Growing Together

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This project is now complete. On March 19, 2024 Kitchener City Council unanimously approved the Growing Together plan, a policy framework that builds on Kitchener’s role as a national leader in addressing the housing crisis. For more information, visit kitchener.ca.


Kitchener is growing, and a lot of that growth is around the ION LRT system.

Intensification around transit is a core fundamental principle of Ontario’s planning framework. It has been since the introduction of the Places to Grow and Greenbelt Acts in 2005. These areas have been identified as Major Transit Station Areas (MTSAs) by the Region of Waterloo. MTSAs have unique policies at both the provincial and regional level. Growing Together will carry out those policies by updating the City’s Official Plan and Zoning by-law.

Growing Together will create a planning framework for Kitchener’s MTSAs. This will enable and encourage responsible growth for many years to come.

Stay informed

If you would like to get email updates about this project, add your email to the Stay Informed section and click ‘Subscribe’.

An Award Winning Process

Growing Together has won four awards to date:

  • A Smart50 Award, an international award honouring the 50 most transformative smart projects of the year. Additionally, at the Smart Cities Connect conference in Denver in May 2023, Growing Together was announced as one of the top-3 projects overall.
  • A 2023 Excellence in Municipal Systems award by the Municipal Information Systems Association of Ontario.
  • Honorable mention at the 2023 International Association for Public Participation (IAP2) Canada Core Values Awards
  • A finalist for the World Smart City Awards in the Infrastructure and Building project award category. Smart City Expo World Congress is the world’s biggest and most influential event on urban innovation.


Kitchener is growing, and a lot of that growth is around the ION LRT system.

Intensification around transit is a core fundamental principle of Ontario’s planning framework. It has been since the introduction of the Places to Grow and Greenbelt Acts in 2005. These areas have been identified as Major Transit Station Areas (MTSAs) by the Region of Waterloo. MTSAs have unique policies at both the provincial and regional level. Growing Together will carry out those policies by updating the City’s Official Plan and Zoning by-law.

Growing Together will create a planning framework for Kitchener’s MTSAs. This will enable and encourage responsible growth for many years to come.

Stay informed

If you would like to get email updates about this project, add your email to the Stay Informed section and click ‘Subscribe’.

An Award Winning Process

Growing Together has won four awards to date:

  • A Smart50 Award, an international award honouring the 50 most transformative smart projects of the year. Additionally, at the Smart Cities Connect conference in Denver in May 2023, Growing Together was announced as one of the top-3 projects overall.
  • A 2023 Excellence in Municipal Systems award by the Municipal Information Systems Association of Ontario.
  • Honorable mention at the 2023 International Association for Public Participation (IAP2) Canada Core Values Awards
  • A finalist for the World Smart City Awards in the Infrastructure and Building project award category. Smart City Expo World Congress is the world’s biggest and most influential event on urban innovation.


Final Draft Framework

Our final proposed planning framework is now ready. We are pleased to present those materials here:

We also have available:

What do you think?

Please leave your comments on the draft materials here by Nov. 30, 2023.

All posts and content must meet our Moderation Policy. 

This project is now complete. On March 19, 2024 Kitchener City Council unanimously approved the Growing Together plan, a policy framework that builds on Kitchener’s role as a national leader in addressing the housing crisis. For more information, visit kitchener.ca.


CLOSED: This discussion has concluded.

I'm confused about why the Civic Centre properties (KPL, regional offices, Centre in the Square, WRPS offices, Kitchener city hall, courthouses, etc) are all marked as being open to high-rise construction. To me, that reads as if the city/region would potentially sell off the land to developers. As someone who lives close by (Central Frederick), I really would hate to see Kitchener lose the civic block bounded by Frederick/Ellen/Queen/Weber. I like that the entire block are public buildings, because that also gives the city/region space to develop things in interesting ways - for example, expanding the Civic Centre Park or tearing down the older WRPS building with the intention of building a new public resource, like a museum or a new Downtown Community Centre to replace the existing one. It also make it feel as if some of those buildings are not 'permanent,' like the Regional offices could get up and move at any time.

skf 6 months ago
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