plazaPOPS

plazaPOPS is a non-profit organization that facilitates the transformation of parking lots and other under-invested spaces through temporary “pop-up” installations. Largely working along suburban main streets, plazaPOPS partners with local community groups, landowners, and businesses through a collaborative design process to support and celebrate the community connections and vital small businesses in these areas.

After the success of its 2019 pilot, WexPOPS, plazaPOPS received three years of funding from the Federal Economic Development Agency for Southern Ontario through the City of Toronto’s Main Street Recovery and Rebuild program, as well as a Partnership Development Grant. This provided an opportunity to further develop a partnership-based model where the team worked with ERA Architects to design a new system of modular furniture and plazaPOPS installations in 2022, 2023, and 2024.

As the project’s Landscape Architect, ERA Architects worked collaboratively with the plazaPOPS team and BuildingUp, a non-profit construction contractor. In 2022, the installation “ThistlePOPS” at Albion Islington Square was created in partnership with the Rexdale Community Hub and the Albion Islington Square BIA. In 2023 and 2024, “Wexford Blooms” pop-ups were located along Lawrence Avenue West in Wexford Heights, in collaboration with Wexford Heights BIA, Working Women Community Centre, and Muslims in Public Space.