At the end of every year, Azure’s editorial team gathers to observe an annual tradition; deciding — and debating — the year’s best in design, from interiors and products to residential and commercial architecture. In 2024, our lists kick off with a look at inspiring and inclusive civic spaces, which run the gamut from climate-adaptive parks to welcoming plazas, public architecture, and even municipal infrastructure. Although varied in scale and context, these projects combine eye-catching design with a commitment to social and environmental equity.

• Leslie Lookout Park, Toronto, by CCxA with Gh3* and Arup
• Benjakitti Forest Park, Bangkok, by Turenscape and Arsomsilp Landscape Studio
• Wild Mile, Chicago, by SOM and Urban Rivers
• Parque Bicentenario, Greater Mexico City, by Taller Capital
• Nanyang Old Town Public Space Renewal, Nanyang, by YFS and ZAO/Standardarchitecture
• Blanton Museum of Art, Austin, by Snøhetta
• Simone Veil Bridge, Bordeaux, by OMA
• Landscape of Landmark Quality, Toronto, by KPMP and MVVA, with Brook McIlroy
• Opera Park, Copenhagen, by Cobe
• Border Library and Sports Centre, Agua Prieta, by Fernanda Canales

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Toronto’s Port Lands are in the midst of a major transformation — and this fall delivered the first glimpse of what the future will bring. In the case of Leslie Lookout Park, the answer looks a lot like the past. Sure enough, the two-acre green space’s major move — a west-facing beach — harks back to a sandbar that once protected the marsh at the end of the Don River. But along with restoring this historic barrier, the park also reflects its site’s present-day character: A 13.5-metre-tall concrete lookout tower (by Gh3*) ties into the area’s industrial identity by mimicking the monumental forms of nearby storage silos. In line with Indigenous placemaking principles, the monolith features openings in all four cardinal directions, offering especially great views of cargo ships to the west and the infrastructure of the Ashbridges Bay Wastewater Treatment plant to the east. (For an added moment of calm, a round skylight at the top faces up to the clouds.) Meanwhile, a small heart-shaped plaque inside the observation post commemorates landscape designer Claude Cormier, whose firm led the design of Leslie Lookout Park, and whose past contributions to the city also include Sugar Beach, Love Park and Berczy Park.

In the case of Leslie Lookout Park, CCxA’s landscaping strategy effectively creates a green buffer from the surrounding noise. A mini-forest reflects the Japanese Miyawaki method, an approach that involves densely planting native trees (some 2,500, in this case) to create more resilient root systems. The park’s hardscaping is another thoughtful touch: As the first Toronto park to adopt porous asphalt, Leslie Lookout is designed to filter runoff rather than relying on the city’s increasingly overwhelmed stormwater system. After the park opened in September, its 25 beachfront Muskoka chairs (by Loll Designs) and the stadium seating built into its grassy knoll immediately became some of the best places in the city to watch the evening sunset. Who would have thought that a park in the middle of an industrial zone could be so peaceful?

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Water always wins. This was the mantra of Turenscape-founder Kongjian Yu during an inspiring presentation at Azure’s inaugural Human/Nature Conference this October. To avoid the destructive flooding that is so common across southeast Asia’s urban centres, we must design landscapes that don’t resist water — but embrace it. In the heart of Bangkok, Turenscape has transformed a tobacco factory surrounded by unyielding concrete into a porous wetland that is expected to retain 23 million gallons of stormwater during monsoon season. Created in collaboration with Arsomsilp Landscape Studio, the 72-hectare Benjakitti Forest Park looks like something from a Dr. Seuss book.

Equally enchanting and efficient, the public park features clusters of small islets, and is accessible via a series of winding boardwalks. Completed in only 18 months, the project relied on a simple — yet technically advanced — development process: begin by transforming the existing debris into mounds enveloped in terraced ecotone, which will retain the rain water from monsoon storms, then sit back and wait as the plants take over and this empty lot metamorphosizes into a lush greenscape of mossy islands. Aside from providing sanctuary for wildlife, filtering contaminated water and protecting from destructive flooding, Benjakitti Forest Park is also the largest public recreational space in central Bangkok — with tens of thousands of daily users — and has quickly become a treasured symbol for the Thai capital. 

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After over a century and a half of heavy pollution from steel mills, meat processing plants and lumber yards (to name just a few local industries), the Chicago River entered the 21st century as a a polluted shadow of its former self. In 1900, the river’s flow was even reversed to send the city’s sewage downstream, “a move which has impacted the ecology of Lake Michigan, the Mississippi River and their tributaries ever since,” note architects SOM.

In 2021, however, the long-neglected waterway showed renewed signs of life. As part of a larger precedent-setting project to remediate a once-thriving amphibious landscape, SOM partnered with local non-profit Urban Rivers to create the first phase of a floating eco-park in the North Branch Canal. Combining a haven for plant and animal species — including the 99 bird species observed so far — with a civic hub, the park is envisioned as a living laboratory of activity, led by the team of “citizen scientists” who collect data on behalf of Urban Rivers. This year, a new phase doubled the size of the nascent “Wild Mile,” creating a marquee destination that’s set to expand further in the years to come. It is an artful floating landscape of vegetation and walking paths — and an open invitation to consider the city as a natural habitat.

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Located in Ecatepec, a suburb of Mexico City and one of the country’s most-densely populated municipalities, the revitalized Parque Bicentenario is a master-class in exceeding expectations of what a public park can be. Devised by Loreta Castro-Reguera and José Pablo Ambrosi of local architecture firm Taller Capital, the newly completed park activates a previously underused — if not outright avoided — 22-hectare landscape with a multitude of social, recreational and cultural programming. Along with a charro arena, jogging paths, a baseball diamond, skate park and walking trails, the formerly fenced-off and unsafe hillside also now includes covered kiosks, workshops, commercial venues and bathrooms. 

But beyond these much-needed and appreciated amenities, the intervention incorporates vital soft infrastructure strategies for water management and to prevent soil erosion. Responding to the sloped topography, one of the architects’ main moves was to install a series of L-shaped concrete retaining walls to create a terraced landscape, a historically proven method to mitigate degradation while preserving soil and promoting water retention. Filled with tezontle (a local porous volcanic rock that performs like a sponge, diverting rain and runoff into the subsoil), the terraces now help to prevent flooding and aid in natural filtration to replenish the heavily used aquifer (they also foster the growth of 450 newly planted trees). Further to this, a regulating basin was constructed that can capture 17,500-cubic-metres of runoff water from a nearby seasonal stream that regularly flooded the urban area.

Now a connective tissue for the neighbourhoods to the north and south, Parque Bicentenario is proof positive that urban transformation through architecture and landscape design can support and regenerate the environment at the same time it enhances everyday life for the humans that engage and interact with it.

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The new public space in the old town of Nanyang, in Ningde, China, has many permutations. Town gatherings, folk culture exhibitions, theatre performances — even rural medical clinics — all and more now take place under its indoor-outdoor canopies. In crafting the venue, the Shanghai architecture firms YFS and ZAO/Standardarchitecture, preserved much of the original structure: an abandoned public granary complex, consisting of eight buildings, from the early years of China’s planned economy period.

The place had become more or less neglected (locals had begun using it for storage) while, all around it, the tight housing arrangement had left little room for open public space. In refurbishing the granary and transforming it into a vibrant cultural venue, the architecture teams reasserted the original’s strong architectural presence while making its spaces accessible to all.

The teams set out on their ambitious undertaking by renovating the abandoned structures — in doing so, they selectively removed some existing walls to create a dynamic interior-exterior condition. The old bricks and wood panels of those gutted walls were incorporated into the new design, which also introduced permeable paving and amenities including a public toilet and information kiosk. What’s more, the entire construction was carried out by a local team with the neighbourhood’s help: all wooden structures were handcrafted and installed in situ, including the bamboo railing system, informed by traditional techniques, handwoven by local artisans. “The design of this project,” YFS states, “aspires to provide each individual with their deserved ‘spatial dignity’ and the sincere joy brought by well-designed public spaces.”

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Oftentimes, the most original and daring design innovations are rooted in close observation of nature. Under the hot Texas sun, architects Snøhetta took inspiration from the beauty and efficiency of green canopies, recreating the dappled sunlight through the leaves. Like trees themselves, the dozen 12.2-metre-tall perforated fibreglass sculptures fronting Austin’s Blanton Museum of Art combine cooling shade with water management, shielding visitors from the sun while acting as rain catches to help nourish the plant life at their base. Just as impressively, they express the presence of a cultural nexus through urban design.

As the centrepiece of 18,500-square-metre revitalization of the museum’s public realm, the striking, petal-shaped structures create an intuitive pedestrian hub and gathering spot that reaches out to the city’s busiest streets and joins the spine of the University of Texas campus, opening up to a striking view of the state Capitol. Introducing 25,000 new plants, the boldly yet tactfully refreshed public realm also features site-specific mural by Cuban-American abstract painter Carmen Herrera, tucked into the loggia of an adjacent gallery building. The result is a work of art in itself — and one elevated by cribbing from the wisdom of nature. After all, the greatest artists steal.

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A relatively modest execution by OMA standards, the Simone Veil Bridge in Bordeaux, France, makes a compelling argument for function over form. When designing its first-ever bridge, the firm known more for upending convention than playing it safe, consciously and intentionally abandoned “any interest in style, form, and structural expression” and instead delivered a clean, linear public space that emphasizes the pedestrian over the car, dedicating the majority of the 549-metre-long-by-44-metre-wide span to foot traffic. “This bridge is for the people, not for the connoisseurs,” says Rem Koolhaas, who led the design along with OMA co-partner Chris van Duijn. 

Subverting the established purpose — a vehicular-based overpass — and the “structural gymnastics” of modern-day bridges, OMA focused on comfortably and safely accommodating private cars, public transit, cyclists and people – with the latter two being granted a combined lion’s share of the platform’s extra-wide surface; flexible, unprogrammed space that can host a variety of cultural and commercial endeavours like festivals and fairs, farmers’ markets and other community events was also included. Spanning the Garonne River, the pragmatic boulevard links three municipalities — Bordeaux, Floirac on the right bank and Bègles on the left bank — and creates “a unified identity for the areas on either side” of the river, with green space and public amenities at both ends helping to seamlessly stitch the expanse into the urban fabric. With the Simone Veil Bridge, OMA has redefined the car-centric bridge as one that is not solely for circulation but also be a beautiful opportunity for humans to connect through shared leisure and cultural activities.  

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Though a reliable cinematic stand-in for everything from the Ivy League to Oxbridge, the University of Toronto’s architecturally handsome main campus never quite lived up to its latent potential as a public beacon. Anchored by the broad lawn of King’s Circle, the downtown institution was hampered by a lack of outdoor seating, indifferent landscaping, and a surprisingly car-dominated milieu. Led by Toronto’s KPMB and American landscape architect Michael Van Valkenburgh, the site’s 12-hectare revitalization is at once gentle and transformational, deftly knitting together a vibrant and accessible landscape, while moving parking underground.

And while the revitalization process is still underway, the recently completed Ziibiing gave the campus an instant destination. Framed by 4,500 square metres of rolling landscape that honours the site’s buried creeks and rivers, the central pavilion is multi-use space for gathering, learning, reflection and ceremony. Designed by the Indigenous Design Studio at Brook McIlroy in collaboration with Indigenous plant medicine expert Joseph Pitawanakwat and shaped by input from University of Toronto Elders (including the late author Lee Maracle), faculty, students and host nations, the inclusive space is paired with a teaching garden intended to inspire education about Indigenous plant medicine in an urban setting.

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Though it has only been open just over a year, Copenhagen’s Opera Park had all the makings of an iconic urban landmark from the outset. On the site of the former Royal Danish Navy dockyards, local firm Cobe has transformed the island into a lush landscape, inspired by the city’s historic gardens with winding pathways and carefully choreographed vistas. Irrigated with water collected from the roof of the Royal Danish Opera, the park features three forests — North American, Danish oak and Nordic — and three gardens — English, Asian and subtropical. The latter, known as the “winter garden,” is concealed within a flower-shaped greenhouse with a floating roof, which also includes a café with indoor and outdoor seating. And beneath all that? A two-level underground parking lot accommodates 300 cars, allowing accessibility for visitors without sacrificing public space.

The park’s scale is something to behold, adding a massive new public amenity to the city. But perhaps even more remarkable is the biodiversity the designers have managed to pack into the 21,500-square-metre footprint: Opera Park is home to 223 species of plants, including 80,000 herbaceous perennials and 600 trees. Each one is carefully and intentionally placed, arranged into organic clusters that evoke an archipelago when seen from above. “Like an opera stage, the park is a composed landscape with a foreground, a middle ground and a background,” Cobe founder Dan Stubbergaard told us in our original coverage of the project. “The terrain and trees are tallest where they form the background and lowest in the foreground towards the harbour. This creates a depth and allows you to view all the different trees and plants in the garden from the opposite side of the harbour.” 

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Through its Programa de Mejoramiento Urbano (PMU), Mexico’s Secretariat of Agrarian, Territorial and Urban Development (SEDATU) has renewed 1,035 public spaces around the country. We’ve covered several of these commendable works in Azure, but the projects of Fernanda Canales deserve singular applause. While the park, plaza and other infrastructure improvements undertaken by architecture firms under PMU’s guidance are all located in under-resourced areas, Canales decided to go one step further: She went to especially underserved communities in the most difficult of places, namely in Agua Prieta and Naco, situated along Mexico’s border with the United States. And she has now completed a number of uplifting buildings in these much-deserving towns. 

In Agua Prieta, the Border Library is a striking and welcoming rectilinear volume carved with grand, asymmetrical arches through which a winding concrete ramp leads visitors to the elevated interior spaces. In the open area below the library volume, a sunken amphitheatre with tiered platforms provides resting spots in the shade; inside, meanwhile, the lattice of perforated brickwork that fills in the arches comes through as a meaningful, warm texture (since natural ventilation, the original intent, proved to be unfeasible in winter, the brickwork is now glazed over.) At the other end of the city, the sports centre that Canales designed features a zigzagging roof that makes a bold statement while bringing natural light and air into the space. A path with ample street lighting knits the venue into its surroundings and provides a safe passage to and from it during the evening hours — when, in summer months, the sports centre is at its most animated. With these amenities, Canales and SEDATU show the potential of architecture as a public good.