the heart of york region, ontario canada
a.k.a. no man's land between hwy's 7 and 407 at yonge street
Despite being York Region’s primary east-west corridor, Highway 7 is anything but the backbone of the region. It is over engineered as a throughway yet undersigned as a place in itself. Fragmented yet vibrant ethnic communities tied over vast distances exist along its route, but the pockets of activity are isolated. If York Region is to enjoy the benefi ts of connecting across ethnic and economic lines, Highway 7 must be transformed from a bypass to a destination in its own right.
Ontario’s recent Places to Grow Act mandates three new urban centres along a 20km stretch of Highway 7. In one of the urban nodes, densities are targeted at as much as 13 times greater than current levels.* This immediate influx of people represent an unprecedented opportunity to rethink the Highway 7 corridor, and it raises several questions: Can its transportation function be improved while layering additional uses, like linear parkland, for a programmatically richer and more attractive corridor? Can the banal highway become an urban armature that boasts civic amenities needed for culturally sustainable region? In short, how can we leverage new development to realize a Highway 7 as the central spine that links York Region’s fragmented activities into something more than a sum of its parts?
* Ministry of Energy and Infrastructure. Places to Grow. Langstaff Gateway Study Area. 2008
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