Research Agenda

About The Project

Canadian population growth is concentrated in the suburban areas of large cities that are often poorly equipped to serve their rapidly increasing and diversifying populations. A low density and car-oriented environment in which residential and nonresidential land uses are strictly separated and infrastructure is limited accentuates accessibility problems for many newcomers, seniors, and the poor. This study investigates the availability of essential infrastructure, human services, to rapidly increasing vulnerable populations in Canadian suburbs by completing a case study of York Region. Situated north of Toronto, York Region is an archetypal suburban area where the population increased from 169,000 in 1971 to 867,000 today and is estimated to grow to 1,280,000 by 2026. Immigration propels this growth and seniors and low-income households are growing proportions of the population.

The research addresses the infrastructure needs that have arisen during the region’s rapid transition from a low-density, ethnically and socially homogeneous suburban region to a diverse, rapidly intensifying suburb...

Download the About the Project document.