Urban Canopy in Motion: A Moving Forest for a Changing City

NL Architects’ Moving Forest is a playful installation of 50 trees strapped in shopping carts travelling throughout the city, stopping to create impromptu shade canopies and provide relief from the summer sun. Follow their eight-week journey throughout the city – from YZD, to The Bentway, to the Waterfront – and enjoy pop-up readings, performances and workshops along the way!

City dwellers have long appreciated trees for their beauty, but these familiar green features are often undervalued as critical urban assets – they help cool the environment, protect against flooding, capture carbon, and provide essential shade. Trees are also a barometer of equity in an urban setting. Too often, new communities are built with insufficient space for planting and without the necessary resources to ensure that trees can mature and thrive.  Recognizing the need for more tree cover and thoughtful placement The City of Toronto has set an aggressive goal of raising its tree canopy by 40 percent by 2050, but it is important that the distribution of these new plantings extend the benefits trees offer to all corners of the city. 

NL Architects’ Moving Forest (Amsterdam, NL) calls attention to the critical physical and mental health role that urban trees play. The playful installation sees a flock of 50 trees strapped in shopping carts travelling throughout the city, stopping to create impromptu canopies in several exposed plazas.

Volunteer @ The Bentway!

Join these trees on their epic journey across Toronto’s waterfront! We are looking for dedicated and neighbourly volunteers to grab a cart and assist the roaming forest in its travels.  
In the fall, our volunteers helped us present Dominoes which brought together Torontonians in a joyful act of community-building:

“It was phenomenal to see so many people come together… I really loved the opportunity to help create a joyful, artful event for everyone. It was inspiring.” – Dominoes Volunteer

Over the course of this 8-week project, Red, Silver and Sugar Maples mingle with Autumn Blaze. The project reminds us that as our cities continue to warm and densify, we must ensure that we are prioritizing green infrastructure along with grey.   

Moving Forest is also a powerful point of connection, linking established and evolving public spaces throughout the city. The forest begins its journey at YZD, illustrating the role that trees will play in the revitalization of the former Downsview Airport lands. It then touches down at The Bentway Studio before journeying across the waterfront, enlivening and sheltering large-scale plazas at both the Waterfront Neighbourhood and Harbourfront Centres.

“We’re honoured to kick off the citywide journey of Moving Forest at YZD—a playful yet powerful installation that is redefining how we experience trees and shade in Toronto. As these living sculptures roll into different parts of the city, they invite reflection and spark important conversations about climate resilience, equity, and the role of public space.”

Alana Mercury, Director, Programming & Placemaking with Northcrest Developments

In each location, the public is welcomed to join readings and performances beneath the forest leaves or simply seek relief from the summer sun. The mobile trees are reconfigured daily in response to the changing angle of the sun. At the end of the season, the trees will be planted permanently in public spaces across the GTA.

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