Nelson Square
Pocket Park

To attract residents to the downtown area and support local businesses, to increase opportunities for social connections, to celebrate Brampton’s cultural diversity through programming, and to engage diverse communities in reimagining underused public spaces.

Starting in 2022, Activate Downtown Brampton quickly became an iconic placemaking series that sought to activate underused laneways and public gathering spaces with music, performances, creative seating, pops of colour and vibrancy. In 2023, the City of Brampton, the Downtown Brampton Business Improvement Area and 8 80 Cities partnered again to transform the Nelson Square Surface Parking Lot to create new comfortable and enjoyable programming and public space downtown that is seasonally responsive and increase foot traffic and lingering activity downtown throughout the summer, fall and winter.

Nelson Square Pocket Park was formerly five parking spots on a deteriorating asphalt lot reimagined into a turf-covered accessible corner of the downtown that quickly became a place to meet friends and hang out with family. Input from the community informed the transformation. We facilitated a series of pop-ups to engage the community. Online surveys and targeted engagement with the Indigenous Network and the City of Brampton’s Downtown Advisory Group were also part of the process.

The design of the space was kept simple with green turf, a pedestrian pathway made of rubber tiles that were AODA compliant, and furniture made of flexible seating, tree stumps and picnic tables. The pocket park also included art inspired by nature and traditional medicines, painted by Shawn Howe and mural assistant Anna Jacobs.

The pocket park was intentionally programmed as a space for passive recreation, so most of the programming was self-guided. This included self-directed play enabled by Loose Parts Play, provided by 8 80 Cities and the City of Brampton’s mobile recreation vehicle, Ready Set Play Van. In winter, two events—Family Fun Day and Warm Up the Night—were organized to bring people together in the cold.

100% of the people surveyed rated the playfulness and socialness of the space and their comfort and safety levels as Good or Excellent during the intervention. Before the intervention, these numbers were 0%, 0%, 8.3% and 0% respectively. New activities were also introduced into the space, such as drinking coffee, relaxing, and enjoying snacks at the picnic tables, benches, and on the grass. The number of children aged 0-14 in the space increased by 19 times during the intervention, while the number of seniors (people aged 65 and more) in the space increased by more than 5 times.

Nelson Square Pocket Park was planned to be a temporary activation for 6 months. After an initial positive response, the project was extended for another six months.  The pocket park, meant to be a space for passive recreation with minimal programming, became a space of meaningful connection for the community.

The success of Nelson Square Pocket Park shows the demand for vibrant quality public spaces in Downtown Brampton, especially close to where people live. The transformation changed a previously underused space to a space of joy and connection and provided the community a much-needed space for recreation and social activity.

Do you represent a municipality with many vacant and underused parking spaces that can benefit from a lighter, quicker, cheaper and strategic transformation into people-first places for play? Contact Senior Project Manager Jiya Benni at jbenni@880cities.org to learn how we can partner to bring this concept to your community!