Welcome to Kitchener 2051!
As Kitchener grows to become a city of up to 450,000 people, we need a new plan. A new Official Plan will guide growth and shape the way that neighbourhoods evolve and change. The new Official Plan needs to be ambitious and clear in our intentions as we plan for the Kitchener of 2051.
Explore different ways to grow!
Imagine it’s 2035. Through the lens of an avatar, explore eight short scenarios and make decisions that best fit the kind of future you’d like to see.
Kitchener 2051 is about the people who call Kitchener home today and in the future
That includes Indigenous people, newcomers, longtime residents, business owners and entrepreneurs. It’s about our community today but also about the people who are not yet here. Like the young people who will grow old in our community, the family looking to move to Kitchener, or the student who will call our community home after graduation. Kitchener 2051 looks at how we move around the city and the places in between. It is about what we will need to do together to grow, adapt, and succeed in a resilient and complete city.
Kitchener 2051 needs to consider a full range of perspectives to ensure that the Official Plan reflects the needs of all. This includes communities often underrepresented in these processes, like equity-denied communities, renters, and people who have experienced homelessness, poverty and housing precarity.
Along the way, we will learn from the community as we shape an Official Plan that reflects who we are, what we value, and the Kitchener we can become.
Timeline
Click the hotspots to learn more
The new Official Plan will be shaped by the people of Kitchener. Let’s work together to make sure that Kitchener in 2051 and beyond is the best it can be. That’s why Kitchener 2051 will offer many ways for you to help shape the future of Kitchener, including:
- in-person
- online
- at various times
- in neighbourhoods across the city
As part of this conversation, we want to raise awareness about the growth and changes happening in all neighbourhoods in Kitchener. Let's talk about the challenges, opportunities, and trade-offs it will bring – and how you can help shape this growth in a positive way.
An Official Plan is a document that shapes the way our city grows and changes and is particularly impactful at the neighbourhood level. Provincial law, specifically the Planning Act, sets out what an Official Plan can do. That includes:
- guiding growth and change mostly related to how land and buildings are used
- guiding decisions on land use, development, transportation, physical and community infrastructure
- translating the City’s vision, established through the Strategic Plan, into future uses of land
- providing direction for implementing tools like the zoning by-law
Kitchener’s Official Plan (2014) is now 10 years old and due for an update. Provincial legislation (i.e., the Planning Act) requires that Official Plans be updated every 10 years or sooner. This is to ensure conformity with provincial plans, policies, and legislation.
Kitchener is growing fast and facing city-building challenges like:
- the housing crisis
- pedestrian and cyclist fatalities and injuries
- inequity
- climate change
- social isolation
- how to pay for aging infrastructure and growing city services
We are also presented with opportunities like:
- a growing desire for urban connection
- new mobility technologies
- a young and highly skilled workforce
- strong neighbourhoods and communities
- a rich and diverse culture
Kitchener 2051 presents an opportunity to tackle these head-on, and ready us for an uncertain future. The new Official Plan should reflect who we are, what we value, and the Kitchener we can become – a thriving city that offers well-being, potential and quality of life, for everyone.
The City’s Official Plan must align with the Regional Official Plan (ROP). An update to the Regional Official Plan (ROPA 6) was approved in May 2024 following lots of technical review and community conversations. It plans for 923,000 people in Waterloo Region by 2051 - 409,200 of whom are planned to live in Kitchener. Key ROP policies which Kitchener’s Official Plan needs to align with include:
- revised forecasts for how many residents and jobs there will be in 2051
- targets for the number of residents and jobs planned for new development areas
- beginning to plan for the Ottawa Street Regional Intensification Corridor
- policies that protect industrial and business parks as places for good jobs in the long-term
- planning for a wide range of housing types and stronger permissions for missing middle housing city-wide
- minimum target of 30% of new units which must be affordable to low- and moderate-income households
- continuing to plan for complete and walkable neighbourhoods
Speaker Series + Workshops
Learn more about our events, including a three-part speaker series where subject matter experts and local community members share diverse perspectives on four key themes.
Updates
News and updates about this project will be posted here. To get updates by email, click the 'Follow+' button above.
Phase 3: Framing the plan (Winter/Spring 2025)
Past engagement activities
This survey asked for feedback on the draft community values. It was open from January 6 to 31, 2025.
Community values survey
Phase 2: Public Launch (Fall 2024)
Outcomes
Engagement by the numbers
Between July and December 2024, there were many opportunities to engage in Phases 1 and 2. We reached over 2,000 members of the community.
Community Values
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Timeline item 1 - active
Affordability
We know that affordability and the rising cost of living are major challenges. Housing costs are rising across the entire housing continuum, along with food, energy, and transportation expenses. Many Kitchener households are feeling these pressures and are struggling to cover basic needs, leading some to question if they can afford to stay in the City. Kitchener 2051 is an opportunity to plan a city where everyone, regardless of income, can live, work, and play.
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Timeline item 2 - active
Access and Inclusion
It is important to provide equitable access throughout Kitchener’s neighbourhoods to public spaces, parks, shops, jobs, and community facilities and programs. Kitchener 2051 is an opportunity to ensure safe, low-barrier, and equitable access to these places for all.
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Timeline item 3 - active
Thoughtful & Resilient Growth
Where and how we grow requires thoughtful balancing of current issues, such as the housing crisis, climate emergency, and an aging population, with a focus on the future. Kitchener 2051 should reflect how city building topics, like housing, transportation, climate and aging populations, are all connected - and require a thoughtful and coordinated problem solving approach.
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Timeline item 4 - active
Safe & Sustainable Mobility Options
Where we live, work, and play and the distance in between has significant impacts on how we move around the city. Kitchener 2051 should focus on safe and sustainable wats to get around for pedestrians, cyclists, transit users, and drivers throughout the city and beyond.
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Timeline item 5 - active
Mutual Care & Belonging
Imagine a city where everyone prospers and no one is left behind. Kitchener 2051 should establish a new model of equitable, compassionate, and caring city building where, together, we take care of each other and the world around us.
Tying it all together
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![Safe, affordable, and accessible housing for all was a central theme that emerged. Respondents envisioned a city where all residents, regardless of income, can live comfortably and maintain a sense of community. As one respondent shared, “It would include a variety of housing types in all neighbourhoods so that we have a better chance of facilitating complete communities with people from different socioeconomic backgrounds, not only people that can afford [single family] homes. We would support the most affordable housing options by investing money and using City-owned land to leverage into affordable housing.”](https://hdp-ca-prod-app-wr-engage-files.s3.ca-central-1.amazonaws.com/4617/4308/4231/DSD_PLAN_Kitchener2051_TIAT2.png)
What we heard
This report summarizes what we asked, how we informed, and what we heard from our first phases of engagement.
Past engagement activities
The project team presented to and gathered input from 8 City Advisory Committees.
The Kitchener 2051 Block Party marked the public launch of the Kitchener 2051 process. It was held on the Gaukel Block, between Charles Street and Joseph Street. This drop-in style, open-to everyone event:
- presented information about Kitchener 2051
- introduced the four key themes
- provided interactive opportunities for guests of all ages to share their ideas for the future
The Block Party was organized around the four key themes, with each theme set up in a dedicated area, or ‘station’, on Gaukel Block.
Several online opportunities were also offered in alignment with the in-person activities at the Block Party. These included:
- Kitchener 2051 City-Wide Survey
- Where We Grow Mapping Activity
- Climate Pledge
- Speakers Corner
Survey
Mapping activity
Climate Pledge
Speakers Corner
Phase 1: Groundwork (Summer 2024)
Past engagement opportunities
The project team conducted interviews with key external partners and collaborators to:
- share information about the Kitchener 2051 process
- help foster community relationships
- identify audiences
- explore community concerns
- find potential engagement opportunities and gaps.
External partners and collaborators engaged during this phase included Conestoga Students Inc., KW Habilitation, the Lived Expertise Working Group, Kitchener Youth Engagement Network, Coalition of Muslim Women of Kitchener-Waterloo, and the Kitchener-Waterloo Multicultural Centre.
The project team also conducted interviews with key City staff from across multiple departments to share information about the Kitchener 2051 process, learn about recent City initiatives, processes, and outcomes, and to identify potential audiences, community concerns, dynamics, and engagement gaps.
A dedicated project page was launched on June 26, 2024.
The online ideas board was launched to spark early discussion and help build awareness about Kitchener 2051. Two questions were posed through the tool:
- What brings you joy in your community?
- What are the biggest challenges facing Kitchener?
In total, 288 people visited the ideas tool, 44 ideas were submitted, 198 up-votes were cast, and 33 comments were left.
In July 2024, the City of Kitchener put out a call for applications for the Kitchener 2051 Community Working Group (CWG). The Working Group is a community-led, staff-supported group made up of community volunteers intended to represent a dynamic mix of voices, perspectives, and experiences from across all wards of the City. The call for applications was made via the project website, a press release, a radio interview with the Mayor, City social media channels, chalk art along trails, and posters in community centres and libraries, resulting in the submission of over 140 CWG applications.
In August 2024, a panel of community members and City staff carefully reviewed the applications and selected the final group of 32 CWG representatives. Throughout the Kitchener 2051 process the CWG will meet monthly with City staff and project consultants to deepen their understanding of city-building, planning, and the bounds of influence on process and outcomes.
