Incremental planning and land-use conflict in the Toronto region's Oak Ridges Moraine

Abstract

The Greater Toronto Area is the largest urban concentration in Canada and one of the most significant built regions in North America. Toronto's growth legacy has created a legacy of sprawl development. Growth has not occurred without controversy. On the Oak Ridges Moraine, an environmentally sensitive landform located along Toronto's northern suburban edge, development has been the catalyst for activism and policy changes that led to a fundamental rethinking of Ontario's planning regime. Changes to Ontario's planning approach have resulted in land-use conservation legislation to manage development activity on the Moraine. This paper considers the role of incremental policies in creating a conflict setting which ultimately led to ecologically based planning legislation. We conclude that several factors helped advance conservation planning – media attention, a history of incremental planning, the emergence of a well-organised conservation movement and the serendipitous convergence of key leadership personalities.