b'CITY OF THE FUTUREIts impossible to answer thosesubway-GO station, though city planners reportedly questions with any kind of certainty.dont expect any housing to be built before 2030.(Well, flying cars probably wontGROWTH AND PRESERVATION WILL happen.) But like many urbanNEED TO BE BALANCEDcentres around the world, expertsIncreasing the density of secondary centres is say Torontos future will beconsidered good news for a city thats trying to find solutions for more affordable housing. Torontos master shaped by a confluence of trends,plan says most neighbourhoodsincluding those from climate change to surgingdominated by single-family homeswill mature and urbanization. Here are someevolve, without seeing any radical changes. Those areas, educated guesses about how thosealong with parks and waterways, cover 75 per cent of the city. The downside to that status quo is that it may not developments could play out. leave Toronto with enough land to diversify its housing options with new apartment blocks and multi-family residenceswhich will be needed if the population POPULATION GROWTH WILL CONTINUE growth proceeds as predicted.According to estimates from the provincialWhen it comes to residential planning, We have government, by 2046 the population of the Greaterto act now to ensure affordability, says Nikolas Toronto Area could hit 10 million, a more than 40 perBadminton, a Toronto-based futurist who has worked cent jump from today. About 1 million more people willwith leadership at NASA and the United Nations on likely pack into Toronto proper, a surge that would beemerging issues.unprecedented in its history. As for retail planning, Badminton notes that we need Many of those new arrivals will be from outside ofto take measures to ensure that gentrification and the Canada. Up to 255,000 immigrants could be settlinggrowing reach of corporate retailers dont drain the city in Ontario annually by 2046, according to data fromof the character that makes it special.Statistics Canada and the Ministry of Finance, withWe need to preserve the established culture and many putting down roots in the Greater Toronto Area. bring people in from all walks of life. (If not) we face a Onlookers say the population surge will presentprobability of homogeneous, unfriendly neighbours and provincial and municipal officials with two options:stores that lack the independent energy of the city.allow the Greater Toronto Area to continue to sprawl or invest heavily in infrastructure, like public transit, thatPUBLIC TRANSIT WILL EXPANDsupports denser development. Toronto has only opened two subway lines since 1978: the six-stop Scarborough LRT and the five-stop DENSITY WILL INCREASE Sheppard line. (It has expanded existing lines, including Most of Torontos growth will come in a few alreadyLine 1 into Vaughan.)bustling areas, according to the citys master plan.But in the coming decades, the city could see a bevy of Downtown will continue to be the main area for newnew rail lines. The oft-delayed Eglinton Crosstown LRT, construction. But planners will also nudge developerswhich was expected to open in 2022, will eventually towards areas like Yonge and Eglinton, North Yorkspan 25 kilometres of Midtown Toronto. The Finch Centre, Scarborough City Centre and Islington- West LRT, slated to open this year, will feature 18 stops City Centre West. Officials envision these becomingbetween Keele St. and Humber College.business as well as residential hubs, taking pressure offThen theres a $28.5 billion subway expansion that an increasingly dense downtown. has been called the most ambitious in Torontos history. They will likely be joined by the Port Lands, aSpearheaded by the provincial government, it would see 356-hectare industrial zone east of downtown. One ofthe Bloor-Danforth line push deeper into Scarborough the most valuable underused pieces of real estate inwith long-term plans to connect it to the Sheppard North America, officials have launched a $1.25 billionsubway. The Yonge-University line would be extended construction blitz here that could pave the way for anorth into Richmond Hill. And a new, winding, mixed-use neighbourhood with thousands of homes.15-station line would connect the Ontario Science Crews are building bridges, decontaminating land andCentre to Exhibition Place, running partially along creating a new outlet for the flood-prone Don River,Queen Street. That has been dubbed the Ontario Line.with work scheduled to finish in 2024. The area isBackers say once those projects are completed they also slated to become home to a combined streetcar- will give the city the far-reaching, interconnected 24 BEYONDA Heaps Estrin PublicationBeyond_FEB23_FutureCity_FINAL.indd 24 2023-01-24 5:53 PM'