Downsview West District Plan

Adaptable reuse and City Nature
Shaped by the area’s layered histories and influenced by its unique characteristics and context, Downsview West will include 8,800 homes – including more than 1,700 affordable homes – in buildings from six to 60 storeys tall. The neighborhood will include 17,000 residents, 3,300+ estimated jobs, and more than 4 hectares of new parks and open green spaces.

The project adaptively reuses the former airbase’s buildings and infrastructures – most importantly by daylighting the iconic 7.5-hectare Depot Building, which will bring new activities and commercial and cultural spaces while continuing to serve as a home to local businesses.

Abandoning the conventional arrangement of blocks and streets, the plan proposes an intricate network of parks, greenways, urban spaces, and semi-public spaces for social gathering, ecological function, active mobility, and rainwater capture to be managed onsite.

A thriving community for all life
In Downsview West, City Nature is woven into every design decision. Parks, open spaces, streets, and buildings are viewed not only in terms of their contribution to a human settlement but also their linkages and dependencies within a thriving ecological community.

Downsview West is designed to integrate with the existing open space network: connecting to natural heritage features in the surrounding community — the woodlot, meadows, and wetlands of the adjacent Downsview Park, and the Arbo woodlot.

The generosity of these features extends into the District: By adding more than 1400 trees (targeting a tree canopy of 25%), Downsview West is interweaved by green open spaces that support stormwater management and recreation; dedicated spaces and eco-corridors where biodiverse habitats can thrive; passages through green courtyards to encourage active mobility; and public parks, and courtyard commons that foster interaction with nature.

Indigenous placekeeping and cultural heritage
In Downsview West, the concept of City Nature integrates urban and natural environments in a cohesive plan by embracing ‘Etuaptmumk’, or Two-Eyed Seeing, the weaving together of both Western and Indigenous ways of knowing.

This approach recognizes the interconnectivity of all beings and aims to rebalance the community by nurturing spaces that support the Spirit, Heart, and Body. Designed together with Indigenous-led Trophic Design, the 800m ‘Aanikoobijiganag Miikana’ (Ancestors’ Trail) weaves the history of Indigenous culture, language, and traditions into the urban fabric – expressing Indigenous placekeeping and honouring the land’s cultural heritage.

Prioritizing walking, cycling, and public transit
Located close to the Downsview Park TTC and GO Station, streets are designed as a network of public spaces with over one kilometer of off-street walking and cycling paths that will carve through the area.

By prioritizing active mobility and proximity to public transport, the plan envisions that this will allow for 75 percent of trips to and from the community to be made by walking, cycling, or transit.