Greening Downtown

Parks and open spaces increase quality of life for residents and visitors. They improve our health and wellbeing, strengthen our communities, protect nature, and help us cool down in the heat.

Downtown Winnipeg has green space, riverbanks, plazas, pathways, playgrounds, and picnic spaces, and a dog park. There are 24 parks Downtown. Just under half (46%) are owned by the City, the rest are owned by other governments or managed privately. Check out the Downtown parks, plazas, and open spaces map.

Goals for greening Downtown

The Winnipeg Parks Strategy provides a long-term vision for Winnipeg’s parks. CentrePlan 2050 will include specific goals and actions for Downtown identified in the Parks Strategy:

• Increase access to parks, open spaces, and riverbanks
• Create new parks
• Improve existing parks
• Plant more trees
• Create opportunities for more winter activities
  
  

Increase access to parks, open spaces, and riverbanks
We want to make it easier to get to Downtown parks, open spaces, and riverbanks by improving street crossings and improving active transportation connections from Downtown to adjacent neighbourhoods. We also want to improve wayfinding (signs that tell people how to get to parks) and build accessible, year-round and seasonal river access.

Create new parks
We want to create new parks in areas of Downtown that need them. As the population of Downtown grows, so will the demand for new parks. New parks will be created in areas where there are none, in areas of higher poverty, and in areas where more people live. We also want to develop additional high-quality public gathering spaces in Downtown.

Buses are moving from Graham Avenue to Portage Avenue over the next five to ten years as part of the Winnipeg Transit Master Plan. Because of this transition, Graham Avenue has been identified as a possible location to increase green space Downtown. Through this project, we also want your help to re-imagine Graham Avenue.

Improve existing parks
As the city’s most urban area, it makes it difficult to acquire and consolidate land for parks Downtown. So, in addition to creating new parks where possible, we also need to improve the quality and amenities of existing parks to ensure they meet the needs of a growing residential population and visitors.

Plant more trees
Winnipeg is known for its tree canopy, but less so in our Downtown. Not only are trees important to improve the quality of life of residents and visitors Downtown, they are also a key tool in mitigating the impacts of climate change. We want to increase the tree canopy Downtown by planting and retaining more trees. Our goal is to have 15 percent of Downtown covered by tree canopy. Tree canopy refers to the layer of leaves, branches, and stems of trees that cover the ground when viewed from above.

Create opportunities for more winter activities
Winnipeg is a winter city and we want to embrace it. We want to provide more opportunities for outdoor activities in all seasons.