THE ORIGINS OF URBAN LAND USE PLANNING IN ONTARIO, 1900-1946

Prior to the twentieth century, the urban land use planning function of government was very limited. There were few public regulations affecting the general pattern and form of urban land development. Chaotic urban conditions during the period of rapid urbanization and industrialization prior to World War I helped give rise to a town planning movement and to demands that land use planning measures be adopted.;This thesis examines how the urban planning function evolved in Ontario and attempts to explain why it took the particular form and content that it did. Part I focuses on the origins of the planning movement in Canada, from its roots in public health concerns to the activities of Thomas Adams and the Commission of conservation. Part II examines in some detail the politics and social-economic conditions shaping Ontario's early planning activity, specifically the first planning and housing acts adopted in the 1910's, the failure to obtain improved planning and zoning legislation in the 1920's, and the impact of the depression on planning and housing policy. Finally, Part III examines the various planning acts proposed during the mid-1940's and reviews the events leading to the adoption of the 1946 Planning Act.;In response, Ontario adopted its first planning legislation in 1912 enabling the larger municipalities to regulate the subdivision of land. A few years later additional planning, zoning and housing legislation was also adopted. However, in spite of this early legislation and the numerous demands for better planning regulations, land use planning did not become a permanent function of government until the 1946 Planning Act laid the foundations for the current system of urban land use planning controls.