July 20, 2026 – Toronto, ON – YZD has launched “Your Place to Land,” a new awareness campaign inviting people across the Greater Toronto Area (GTA) to experience the transformation underway at the former Downsview Airport lands and picture themselves as part of its future.
This marks the first major brand campaign for YZD and a new chapter in the evolution of the former airport lands as they emerge as a destination for culture, community and future city-building. With more than a million visitors already experiencing the site through events, concerts, programming and activations, the campaign marks a natural next step in building awareness of YZD.
But this is more than a campaign about a destination. It is an invitation to imagine how YZD will shift the city’s centre of gravity north in the decades ahead. Once known primarily as a closed-off private airport, the 370-acre site is being reimagined as a series of connected neighbourhoods and one of Toronto’s most significant new cultural and civic destinations.
Located at the geographic heart of the GTA and connected by existing transit and transportation infrastructure, YZD is uniquely positioned to bring people together from across the region. Over time, it will help reconnect parts of the city that have long been separated and create a new destination that stretches beyond the traditional downtown core.
Through digital, out-of-home, online video and paid media, “Your Place to Land” encourages people to explore what is happening at YZD today, while envisioning a place to live, work, build a business, create and connect in the future. The campaign reflects a bigger goal: helping people see themselves in the story of Toronto’s next great city-building project.
“For generations, people understood this site as an airport,” said Chantelle Cole, Vice President, Brand, Marketing & Communications at Northcrest Developments. “Today, people are beginning to experience it in an entirely different way. Whether they are attending a concert, watching a movie on The Runway, participating in a community event or simply exploring the site, YZD is becoming a place where memories are being made long before the neighbourhoods are built. ‘Your Place to Land’ is an invitation for people across the GTA and beyond to discover that for themselves.”
Informed by ongoing engagement with local residents, community organizations and Indigenous Partners, Northcrest Developments, the lead developer behind YZD, has continued to invite the public to experience through concerts, cultural programming, community events and activations that are helping shape YZD’s future. From Runway Reels, a drive-in movie experience on the former Runway, to concerts at Rogers Stadium, weekly community gatherings, seasonal programming, charitable events and much more, these experiences are providing valuable insight into the kind of community and destination that will emerge here.
The campaign also builds on the story behind the YZD name itself. Introduced in 2024, “YZD” is a nod to the airport’s former call sign, preserving a connection to aviation history while looking ahead to its future. “Your Place to Land” reimagines that idea of arrival as something much more personal, inviting people to find their place in a destination that is already taking shape.
That sense of connection is also evident in YZD’s vision for the two-kilometre Runway, which will become the site’s defining public space. Once built for planes, The Runway will serve as the shared backyard for YZD’s future neighbourhoods and act as the connective tissue that brings people, parks, shops, restaurants and community spaces together.
This new campaign builds on the YZD brand identity developed in partnership with Pentagram, the internationally renowned design firm behind some of the world’s most recognizable brands. Together, the YZD name and identity established a distinctive brand rooted in the site’s history while reflecting the scale and ambition of its future. The “Your Place to Land” campaign was developed by Toronto-based creative agency FUSE Create and marks the next evolution of the YZD brand as awareness grows across the region.
