Residential Ecological Zoning Podcast

This project is a podcast intended to give a firsthand account of a proposed pilot project for “Residential Eco Zoning” in the City of Toronto.

The fictionalized podcast is called “In the Zone,” and features three characters: the host, Myna Variance; a city councillor, Harry Tage, and; a local resident, Hyde Ensity. Residential-Eco Zoning seeks to address the housing and climate crises simultaneously through the use of a novel zoning categorization that allows for unrelated individuals to co-own property and use it in ways that contribute to greater ecological sustainability. The purpose of the zoning is to incorporate the five critical infrastructures on suburban residential properties: water, food, energy, waste, and nature. We identify semi- or detached residential homes in suburban neighbourhoods of Toronto as having a high potential for increased sustainability and greater communal living with shared spaces. The podcast outlines some key features of this theoretical zoning ordinance and how a local resident may experience the project.