Urban Design 

After many months of extensive public consultation, Council has now approved the new Downtown Design Guidelines and proposed Downtown Design Policies. All of the documents you might need are now posted here.

Thanks to everyone in the community who has helped shape these polices.

The process...
The City of Kitchener has released the results of its ''Help Design Downtown'' public consultation process which gave residents the opportunity to shape an exciting vision for the look and design of Kitchener's downtown.

Over the course of the two-month consultation process, more than 1,000 residents from across the city and region participated in the interactive consultation process. Through surveys, online forums, open houses and meetings with stakeholders such as the Board of the Kitchener Downtown Business Association (KDBA), citizens provided their input on everything from the height of downtown buildings to the number of trees and patios on downtown streets. Thank you to all those who participated.

View the Downtown Design survey results

The steps of this process are identified below:

• Step 1: Broad Consultation — Help Design Downtown Kitchener (complete)
• Step 2: Consultation on Draft City Policies (complete)
• Step 3: City Council Consideration of Draft Policies (complete)
• Step 4: Implementation Tools — Design Guidelines, Engineering Standards, Zoning Amendments, etc.

The policies outline design requirements for new construction (new buildings, storefront improvements, new signage, etc.) and also identify a number of actions the City will take, including:

• Encourage a more pedestrian-friendly atmosphere on King Street, promote street life, activity and vitality, and maximize outdoor retailing and patios;
• Establish tree-lined corridors for sitting, walking and cycling on certain downtown streets;
• Require or encourage facilities such as multi-use pathways and bike racks to promote alternative modes of transit; 
• Promote the unique characters of each of the four districts; City Centre, Market, Warehouse and Civic; 
• Encourage a mixture of people-friendly streets and car-friendly streets.  

For further information, send an email to urbandesign@kitchener.ca.