Project Spotlight: The Toronto Water Atlas
📣 Project Spotlight: Reimagining our relationship with water through the Toronto Water Atlas
🌊 Over the last eight months, the Toronto Water Atlas (TWA) team, supported by the TCO, has been working to re-examine and understand our relationship with water - not simply as a natural resource or a problem to be managed, but as a life-giving source, and a connector of people and of communities.
The Atlas is imaginative, interactive, and collaborative - a critical and artistic exploration of how water shapes the present and future of the Greater Toronto and Hamilton Area (GTHA), and the GTHA’s relationship with its rivers, creeks, and waterways. The Atlas goes beyond maps of water systems and flood risks to ask bigger questions: ✅ How do we live with water rather than simply manage it? ✅ How do we navigate our relationship with water not merely as a resource, but as a shaper of ecosystems, cultures, and communities? ✅ How can water guide climate resilience, equity, and cultural connection?
Since January, the team has hosted: 📍 8 community workshops (Saturdays, 2 - 5 PM) 📍 14+ co-working sessions (Tuesdays, 6 - 9 PM) …bringing together researchers, artists, technologists, and community members to collaborate on maps, stories, and speculative designs.
The team also recently showcased some of their maps at COMPASS 2025 - check out one of them here: https://torontowateratlas.github.io/WaterAttention/rivers2.html
🌐 Curious? Explore more on the TWA’s (currently evolving!) website: https://torontowateratlas.github.io/
📣 Get involved! If you’re working on an artistic, critical, or speculative mapping project around water in Toronto - or if you’d like to join the TWA workshops or co-working sessions - reach out at taneea@cs.toronto.edu
Check out some happy faces from the TWA team below during one of their workshops ✨