Research report · Scorgie Planning Press

The Mixed-Use Laneways Study

Local work. Small spaces. New possibilities.

Scorgie Planning and collaborators

An examination of where modest commercial, employment and community-serving activity could be appropriate within Toronto’s laneway network.

Toronto’s laneways support parking, deliveries, utilities, waste collection and access to homes. This study asks where some of those spaces could also support carefully managed forms of local work and community activity.

Prepared with an interdisciplinary team, the study considers the limits and opportunities of different laneway conditions, the relationship to existing neighbourhood retail permissions, and the policy, design and operational questions that future changes would need to address.