Building suburbs, Toronto-style: land development regimes, institutions, critical junctures and path dependence

What is it about?

This paper describes the creation of the urban planning system in Ontario, Canada, in 1946, and examines how that system shaped subsequent patterns of land development and suburbanization, using the Toronto suburb of Scarborough as a case study. A major finding was that Ontario created a plan-led system, that used many of the same tools as jurisdictions in the United States, but was much more effective in shaping suburban growth.

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Why is it important?

This paper shows that the sequence of steps in planning and development control is important. In the US, the normal approach is zoning first, and development after. In Ontario, detailed plans, targets and negotiations with developers come first, and zoning is applied at the end, after a detailed plan with a range of housing types and community facilities is created. The same tools are used, and the resulting regulatory framework looks similar, but the process is completely different. Suburban residential areas are created that have diverse housing types and much higher overall densities.