Urban Design Guidelines for the Danforth: An Analysis of Planning Policies and Their Impact on Housing Development

Toronto faces a housing affordability crisis driven in part by a lack of housing supply. This paper focuses on the Danforth neighbourhood in Toronto, which has experienced population stagnation even though it is one of the few parts of the city with a subway line running through it. Between 2014 and 2022, the City of Toronto undertook the Danforth Study and ultimately released Urban Design Guidelines to guide new development on the Danforth. Utilizing a mixed method approach of interviews with experts, analyses of building precedents, and the creation of conceptual development scenarios, this paper explores the values and preferences underpinning planning policy for the Danforth, examines how the Danforth Urban Guidelines impact housing development, and questions how the Guidelines can be modified to enable more residential development while aligning with the values expressed in the guidelines. The results of the Study demonstrate that the Danforth Guidelines do limit residential development potential and that these Guidelines could be updated to enable more market-rate and affordable housing development while still aligning with some of the values set out in the Guidelines. The City has a responsibility to better utilize the significant social and physical infrastructure available on the Danforth to enable broader city-building objectives, and to reverse the trend of a declining population on the Danforth.