From Langstaff Gateway:

The Langstaff Gateway site has been identified by local, regional, and provincial planning authorities as an important Transit-Oriented Development (TOD) opportunity. Indeed, this urban infill project will have ramifications far beyond the Greater Toronto Area. This TOD will demonstrate, to all of North America and beyond, that dramatic gains in sustainability can be achieved by combining higher residential densities with integrated transit infrastructure in a mixed-use state-of-the-art ecologically designed community. It is important to understand that residential density is the critical ingredient for true quantum leaps forward in sustainability. It is only at these larger increments of development that sustainability systems like cogeneration, anaerobic digesters and personal rapid transit (PRT) systems become viable and effective. And only with a significant concentrated residential population can shops, offices, and civic services (such as schools) that make a community balanced and livable can be supported.

Langstaff is designed specifically to be such a balanced and livable community. A linked network of parks and open space runs the length of the site and functions as the backbone of the new neighborhood. Small, walkable urban development blocks face on to the linear park system and their buildings frame this iconic public space. Buildings that face the central park have the highest residential densities and are mixed–use, with ground floor retail, office, and civic uses to animate the most public areas of the neighborhood. Buildings that sit further back away from the linear park are more residential in character and have lower densities. Most of the streets in the Langstaff Gateway project are designed to be pedestrian-and bike oriented while still accommodating the needs of cars. The streets that define the edges of the linear park at the center of the project, however, are reserved exclusively for transit, bike, and pedestrian traffic. Frequent curb bulb-outs, bike lanes, street tree planters and mandated setbacks all work to insure that the neighborhood streetscapes are attractive and encouraging of public activity.

The Langstaff site enjoys an unprecedented level of planned and existing transit service, a level unique perhaps to non-downtown North American urban areas. This local and regional connectivity will provide future residents of the Gateway with access to all the services, amenities and attractions of the Greater Toronto Area. The various transit services all converge on the Transit Hub, a multi-modal transportation facility that will span the highway to connect more directly with development in both Markham and Richmond Hill.