“They could have had one huge park instead of few small ones around this area.”
#4 in Renfrew-Collingwood
3525 Foster Avenue
For Kids
B
For Adults
B
Design
B+
Atmosphere
B-
Final Score
28.74
Aberdeen is one of the three parks making up the triad of amenities in the Collingwood village of condos and townhomes created at the beginning of the 21st century. The three parks are all within two blocks of one another, and while Gaston focuses on baseball/soccer and Melbourne on tennis/basketball, Aberdeen is the chill hangout/playground area of the three.
We think it’s the best of them — and while that *could* be because our ranking group generally prefers chill hangouts over playing sports, it also has to do with the design of the park.
It has three distinct sections: a playground for kids around 4-8 with a bunch of slides and mini rock climbing walls, a walking path that goes up an artificial hill to a concrete circle at the top, and a small field area with a number of benches next to another walking trail. Each part blends to the other through the use of walkways and gentle slopes.
The effect is a park that has a whole bunch of people casually using it in different ways. It’s definitely the backyard for the apartments that surround it, but it also feels open to the general public. And the trees planted two decades ago on the perimeter are starting to mature and create some noise separation from the street.
It’s all an example of how a mid-sized urban park can be built in the 21st century, and how it doesn’t need to be anywhere near downtown to be successful.
Vancouver Park Guide 