Sustainable Urban Implants

"Sustainable Urban Implants" (SUIs) are sustainable urban cores based on principles of sustainable urban planning and sustainable architectural design practices that are melded together to achieve a most desirable sustainable living environment. As a combined force of urban planning, architecture and community interaction, this type of sustainable development is capable of changing fossil fuel-based city structures. It provides an alternative lifestyle that is enjoyable, economical, diverse and natural and that can enliven communities and strengthen social interaction. Planting SUIs on brownfields of Toronto suburbs, near public transportation nodes, is the strategy that has been identified as being effective and one that has been used in this thesis. As a result of this, private car-based commuting will decrease and public transportation will improve. An improvement of the lifestyle of suburbs will also be observed as current residents of the areas surrounding SUIs will also benefit from the newly provided urban spaces and work places that create employment opportunities.