Home to more than half a million Torontonians, the post-war apartment tower typology contributes a significant number of units to the affordable housing market. Tower Renewal Partnership research has demonstrated that significant investment toward social and physical improvements to Toronto’s apartment towers may be in part leveraged by well-designed infill housing development. Targeted infill development on tower sites is able to support and energize core renewal goals, harnessing cross-investment of development revenues to make significant changes to tower neighbourhoods. The City of Toronto has a vital role in shaping future investment in apartment tower neighbourhoods, establishing the framework through which appropriate infill development is evaluated.

On January 12, 2016, participants attended a half-day workshop to examine the extent and character of infill appropriate to four reference sites within Toronto. Representatives from the City of Toronto participants included: Strategic Initiatives, Policy & Analysis, Urban Design, Tower and Neighbourhood Revitalization Unit, Economic Development and Public Realm. Stakeholder participants included: Toronto Community Housing Corporation, Evergreen, NBLC, DKGI and Centre for Urban Growth + Renewal. The goal of the workshop was to examine the level of infill appropriate to various sites across the City of Toronto and examine how infill can be tied to direct site improvement based on Tower Renewal goals. The exercise was undertaken in the context of the recent updates to the Official Plan.

The key outcome of this workshop was the development of an evaluation method using distinct themes in which to evaluate apartment tower sites for potential infill development.