Welcome to Laneway coLabs, a new community-powered initiative to turn underused laneways into vibrant, welcoming spaces in Toronto. If you and your neighbours want to bring life to your laneway, this is your chance! Through an open application process, we’ll partner with residents to co-design and create a revitalized laneway in the summer of 2025—by the community, for the community. Come, and collaborate with us!

Goals and Objectives of the Program:

  • Bring neighbours together to collaborate on revitalizing their laneway.

  • Enhance an underused laneway through art, greening, accessibility, and inclusive design.

  • Improve neighbourhood stewardship of the laneway.

  • Gather data on the impact of community-led laneway revitalization.

  • Ensure long-term engagement by fostering resident ownership of the revitalized space.

Details:

From May to July 2025, The Laneway Project will facilitate a co-design process where the community will collaborate in the final design through a series of workshops. Possible interventions include murals and public art, gardens and greenery, climate adaptations (such as rain gardens and rain barrels), furniture, and lighting. Once the co-design process is complete, community members, The Laneway Project, and volunteers will collaborate to implement the design. The project will conclude in September 2025 with a community celebration, and the community will be encouraged to take on long-term stewardship of the space to ensure its ongoing care and activation.

Throughout the process, the Laneway Project will collect data to measure the revitalization efforts' social, environmental, and economic impacts. Post-project discussions will help document lessons learned, resident experiences, and suggestions for future projects.

Key Dates

  • March 18, 2025: Application opens

  • April 20, 2025 (at 11:59 pm): Application deadline

  • May 3, 2025: Notifications (all applicants will receive responses)

  • May - July 2025: Co-design process (specific dates TBD)

  • July - August 2025: Implementation (murals, gardens, etc.)

  • September 2025: Laneway celebration

  • Ongoing: Community stewardship of the space (The Laneway Project will continue to offer support, but not financial assistance).

  • Ongoing: The Laneway Project will work with residents to evaluate the project's impact through surveys and data collection.

  • November 2025: A final report will showcase the project's impact. 


Co-design 10-week timeline

The Co-design process will run from May 4 - July 12, with specific dates for workshops and other activities being scheduled once communities have been selected. All communities will move through a series of phases:

Phase 1—Welcome and onboarding. The objective is to get to know each other, the program, and how we’ll work together. 

Phase 2—Ideation. The objective is a clear agreement on the community's needs and the types of interventions it is interested in.

Phase 3 - Design development. The objective is to have a draft design

Phase 4 - Refinement and finalization. The objective is to finalize the design.

Phase 5—Preparation for implementation. The objective is an implementation plan outlining how, when, and where we will implement the final design.

The Laneway Project’s Role

  • Fully fund the project, this includes staffing, all agreed-upon design elements, materials, permitting, and final celebration costs. Funds will not be directly distributed to communities. We will share the project amount once we have selected the communities. Each community will receive the same level of funding.

  • Provide a comprehensive, structured, step-by-step process to guide communities from ideation to a revitalized laneway. This process will also include decision-making frameworks, conflict resolution, troubleshooting, and risk management (this includes physical risks, regulatory risks, financial risks, and environmental risks—in other words, The Laneway Project will use its expertise to ensure that all decisions made by the community have undergone a risk assessment).

  • Provide a roster of artists, urban planners, facilitators, and experts.

  • Manage permitting and city-related processes.

  • Support the community in developing a long-term maintenance and stewardship plan.

  • Work with residents to gather insights on community engagement, safety, use of space, and environmental benefits.

  • Share project findings with residents and stakeholders to highlight successes and inform future improvements.


The Community’s Role

Neighbourhood Leads (3 - 5 people)

Neighbourhood Leads are individual residents who serve as the project's primary organizers and community representatives. They act as the main point of contact between The Laneway Project and residents, ensuring clear communication and broad participation. Their leadership is essential in building momentum, fostering engagement, and guiding the laneway transformation process.

Time Commitment:

Approximately 10-15 hours per month from May to September 2025, with time spent engaging neighbours, attending workshops, and assisting with implementation. 

Key Responsibilities:

  • Community Engagement: Generate excitement and encourage neighbours to participate.

  • Liaison Role: Maintain open communication between The Laneway Project and the community.

  • Workshop Participation: Attend and actively contribute to co-design sessions. We require at least one Neighbourhood Lead at each workshop, but we encourage as many to come as possible (workshops will likely occur in the evenings and weekends).

  • Project Implementation: Assist in coordinating community efforts to execute the final design 

  • Event Support: Help organize and facilitate the final celebration.

  • Data Collection: Distribute and encourage residents to complete surveys and evaluation tools (data collection will occur roughly 3 times throughout the process).

  • Long-Term Stewardship: Support ongoing community engagement and maintenance of the revitalized laneway.

Ideal Profile for a Neighbourhood Lead:

  • Well-connected within the community and respected by neighbours.

  • Passionate about public space, placemaking, and improving the neighbourhood.

  • Organized and proactive, capable of managing responsibilities and deadlines.

  • Comfortable speaking with neighbours and rallying community support.

  • Willing to commit time to the project's success during implementation and beyond.

  • More than half of NLs MUST live on or adjacent to the laneway.

Note: As part of our onboarding, we will work with Neighborhood Leads to create a system that distributes responsibilities fairly, ensuring no single lead is overburdened. NLs are not expected to handle everything alone—responsibilities can be shared based on individual strengths and interests. For example, one NL may focus entirely on the co-design process while another takes the lead on implementation.

Residents (Unlimited Participants)

Residents and stakeholders play a vital role in shaping the laneway revitalization project. Their participation ensures the design reflects the community's needs, interests, and identity. Their involvement may vary based on their availability and preferred level of engagement.

Time Commitment:

Flexible—residents can contribute based on their interests, availability, and capacity. A structured sign-up system will be developed during the co-design process to help define roles more clearly.

Ways to Get Involved:

  • Attend Workshops: Share ideas, provide feedback, and contribute to the co-design process.

  • Project Implementation: Help bring the vision to life through planting, painting, or assembling furniture.

  • Survey Participation: Complete short surveys to assess the project’s impact on the neighbourhood. There will be approximately 3 - 4 evaluation assessments throughout the project. In some cases, we may ask participants to fill out a survey one year after the project to understand long-term impacts. Surveys will be short and easy to fill out.

  • Storytelling & Documentation: Engage in initiatives to capture the transformation through photos, written reflections, or video storytelling.

  • Ongoing Maintenance: Support efforts to sustain the improvements made, such as watering plants, monitoring murals, and keeping the laneway clean.

A strong resident participant is:

  • Excited to be involved in shaping their community space.

  • Willing to contribute in a way that fits their skills, availability, and interests.

  • Open-minded and collaborative, ready to work with neighbours to create a shared vision.

  • Committed to ongoing care of the laneway through small tasks like clean-ups or long-term stewardship efforts.

  • Creative or hands-on (optional), interested in contributing to murals, gardening, or construction elements.

  • Community-oriented, with an interest in meeting new people and strengthening local connections.

  • Residents do not have to live on or adjacent to the laneway but should regularly interact with it. 

Other Stakeholders:

Other possible stakeholders are BIAs, Neighbourhood Associations and/or Residents Associations, businesses, non-profit organizations, schools, churches, etc., on, adjacent or close to a laneway. While we encourage broad participation across residents and different stakeholder groups, there must be strong resident leadership. An application from a stakeholder that does not have Neighbourhood Leads and strong resident endorsement will not be considered. 

Note: Participation is open to everyone, with no age restrictions or accessibility requirements. Community members of all ages, skills, and capacities are welcome. Our program is designed to be flexible and responsive to community needs. During the Welcome and Onboarding Phase, residents can share any accommodation needs. For example, if many children in the community want to participate, we will incorporate age-appropriate activities to ensure their interests are included in the design process.

Application Process & Selection Criteria

  • Eligibility requirements

    • Residents, businesses, and stakeholders living on or adjacent to a residential or multi-use public laneway.

    • Applications must be submitted by a group of at least three Neighbourhood Leads, and have letters of support from the broader resident and/or business community.

    • Other stakeholders, such as BIAs, Neighbourhood Associations, non-profits, schools, etc., can apply but must collaborate with residents.

    • Equity-deserving and equity-denied groups/neighbourhoods will be prioritized.

    • Passion, commitment, and time. No design or urban planning experience is required.

    • Commitment to ongoing laneway maintenance, including regular litter pick-ups, garden upkeep, and minor repairs to installed elements. 

    • Communities must agree to participate in surveys and data collection efforts to measure the project's impact.

  • Eligibility restrictions

    • Applications from individuals or from a group that doesn’t have support from the broader community.

    • Multiple applications from the same group, even if submitted by different people.

    • Applications from residents where none of the NLs live on or adjacent to a laneway.

    • Laneways that have large cracks, potholes, or structural damage that would interfere with pedestrian access or installations are not eligible. Please refer to the FAQ for more information.


Evaluation Criteria

Site Conditions (40%)

  • Pavement must be in reasonable condition with minimal cracks, potholes, or structural damage (TLP will not cover repairs).

  • At least two garage doors, fences, or walls (minimum 4m² each) must be available for murals (with owner permission); surfaces should be in good condition, free of major cracks, peeling paint, or structural damage.

  • Minimum of 10m² of unobstructed space for seating, planters, or public art, without blocking essential access routes.

Community Interest & Support (40%)

  • At least three Neighbourhood Leads, with at least half living on or adjacent to the laneway.

  • Letters of support from adjacent residents/stakeholders (not required but will strengthen the application). [TEMPLATE]

  • Commitment to participating in surveys and impact assessments.

Community Need: (20%)

 

Next Steps