The Official Plan must be read in its entirety. Click the “Expand All +” button to read the full contents of this chapter.
Unshaded text and sidebars (small text) within chapter one is provided to give context and background and assist in understanding the intent of policies but are not policies.
This Official Plan presents an important opportunity to repair our relationship with Indigenous Peoples and move toward a future where Indigenous worldviews, cultures and ways of life hold a respected, celebrated, prominent and distinctive place in Toronto. City planning is one of many avenues for advancing reconciliation and, as we look to the future, it is imperative that we decolonize our policies, processes and practices for shaping our city.
“Toronto” originates from the Mohawk word “Tkaronto,” meaning “the place in the water where the trees are standing.”
It is said to refer to the wooden stakes that were used by the Haudenosaunee and Huron-Wendat as fishing weirs in the narrows of local river systems.
The City of Toronto commits to listen and learn from Indigenous Torontonians as we plan for the growth and development of our city with and for Indigenous Peoples, in consideration of the Indigenous principles of “nothing about us without us” and “for Indigenous by Indigenous”.
The City acknowledges it is located on the traditional territories of many nations, including the Mississaugas of the Credit, the Anishnabeg, the Chippewa, the Haudenosaunee, and the Wendat peoples and is now home to many diverse First Nations, Inuit, and Métis peoples. These territories are currently covered by Treaty 13 with the Mississaugas of the Credit and the Williams Treaties signed with multiple Mississaugas and Chippewa bands.
Toronto is an attractive city. Over the last thirty years and leading up to the City’s amalgamation, Toronto’s population has grown by almost 670,000 people, with many drawn by economic opportunity and a high quality of life. Toronto will continue to grow. More than 700,000 new residents and almost half a million new jobs are expected by 2051.
This anticipated growth presents opportunities and challenges that require careful planning. As Toronto grows, it is important to ensure that all residents continue to have access to essential services and amenities, and that the impacts and benefits of growth are equitably distributed. At the same time, this growth presents an opportunity to hear from new, diverse perspectives and shape the city we aspire to be. When planned strategically, growth and investment can benefit both existing and future residents while ensuring that our city continues to be an attractive place to live and work.
The Official Plan is our roadmap to guide how we grow and is about the choices that shape our city into one that is more inclusive and adapted to climate change; a city that provides more opportunity for more people in more places; and a city that strengthens the connections between growth and transit, our green spaces and our health, climate change and how we build our communities.
The Plan paints a picture of a city that welcomes a growing population by enabling vibrant, walkable, transit-oriented neighbourhoods that make the best use of space and continue to draw talent and diversity from around the world.
The Plan presents a vision of a city that can meet the needs of every resident, from seniors who look to age in place to children who will become the next generation of decision-makers. Through this effort, it seeks to address some of the city’s key priorities: pursuing reconciliation, adapting to climate change, sustaining housing affordability, and resolving inequities throughout the city. Our pursuit of this vision will ensure Toronto remains an attractive city in which to live, work, invest, and thrive. Corporate Strategic Plan and the Official Plan
Toronto’s Corporate Strategic Plan is one part of the City’s strategic planning framework, which integrates City Council’s vision, the Official Plan, the City’s service-focused strategies, service plans, initiatives, emerging priorities, and multi-year budgeting.
The Planning Act requires that Official Plans contain “goals, objectives and policies established primarily to manage and direct physical change and the effects on the social, economic and natural environment”.
This Plan is our Plan. It reflects the collective input of thousands of Torontonians who contributed their perspectives about how our city is growing and their ideas about how it should continue to evolve.
This first chapter sets out our north star, establishing the city’s shared priorities, vision and principles of reconciliation, access, equity, and inclusion. Chapter One will guide the policies and development that shape the future of Toronto – from where growth is distributed to how public spaces are designed – as it evolves into a city with:
Provincial Policy and Legislation
Planning Act, Provincial Planning Statement, Greenbelt Plan
City-wide vision
Toronto Official Plan
This document contains goals, objectives and policies established primarily to manage and direct physical change and the effects on the social, economic, built, and natural environment.
City-wide strategies
Reconciliation Action Plan, TransformTO Climate Action Strategy, HousingTO Action Plan, and other strategies
Area priorities
Secondary Plans, Site and Area Specific Policies
Area-specific implementation
Zoning By-law
Site-specific precision
Zoning By-law standards
The need to be prepared for the remarkable growth, investment and change in Toronto cannot be overstated. Setting our priorities helps focus effort and resources, guiding our actions to achieve meaningful progress.
As our city evolves, so must our priorities if we are going to advance reconciliation with Indigenous Peoples and create a city that is accessible, equitable and inclusive. These planning priorities underscore the City of Toronto’s commitment to fostering a city that is inclusive, resilient, and responsive to the needs of all its residents, both now and in the future.
We are coming to terms with the fraught history of colonialism, forced assimilation, theft of lands and knowledge, residential schools and other harms toward Indigenous Peoples.
In pursuit of truth, justice, and reconciliation, this plan seeks to help the City and the public better understand the realities of Indigenous Peoples, including urban Indigenous communities, in order to be more responsive to their needs.Reconciliation Action Plan
Toronto’s first Reconciliation Action Plan is a guide to the City’s efforts to advance truth, justice and reconciliation. The Reconciliation Action Plan contains 28 meaningful actions across five themes:
Read Toronto’s Reconciliation Action Plan.
Climate change is the biggest challenge facing our planet and is leading to hotter, wetter and more extreme weather. City Council declared a climate emergency in 2019 and adopted The Net Zero Strategy in 2021 to achieve net zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2040. The City of Toronto recognizes the importance of acknowledging the connection between housing, transportation, and addressing climate change.
The City of Toronto is committed to using planning as a tool to achieve net zero emissions throughout our city, applying a climate change lens to all aspects of planning, and becoming resilient and adaptable to the future impacts of a changing climate. This Plan integrates Indigenous, environmental, social, and economic perspectives to meet today’s needs while safeguarding the interests of future generations, resiliently adapting to the changing climate.
Read Toronto’s TransformTO Climate Action Strategy and related initiatives.
Toronto’s growth in population and jobs coupled with larger economic changes has placed immense pressure on housing, making it difficult for residents to find, keep, and afford their homes. Recognizing the critical importance of housing accessibility and affordability, the Official Plan will facilitate a broader range of housing options.
The Official Plan takes a human rights-based approach to housing and seeks to enable a wider range of housing options for all. This means looking beyond the height and look of buildings and toward making the best use of space to enable more housing where it is needed the most. This Plan will seek to distribute opportunities for new housing supply in all neighbourhoods and ensure that they include a mix of housing types and affordability.
Read Toronto’s HousingTO Action Plan and related initiatives.Learn about City Planning policies that increase options across the housing spectrum for Torontonians.
Many Toronto residents face systemic barriers that limit access to education, employment, and essential amenities, particularly those from marginalized communities. Not all areas of the city have the same level of access to the amenities they need. The City of Toronto is committed to dismantling these barriers through proactive measures that promote accessibility, equity, and inclusion.
The City of Toronto recognizes that the city’s success requires building and maintaining complete communities. Key initiatives include integrating land use and excellent public transit service so that everyone has equitable, safe, and convenient access to the amenities they need for a high quality of life.
A complete community has neighbourhoods where all residents can access all of the necessities for living. This includes places in close proximity to where people live, to be able to access jobs, shops and services –all without needing a vehicle.Read Toronto’s Poverty Reduction Strategy and related initiatives.
This Official Plan sets ambitious goals to ensure Toronto is a livable and caring city that meets the needs of every resident. This Plan sets out four bold, actionable goals to guide decisions on growth and development to 2051.
Toronto will have more safe, walkable, mixed income, complete communities that create a sense of place, reduce disparities, and enable all residents to conveniently access the necessities of daily life, including affordable housing, sustainable transportation such as transit and cycling, employment, education, healthcare, nature and local amenities.
Universal accessibility is about creating an accessible city. It is an important consideration in all land use planning matters that ensures all persons – of all ages, sizes and abilities, to the greatest extent possible – can access daily needs safely with independence and spontaneity, without the need for adaptation or specialized design.Read the Toronto Accessibility Design Guidelines.
Toronto will reach net zero and become more resilient to climate change, demonstrated in our land use planning decisions, infrastructure investments, extensive transit and cycling networks, restored biodiversity, and integrated perspectives, including Indigenous views on land protection. Toronto will use its growth wisely, strategically linking growth to transit and other public investments.
Toronto will continue to be a city that recognizes diversity as its strength and welcomes people of all backgrounds through opportunities for a better life, pathways to prosperity, and cultural diversity. An inclusive and caring city is one that prioritizes the well-being and dignity of all its residents, where every person feels supported and empowered to participate in community life, regardless of background or circumstance.
Inclusive planning is an approach that recognizes and accommodates the differences among individuals’ circumstances and backgrounds.
Toronto will work with honesty and integrity to create and repair relationships to support truth, justice, and reconciliation with Indigenous Peoples. Toronto will be a city where Indigenous worldviews, cultures, and ways of life are respected and celebrated.
The Official Plan is built on principles that reflect the values that matter most to Torontonians. These principles serve as the foundation for our decision-making, guiding us forward to address our priorities and pursue our vision as a city.
It is important to create and repair meaningful, ongoing relationships with Indigenous Peoples, including members of the diverse urban Indigenous community of Toronto as we plan for the future of the city. The Official Plan will help the city advance reconciliation by:
Everyone should have access to what they need to flourish in their day-to-day lives. The Official Plan will ensure that land use and development decisions enable everyone – regardless of age, income, ability, race, ethnicity, gender, or any other attribute – to have convenient and safe access to:
Planning for SeniorsDesigning for the needs of our most vulnerable residents ensures that everyone’s needs are met. Through this plan, seniors should be enabled to age in place, independently access services, and maintain an active and engaged lifestyle.Read Toronto’s Seniors Strategy.
As the city grows, it is imperative to take necessary actions to address the inequities that create barriers for Toronto’s most marginalized and vulnerable residents. The Official Plan will ensure that:
Removing Systemic Barriers for Black TorontoniansNot all populations experience inequality in the same way due to bias. Through this plan, communities should be designed to target removal of systemic barriers to improve the lives of Black people and benefit all equity-deserving groups and Torontonians.Read Toronto’s Action Plan to Confront Anti-Black Racism.
An inclusive city is one that is safe, caring, and provides equitable opportunities for all Torontonians and those yet to arrive, including residents of all ages, from children to seniors. The Official Plan will ensure that:
This Plan is about the big picture. It spells out a clear direction for Toronto. It is the roadmap for how we grow, providing the basis for building a city-wide consensus around change. While the details of the Plan’s implementation may vary from time to time, the vision and the principles will remain.
This Plan provides a general guide, but it cannot encompass or imagine every circumstance. Further implementation plans and strategies that address other important components of the city are needed to bring the Plan to life. There are many tools and resources within the City of Toronto to help translate the aspirations the Official Plan into tangible outcomes on the ground. Some areas of the city identified for growth need more detailed guidance than this Plan provides. In those cases, Secondary Plans, area studies, infrastructure reviews, and urban design guidelines will be needed.
There are other important linkages made to City plans and strategies that complement the Plan and help to implement its city-building goals. What is key is that all these plans and strategies inform and support one another and the vision for city-building set out in this Official Plan.
This Plan has eight chapters. Chapter One presents our planning priorities, vision and principles to guide Toronto’s growth and development to 2051. The following is an overview of the following chapters that contain the key methods through which the City of Toronto guides change.
Chapter One sets the overarching priorities, vision, and principles for our city.
Chapter Two sets out the urban structure of the city, the strategy for directing growth, and the policies for managing change.
Chapter Three presents the policies that guide decision making based on the Plan’s priorities, vision and goals for the human, built, economic and natural environments.
Chapter Four identifies the land use designations that apply across the city, to be read together with the land use maps, on how we implement the strategic approach to change.
Chapter Five sets out the approach to implementing this Plan.
Chapter Six provides Secondary Plans.
Chapter Seven provides Site- and Area-Specific Policies.
[pending Ministerial approval] Chapter Eight identifies Protected Major Transit Station Areas and Major Transit Station Areas.
These chapters are followed by Maps, Schedules, and the latest updates to this Plan.
Building a successful city requires all of us. The City of Toronto cannot achieve this vision alone. This Official Plan will evolve to meet the needs and priorities of all Torontonians over time and will continue to be updated as we seek to build a city that advances reconciliation with Indigenous Peoples, and is accessible, equitable and inclusive.
Leadership and stewardship come from everywhere. It involves all individuals and communities actively participating in the decisions and change that affect them. A wide range of leadership is needed to develop proactive solutions and sustain positive outcomes. Implementing this Plan needs the participation of the broader public, private and not-for-profit sectors. The Federal and Provincial Governments also have an important role to play as all levels of government recognize their mutual dependence.
The City of Toronto will support the ability of people from all backgrounds and walks of life to get involved in the Official Plan through learning opportunities, virtual engagement, and continuous improvement in how the City listens to Torontonians.
Over the lifespan of this Plan (to 2051), the City of Toronto will periodically seek public perspectives on its policies – both virtually and in-person. To share your views, all interested individuals and stakeholders are encouraged to reach out to City Planning staff.
The concept that “everything is connected to everything” is essential to successful city-building. While the Plan is organized into various chapters, it is a comprehensive and cohesive whole. The Plan consists of the policies, maps, and schedules as indicated in Chapter Five under Interpretation of the Plan.
The Plan also consists of non-policy textual commentary (unshaded text and sidebars) to make the Plan more accessible, and to make the context and intent of the policies more readily understandable.
The non-policy text is not to be afforded any independent status in interpreting the Plan and is only an explanation of the policies, maps, and schedules. The Plan is an integrated document. For any individual part to be properly understood, the Plan must be read as a whole.