Compact, concurrent, and contiguous: smart growth and 50 years of residential planning in the Toronto region

Abstract

In this article, we use parcel-based land-use data to analyze 50 years of residential development in the Toronto region. We test two hypotheses: (1) Toronto’s form does not conform to conventional definitions of suburban sprawl and (2) Toronto’s suburban development shows high levels of continuity over time with relatively high densities and mixed housing types. Contrary to recent research suggesting a convergence of urban forms among North American metropolitan regions, Ontario’s robust planning system has created a distinctive, highly consistent pattern of residential development that has, for half a century, achieved many of the core goals of smart growth including relatively compact, contiguous, and concurrent development. This form continues to be automobile dependent, however, and is not producing many of the benefits ascribed to smart growth. Rather than continuing to adopt United States-inspired smart growth policies, a more ambitious set of initiatives will be required to address current regional challenges.

Keywords:

• Toronto
• urban form
• residential form
• sprawl
• smart growth

Notes

1. The GTA includes the City of Toronto (Metropolitan Toronto before 1998) and the surrounding suburban regional municipalities of Halton, Peel, York and Durham. Regional municipalities are roughly equivalent to counties in many United States metropolitan regions, providing higher-order infrastructure such as arterial roadways, water, and sewer systems, some health and social services, transit services, and region-wide land-use planning functions.

2. In the mid-1990s, the Conservative Provincial Government of Ontario, pursuing neo-liberal policies, placed assessor’s data into a new Corporation, the Municipal Property Assessment Corporation (MPAC), expected to generate revenue. Although the municipalities jointly own MPAC, this effectively prevented the data from being used for planning and research.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada. The authors do not have any financial interest or benefit arising from the direct application of this research.