Gentle Densification: Strategies for Integrating Low-Rise, Medium-Density Housing into Toronto’s Yellowbelt Neighbourhoods

Abstract

This thesis explores how alternative housing typologies can serve as viable solutions to increase development in low-rise neighbourhoods. Toronto’s current zoning only permits limited forms of densification in single-family areas, such as laneway suites, garden suites, and multiplexes up to four units, which is insufficient to address the city’s growing housing demand. The limited scope and complexity of these densification efforts highlight the need for more ambitious reforms that streamline processes, reduce costs, and promote a wider range of higher-density housing types.

Gentle densification can be implemented in Toronto neighbourhoods in the form of low-rise, medium-density typologies such as multiplexes up to eight units, laneway or garden apartments and townhouses, and mixed-use apartments to increase housing options while making use of existing infrastructure. These new typologies provide suggestions for unintrusive densification by adding multi-unit buildings to single-family properties while utilizing laneways and yard space, reducing the need for the deconstruction of existing houses. The incorporation of additional public, community, and retail programs in neighbourhoods is also proposed. To allow for increased densification in single-family areas, new changes must be put forward for the zoning bylaws to enable more efficient typologies of medium-density housing and expand housing stock in neighbourhoods. This thesis focuses specifically on integrating gentle densification into the three neighbourhoods of East Willowdale, Leaside, and North Riverdale, chosen to encompass diversity in terms of existing housing types, property sizes, and household statistics. Feasibility, costs, and development scenarios for low-rise, medium-density housing are also investigated.