As it rebuilds the Gardiner Expressway, Toronto could use the opportunity to create more real estate for affordable housing.

As it finalizes its 2021 budget, the city of Toronto will award the contracts to finish the Gardiner Expressway reconstruction project, with options to rebuild an elevated expressway or get more creative with the use of land in Toronto's dense downtown. In a piece for the Globe and Mail, Alex Bozikovic argues that combining the eastern end of the expressway with Lake Shore Boulevard "would open up more than five acres of land for a new neighbourhood, which could generate $500-million in land sales and development charges," generating "enough to build hundreds of units of affordable housing."
Despite the benefits promised by the "boulevard" plan, which would merge the expressway with Lake Shore Boulevard for a short segment and cost significantly less, the city council opted for a "hybrid" option that opens up far less land for new development. "That extra acreage is now worth roughly $450-million, according to Jeremiah Shamess, a vice-president at Colliers Canada who specializes in development land." The speculative proposal used for this analysis "imagines 6.5 million square feet of buildings in this area, with 8,000 homes housing 15,000 people and a mix of other uses."
With 200,000 more people expected to move into downtown Toronto in the next two decades, Bozikovic argues that Gardiner East, with its density and proximity to transit, is "a fine place to plan a postpandemic urban neighbourhood."
FULL STORY: The East Gardiner: a stretch of highway, or a new neighbourhood?

Planning for Congestion Relief
The third and final installment of Planetizen's examination of the role of the planning profession in both perpetuating and solving traffic congestion.

Minneapolis Housing Plan a Success—Not for the Reason You Think
Housing advocates praise the city’s move to eliminate single-family zoning by legalizing triplexes on single-family lots, but that isn’t why housing construction is growing.

New White House Housing Initiative Includes Zoning Reform Incentives
The Biden administration this morning released a new program of actions intended to spur housing construction around the United States.

Study: Most of Vancouver Is a ‘15-Minute City’
A large majority of Vancouver residents can access a grocery store in 15 minutes or less by bicycle or on foot.

Urban Design, Transport, and Health
The Lancet medical journal published a series of articles that explore how to evaluate and guide urban planning decisions to create healthy and sustainable cities. Live long and prosper!

Detroit Bike Share Celebrates Five Years
In its five years of operation, Detroit’s MoGo bikeshare has added electric and adaptive bikes to its fleet of more than 600 bikes.
Urban Planning Partners
Sandy City
Ada County Highway District
HUD's Office of Policy Development and Research
HUD's Office of Policy Development and Research
HUD's Office of Policy Development and Research
City of Redwood City
City of Rohnert Park
City of Hot Springs
Urban Design for Planners 1: Software Tools
This six-course series explores essential urban design concepts using open source software and equips planners with the tools they need to participate fully in the urban design process.
Hand Drawing Master Plans
This course aims to provide an introduction into Urban Design Sketching focused on how to hand draw master plans using a mix of colored markers.