Does Compatible Mean Same As?: Lessons Learned from the Residential Intensification of Surplus Hydro Lands in Four Older Suburban Neighbourhoods in the City of Toronto (Case Study‪)‬

Abstract We now have increasing opportunity to make inner suburbs more sustainable through intensification initiatives such as infill. This paper investigates NIMBY, the major obstacle that besets intensification in the inner suburbs. It demonstrates that even when the proposed in fill is housing of higher value, incumbent residents put forth opposition. Residents of the suburb studied in this research are found to be fundamentally concerned that things 'stay the same', believing, whole-heartedly, that 'compatible' land use means 'same as'. Lessons learned from experiences of NIMBY reactions to up-market, infill housing are the focus of this paper. The research presented here identifies a series of obstacles that planners and municipal politicians need to confront if they are ever to be able to retrofit aging suburbs.