Design: Design Guidelines

The Infill Challenge Best Practices Summary from the City of Kelowna provides an analysis of leading edge policies, processes and projects in infill housing, and gives us the opportunity to learn from them.

Key insights:

The Best Practices Guide is intended to provide leading edge examples of infill housing from across Canada in the areas of process, development, and policy and regulations. The key lessons from each of these areas can be used to inform the Infill Challenge project as it unfolds in Kelowna.

Samples include:

Process:

• Engage stakeholders early
• Follow an objective, transparent process
• Use data and research to clarify needs and objectives

Development:

• Encourage the use of place-based design
• Ensure that lane access and a grid network are in place
• Require that front doors face the street, where possible

Policy & Development:

• Use clear language (no jargon)
• Support the process with strong visuals
• Consider context-based zoning regulations and guidelines

Emphasizing factors like layout, landscaping, private open space, light, natural ventilation, and privacy, the guide is a vital resource for enhancing design and ensuring consistency across diverse housing projects.

The comprehensive Low-Rise Housing Diversity Design Guide for complying development was crafted in collaboration with the New South Wales Government, councils, industry stakeholders, and the community, and offers a standardized approach to designing and delivering high-quality dual occupancies, manor houses, and terraces.

Explore the guide and be inspired on how to elevate the quality and cohesion of low-rise housing developments.

Older central Montreal neighborhoods, developed in the early 20th century, are among Canada’s densest urban areas. This is achieved through the iconic Montreal “plex” design, stacking two or three apartments on narrow lots without sacrificing livability or relying on high-rise buildings.

Key insights:

The older neighbourhoods in central Montreal – developed in the first half of the 20th century – comprise some of the densest urban areas in Canada, something that is achieved without sacrificing livability or frequent recourse to high-rise buildings.

As this Small Housing Case Study outlines, the key to this puzzling success is the iconic Montreal “plex”, i.e., the stacking of two (“duplex”) or three (“triplex”) apartments on narrow (20-25 feet) lots with each apartment having its own front and back door and civic address.

This convivial solution that nicely combines density, livability, affordability, and conservation, iconic to Montreal, flourished in the first half of the 20th century but then fell victim to changing building regulations in the post-war period. A demand for this traditional housing solution eventually led to a relaxation of building regulations and return of the plex as an acceptable housing solution.

The City of South Bend, Indiana has created a set of pre-approved plans for small to medium density building types (carriage house – sixplex apartment) to help foster infill development and to offer a vehicle for local residents to earn income.

Key insights:

• A pre-approved plans catalog
• Building plan and building permit applications
• Iinfill process and property inspection checklist for prospective developers.
• Detailed steps including obtaining a property survey, preparing a site plan, requesting design deviations, procuring technical contractors, and preparing a cost estimate for a prospective development project.
• The pre-approved catalog provides context on the initiative, the infill process checklist, and 9 sample designs for developers.

This collaborative report from Happy Cities/ Hey Neighbour Collective summarizes discussions from municipal staff (planners & policymakers), developers, community organizations, and researcher perspectives on how to facilitate social connection in multi-unit housing.

Multi-unit residential buildings can help densify and increase housing supply in growing, land-constrained cities. If designed appropriately, multi-unit residences can also provide occupants the opportunity to lead more socially connected lives.

Key insights:

As the report outlines, elements for social connectedness were identified through group discussions, and included:

• Tenure alternatives
• Feeling safe
• Having exposure to other tenants.

Supportive policies (e.g., exploring alternative ownership models) and design features (e.g., creating clusters of smaller amenity spaces) were articulated to help advance these outcomes.

Along with key challenges, a roadmap is articulated to help collective evidence and increase awareness of the importance of social connection, and pilot the proposed concepts in new housing projects.

A growth management strategy that relies on extensive urban infill requires major changes from past industry and regulatory practice. For the strategy to succeed, builders and local governments must change the way they operate and work more closely together to further each others’ goals.

Key insights:

This report from the Housing Partnership discusses ten essentials for advancing gentle density infill development, including:

• Building political will
• Making infill attractive and profitable to developers
• Planning development based on market demand
• Ensuring new housing preserves existing neighbourhood character
• Promoting livable designs
• Providing a supportive regulatory process.

For each essential, a section is provided to discuss the topic’s importance, highlight the changes that must be made, and denote the roles that developers, local organizations, municipalities, and provincial governments must uptake to successfully deliver each initiative.

An emphasis is placed on municipalities working closely with developers to ensure that regulatory environments work to support development and vice versa.

This publication was prepared by The Housing Partnership, through a contribution from
the Washington Association of Realtors.

This paper recounts early-stage research conducted by the City of Vancouver on a variety of small-scale housing types.

Key insights:

The report outlines how a variety housing types, be they sixplexes, cottages, rowhouses, small lot infill or others, can work to advance the goals of creating ground-oriented, affordable, neighbourhood scale development.

An information sheet is provided for each housing form with a mock-up to display how new development can take shape on single or two-three lot consolidations in existing residential neighbourhoods.

Other areas explored include:

• Technical feasibility
• Marketability
• Ownership options

Report prepared by Patricia St.Michel – City Plans, Planning Department, Community Services Group, City of Vancouver