Project
Co-create marketcity TO
Project Details

2023 has been a tremendous year, and these three actions (IPMC, Public Market Week & Public Market Action Plan in 2024), culminate almost ten years of work launched at the Toronto Food Policy Council in 2015. During this time, we learned how to mobilize, advocate and build partnerships to lead this work.

The infographic below is the journey of getting to today, and the many actions it took to make all this happen.

2024 marks the beginning of a new era. Our upcoming work will focus on bringing together the development of the City action plan and marketcity TO governance and business model. More importantly, the relationship between the two will ensure the long-term impact of this work and change the way public markets currently operate.

We now have a unique opportunity to create something truly special. I have been studying local and global examples of market organizations, cooperatives, indigenous governance models, teal organizations, sociocracy, and self-managed teams to create a resilient organization anchored by richness, resourcefulness and creativity of our markets (abundance mindset), fosters leadership at every level and benefits all participants and members.

We are trying to change a system. In the process of change, we can not replicate today's models. The process of creating this organization will require deep engagement, trust-building, and commitment. As Nora Bateson wrote in Reunion, "It is not collaboration but composting," and "it is not a plan but a nourishing."

Do not hesitate to reach out; we want to co-create markecity TO will all of you. 

timeline2023.jpg

Project Activity
Building a network one project at a time

When a conference is not simply a conference! 

It is a network creation process by which we develop relationships and “small networks” to help us get to where we want to go and build the public market ecosystem our city needs.

When Toronto applied and won the bid to host the 11th International Public Market Conference, it was always about how we leveraged this milestone moment to advance the work needed to support public markets in our city and strengthen the mid-size distribution infrastructure that enables inclusive economies, local food and social connection. 

Inspired by CITIES4CSR URBACT network building model and the Constellation model of collaborative social change Tonya Surman, over the last few months, Market City TO has been the backbone support to this process, this is a visual representation of the work to date, and it is just the beginning. You can check the 12 workshops that emerged, and the potential of building 12 local /global networks on these issues. 

Partnerships, issues, and learnings that emerge from this process will inform the City of Toronto Public Market strategy and the governance model of Market City TO. 

It is a messy, complex, emerging and participatory process—all keywords when we think of bottom-up innovation and solutions that lead to systemic change. 

I love and thrive in this space and am grateful for the opportunity.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1Eu90I8UwAtVUCrpZAaK6v-Vyxvwx6heL/view?usp=sharing

May 28, 2023

We work with Toronto’s intrepid market managers, vendors, city staff and policy-makers to activate the power of markets. Get in touch ->

Marina Queirolo
Public markets & food systems specialist
mqueirolo@marketcityto.org