Moving forward on the 'missing middle'

How do public-sector actors work with local stakeholders on pressing matters of ‘opening up’ single-detached neighbourhoods for a greater diversity of affordable, adaptable housing options ? This comparative subproject will extend work that has been underway (supported by the BSH node) in Montréal and Toronto to incorporate the Vancouver and Ottawa-Gatineau metropolitan areas. We are bringing a new collaboration with the Ottawa Climate Action Fund to the BSH partnership, focusing on both generating empirical knowledge and mobilising what we are learning through the BSH project on why innovative land practices matter. This will involve both engaging residents on their attitudes towards infill and development within mature neighbourhoods (as now being done for Montréal and Toronto) and workshops involving public-sector actors, since the City of Ottawa is now implementing its new Official Plan with important densification targets. Through this new Ottawa-focused collaboration, we will amplify, deepens, and disseminate what has already been accomplished by the McGill-based team working with civil-society and industry partners in Montréal and Toronto on developing rich-picture knowledge of public attitudes towards ‘soft densification’. Part of the budget requested here will also enable the team to fully integrate Vancouver cases to allow for comparison of popular responses to different scenarios for adding denser and/or more affordable housing options into existing neighbourhoods.