roughly 110-square-kilometre ravine network gets adopted by a volunteer group, measured, and listed publicly, with restoration work phased in starting where tree cover is lowest and heat risk highest; and the Living City Index, an honest public scoreboard tracking real, checkable signs of recovery like swimmable beaches and the return of keystone species such as salmon.

This program has not been ratified. Nothing here is a promise, and no real volunteer group or resident has been contacted about any part of it.