Descriptive Transcript: Growing Streets – Designing Streets for the Future Waterfront

Music starts. 
 

[DESCRIPTION: A scenic waterfront landscape appears. Calm water stretches beside a natural shoreline filled with grass and greenery. In the distance, an industrial smokestack rises above the skyline, hinting at the area's industrial past.] 
 

[DESCRIPTION: A speaker appears on screen. Rasmus Astrup, Design Principal and Partner at SLA, sits indoors facing the camera. Buildings and greenery are seen behind him.] 
 

[AUDIO:] 

Imagine asking someone 20 years ago that you could actually kayak on the continuation of the Don River. That's what happens in Biidaasige Park. Now imagine if we did the same tremendous change for the streets of Toronto. 
 

[DESCRIPTION: Multiple hands mark up sheets of paper with highlights with plans and designs.] 
 

[DESCRIPTION: The video cuts to a design meeting. Three designers are at a large table covered with drawings and plans. They point to maps and diagrams while discussing ideas.] 
 

[DESCRIPTION: Animated illustrations appear, showing simplified city scenes. The animation depicts streets filled with pedestrians, cyclists, trees, and transit vehicles. Cars move slowly while people walk and bike comfortably through the space.] 
 

[AUDIO:] 

When we brought the idea of Growing Streets into this project, it's indicating an approach, something that isn't fixed. It's something that becomes better over time. 
 

[DESCRIPTION: The video cuts back to Rasmus talking to the camera and then cuts to a video of a woman looking] 
 

[AUDIO:] 

You fall more in love with it over time. It grows on you emotionally, socially, but also naturally through all of the tremendous experiences you can get from nature. 
 

[DESCRIPTION: The video returns to a shot of Rasmus. He speaks directly to the camera, gesturing as he explains the design approach. Additional scenes show designers collaborating. A woman reviews digital designs on a laptop while discussing street layouts with colleagues.] 
 

[DESCRIPTION: A woman sits among greenery while looking at modern buildings.] 
 

[AUDIO:] 

Another reason for calling our approach Growing Streets is that trees are providing comfort. It needs to be comfortable. If you want people to walk, they create shade. They protect from the wind. They drink the rain that falls from the sky. 
 

[DESCRIPTION: The video cuts to another interview shot of Rasmus Astrup seated indoors in a bright studio space. Large windows and wooden architectural elements appear behind him.] 
 

[DESCRIPTION: A landscaped public space appears. Trees provide shade along a paved pathway bordered by grasses and planting beds.] 
 

[DESCRIPTION: Close-up footage shows plants and grasses moving gently in the wind. Sunlight filters through the leaves and stems.] 
 

[AUDIO:] 

In the big scale, we have a Biidaasige Park that is protecting more or less the City of Toronto against flooding, and we are doing the same approach in a smaller scale for each street, which also will provide protection from flooding. 
 

[DESCRIPTION: A wide aerial view of a waterfront city skyline appears. Wetlands and water fill the foreground while the dense skyline rises in the distance.] 
 

[DESCRIPTION: The video transitions to a rendered visualization of a redesigned city street. A large tree stands in the center of a landscaped area, surrounded by pedestrians walking along wide sidewalks. Buildings line the street and people move comfortably through the space.] 
 

[DESCRIPTION: The interview returns to Rasmus Astrup, then transitions to an aerial view of a modern building.] 
 

[AUDIO:]  

We are harvesting the rain in every street. 
 

[DESCRIPTION: Close-up footage shows plants and grasses moving gently in the wind. Sunlight filters through the leaves and stems.] 
 

[AUDIO:] 

A Growing Street is always alive, and it's not just from the people that hang out there, socialize, commute. It's also from the birds. It's from the wind, is from the rain is from the seasonality of the trees. 
 

[DESCRIPTION: A landscaped public space appears with people sitting. Nature areas along are shown along side buildings and people.] 
 

[DESCRIPTION: Footage shows trees integrated into an urban setting along a walkway with planting areas and seating spaces.] 
 

[AUDIO:] 

The growing streets are ecosystems right in the city. 
 

[DESCRIPTION: The video ends on Rasmus Astrup in the interview setting.] 
 

[DESCRIPTION: End slate appears.] 
 

[Music fades.]