Episode 24 | Supporting Public Markets Infrastructure in Toronto: From Research to Resiliency

In this year-end interview, Dr. Jaclyn Rohel of the Feeding City Lab talks with Marina Queirolo, a longtime community collaborator of the Lab and founder of marketcityTO, about the most recent efforts to strengthen and sustain Toronto’s public markets. In November 2023, Toronto’s City Council approved a motion to develop a Public Markets Action Plan to strengthen Toronto’s public markets and mid-size food retail infrastructure. Over the past year the grassroots network marketcityTO has continued to bring together diverse types of public markets – from farmers’ markets and wholesale food markets to vintage markets – and the stakeholders that make them possible. In 2024, marketcityTO published an online interactive map of Toronto’s public markets, launched the ‘I Love Toronto Markets’ campaign and community-based market tours as part of the city’s second annual public markets week, and undertook a comprehensive stakeholder engagement project in collaboration with the City of Toronto to identify the strengths, challenges, and opportunities of this budding sector. Marina discusses some of the project’s findings and key insights. Amplifying vast community consultations in Toronto, she explains what a “public market” is and how its meaning is shaped by time and place, offers examples of how a public markets network builds connections within, across, and between neighbourhoods, regions, and communities, and reflects on the still untapped potential of a network approach in Toronto – and the need for more data and storytelling. The conversation concludes with discussion of building a climate resilient infrastructure in Toronto that can support thriving public markets, inclusive economies, and community well-being.

This episode was recorded on December 18, 2024. As of February 10th, 2025, Marina has a one-year contract with the Economic Development and Culture division at the City of Toronto to advance and bring the Public Markets Action Plan to the City Council.   

[Sound effects sourced from https://www.zapsplat.com.]

To learn more about the Voices from the Food Frontlines, Sustainable Foodways podcast series, visit the Feeding City Lab at https://www.utsc.utoronto.ca/projects/feedingcity/sustainable-foodways/. 

For Episode 3 of the Voices from the Food Frontlines podcast series, “Building Toronto into a Market City” (2023), click here.