Complete Streets by Design

Client Toronto Centre for Active Transportation
Location Toronto | Ontario | Canada

O2 was the design lead at the Toronto Centre for Active Transportation for the study 'Complete Streets by Design: Toronto, Streets Redesigned for All Ages and Abilities'.  Released in 2012 with funding from the Toronto Community Foundation, the study is an innovative tool designed to build public and professional support for Complete Streets. Applying established Complete Streets principles to six Toronto streets in both urban and suburban contexts, it moves the concept of safe and comfortable streets for all road users from an abstract goal to imaginable reality.  

The resource was designed to complement the Toronto Public Health “Healthy Canada by Design” reports released at the same time that demonstrate the critical link between neighbourhood design and public health.  A consultation tool called The Complete Streets Game was developed to help diverse groups discover different possibilities. The game is a fun, interactive exercise that helps participants design and understand the size and scale of different modes of transportation.

Using a kit-of-parts that represent different components of streets (bike lanes, sidewalks, bus lanes, trees, street furniture, etc.), participants designed solutions for converting incomplete streets to complete streets in a group. The vision was created from a series of workshops that involved a range of stakeholders from pedestrian, cyclist, transit, retail, sustainability and universal accessibility groups.  The goal was to create street typologies that were complete in all ways, social, economic, cultural, sustainable, accessible and beautiful and expand the typical definition of Complete Streets beyond simple modal sharing.