The Bentway: Visit the Gardiner Expressway’s backyard

The Bentway is a growing hangout spot, and you need to check it out.

In a city of pay-to-experience, it can be hard to find free activities and places to hang out with friends, which is where third spaces come in.

The Green Line has a dedicated list of third spaces in Toronto for readers.

Our latest addition to the map is The Bentway. It’s a mixed-use space of concrete and nature, located underneath the Gardiner Expressway across the Fort York-Liberty Village neighbourhood. The Bentway’s team has been working to turn the concrete walkway into a space where Torontonians can relax or meet new people.

“Modern cities are often thought of as hard, fast-paced and alienating places. Not just because of the concrete and steel that built them, but with social isolation on the rise, cities are becoming increasingly difficult places to live,” according to The Bentway’s recent annual report.

We spoke with Alex Rand, The Bentway’s major projects creative producer, to learn more about the transformation and how the space is battling Toronto’s title as one of the loneliest cities in Canada through creative expression and programming.

Rand said that most of The Bentway’s activities, like ice skating in the winter, rollerblading in the summer, nature walks and more, are usually free or follow a pay-what-you-can model to remove the financial barrier most Torontonians face.

If you want to visit, but don’t want to attend programming, don’t worry, it’s an open space! There are little sections of walkways, spots to sit or grass to relax on and you can usually catch an art exhibition that uses The Bentway’s unique concrete structures as its canvas.

Rand also spoke about themes that The Bentway’s team explore in their programming. Last year, they did an exploration on the power of shade. He said that it explored the thought of, as our city gets hotter, how can we use the Gardiner Expressway as a canopy of shade?

This year, you’ve probably seen The Bentway in the news as the site of the FIFA Fan Festival. For the festival, they curated five public art installations throughout The Bentway, curated around the idea of fandom and what it means to be a fan of the city.

Rand said that the artwork showcased in the festival is supposed to answer the question of, “What are the possibilities for optimism, shared space and joy within this urban environment, while also working with the overall FIFA Toronto theme, around the world in the city, which is really celebrating the multiculturalism and the diversity of the City of Toronto?”

Since the Gardiner Expressway, as a corridor, connects multiple major sporting infrastructures like Coca-Cola Coliseum, BMO Field, Rogers Centre, The Bentway uses opportunities when people pass through for games to introduce the site as a spot for recreation.

“There are about 200,000 people who live in condos along the Gardiner [Expressway] corridor, and this is their backyard,” he said. “They come down, they eat lunch right here, that’s why we put out tables. They can come hang out, you can charge your phone, it’s really a site that welcomes people.”

Check out The Bentway’s socials to keep up to date on its programming, whether you’d like to visit the space as an attendee, host your event there, or volunteer.