Switching Lanes: The potential of laneway housing in reducing greenhouse gas emissions in Toronto, Canada

Sammanfattning: Conflicting dynamics are taking place in urban areas. Global climate change has necessitated that cities drastically reduce their greenhouse gas emissions while still accommodating rising urban populations. Innovative solutions are needed to remedy this complex problem. This thesis assesses the use of laneway housing as a tool for alleviating these issues. Four main research questions are posed that aim to address the prevalence of the use of laneway housing by cities as a resource for sustainable development and the potential it can have over time in reducing urban emissions in the building and transportation sectors in Toronto, Canada. A variety of quantitative methods are utilized to answer these questions, including text analysis of Canadian municipal documents, geospatial analysis of the potential spaces for this housing development, and projections of the potential emission reductions across multiple constructed scenarios when compared to 1990 levels. It was found that the linkage between laneway housing and sustainable development is underdeveloped in municipal documents. The geospatial analysis concluded that over 36,000 properties are eligible to build laneway housing, and an additional 11,875 could become eligible with future changes to municipal by-laws. It can also be concluded that the stock of potential laneway houses can satisfy future low-rise residential building levels while also reducing transportation and building emissions from this subsector of housing. The findings of this thesis support the increasing interest in laneway housing development in Toronto. Laneway housing has promising potential in helping to accommodate steadily rising urban populations while lowering the impact these new residents will have on greenhouse gas emissions in the building and transportation sectors. Further research is needed to see how these findings can aid similar types of development in other cities.