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The 21st century has brought a paradigm shift to many lifestyles in Toronto, with cultural and economic changes driving rapid urbanization throughout the city. With greater density, transit use, and desirability of downtown living, the social fabric of today's Toronto bears increasingly little resemblance to the automobile dominated city of the mid-to-late 20th century.
Amidst these changes, however, much of the city's street-level infrastructure has remained car-oriented, with wide roads and narrow sidewalks—in some cases, no sidewalks at all—high speed limits, and little in the way of street furniture or amenities. In response to this type of largely outdated urban planning (which is in no way unique to Toronto), 'Complete Streets' initiatives strive to create more livable and pedestrian-friendly environments, aiming to make city streets effective spaces for a wide range of uses.
With various iterations of Complete Streets initiatives gaining popularity in Canada (with Calgary, Edmonton, and Ottawa, already adopting new planning policies) and throughout the world, the City of Toronto is now seeking public input on the implementation of similar guidelines here.
While there is no strict, official definition of what a Complete Streets approach to urban planning entails, such initiatives typically include wider sidewalks, bike lanes, and street furniture, together with attempts to reduce traffic noise and foster cafe culture.
In Toronto, City Council first directed municipal staff to begin developing a set of policy guidelines in 2014, which will now serve as a baseline for a series of public consultations and (subsequent) revisions, eventually forming a blueprint of the final policy. The goal of the Toronto initiative is to develop streets that are fully accessible and safe for all users, and a series of public consultations has been scheduled to help determine which guidelines would most effectively meet these aims.
Public meetings will be held between June 18th and 20th, while visual information panels will be on display at four locations between June 22nd and July 17th. More information about these events can be found on the city's official website here.
