Once referred to as Toronto’s \"accidental wilderness,\" Tommy Thompson Park is now recognized as a fortuitous urban miracle. Initially created as a landfill site on the city’s rapidly developing waterfront, the park’s physical and ecological footprint has grown dramatically over a period of four decades. What was once a barren stretch of rubble reaching out into Lake Ontario is now viewed as a globally significant landscape that offers a glimpse into the future of greenspace within large urban areas. Using Tommy Thompson Park as an example of how nature can make things better when left to its own devices, Accidental Wilderness demonstrates how one biologically diverse landscape evolved into an internationally recognized urban sanctuary. Born of the ruins of Toronto’s construction boom, Tommy Thompson Park has emerged through a unique blend of public advocacy and natural succession. Over an extended time period, forests developed, grasslands took hold, and bird, fish, and mammal habitats flourished. And the whole process occurred within a stone’s throw of some of the most densely populated areas of North America’s fourth-largest city. Today the park boasts 316 species of birds, visitors in the hundreds of thousands, and a land area that exceeds New York’s Central Park. Through its stunning collection of photographs by renowned landscape photographer Robert Burley and a rich and lyrical collection of essays curated by internationally recognized landscape architect and original designer of Tommy Thompson Park, Walter H. Kehm, Accidental Wilderness explores topics that include the city’s port origins; the park’s master plan principles and design; the native-plant succession process; the park’s unique flora and fauna; public advocacy; and public recreation in the park and its effect on mental, physical, and spiritual health. In an era where the looming dangers associated with climate change and global warming affect our daily lives, Tommy Thompson Park offers a hopeful narrative about how nature can flourish in, and contribute to, the well-being of twenty-first-century cities. | Accidental Wilderness by Walter H. Kehm, Hardcover | Indigo Chapters