E. Liveable Communities · Liveable Communities: Land Use and Sustainability in Canada

Reading the Land: Types of Land Use in Canadian Communities

E1.1 A1.4 A1.6About 70 minutes

Learning goals

I can name and describe the main land-use categories that Canadian planners use.
I can describe the characteristics of each land use, such as density, traffic, noise, jobs and land value.
I can read a land-use map and calculate the percentage of land in each use.
I can turn land-use data into a clear graph with a title, labels and a source.

Words to know

land use
What people use a piece of land for, such as homes, stores, factories, parks or farming.

residential
Land used for housing: detached houses, semi-detached houses, townhouses and apartment buildings.

commercial
Land used for buying and selling goods and services: stores, restaurants, offices, malls and hotels.

industrial
Land used for making, processing, storing or shipping goods: factories, warehouses, rail yards and refineries. Light industry is quieter and cleaner; heavy industry is larger, noisier and may pollute more.

institutional
Land used for public or community services: schools, hospitals, places of worship, libraries, community centres and government buildings.

transportation and utilities
Land used to move people, goods and services: roads, rail lines, airports, ports, hydro corridors, water and sewage treatment plants.

open space
Parks, sports fields, ravines, conservation areas, cemeteries and other land kept mostly free of buildings.

mixed use
A building or area that combines uses, such as stores on the ground floor and apartments above.

density
How much of something is packed into an area. Residential density is often measured in dwellings (homes) per hectare.

hectare (ha)
A square 100 m by 100 m, which is 10 000 m². A little bigger than a Canadian football field, end zones included.

Remember from Grade 8

In Grade 8 geography you learned the basic land-use types (residential, commercial, industrial, institutional) and that cities use official plans and zoning bylaws to decide what can be built where. In Grade 9 you go further: you will look at the characteristics of each land use, at where each one is found, and at how that pattern affects the people who live there. Geographers call this spatial significance: where something is matters.

Hook: a mystery from above

Imagine you are in a plane flying low over an Ontario city. Below you, you see a grid of small roofs with backyards, a cluster of tall towers, a huge flat-roofed building surrounded by trucks, a green ribbon along a river, and a long line of power towers marching across fields.

Without reading a single sign, you can already guess what each place is for. That is because each land use has its own look and characteristics. In this lesson you will learn to read the land like a planner.

The main land-use categories

Planners in Canadian municipalities sort land into a small number of categories. The names change a little from city to city, but most plans use something close to these:

Residential: homes. Divided by density: low density (detached and semi-detached houses), medium density (townhouses, low-rise apartments) and high density (apartment towers).
Commercial: stores, offices, restaurants, hotels. Includes downtown business districts, main streets, strip plazas, shopping malls and big-box "power centres".
Industrial: factories, warehouses, distribution centres, rail yards, refineries.
Institutional: schools, hospitals, universities, places of worship, libraries, police and fire stations, government buildings.
Transportation and utilities: roads, highways, railways, airports, ports, hydro corridors, water and sewage treatment.
Open space and recreation: parks, sports fields, trails, ravines, conservation areas.
Agricultural and resource land: farms, orchards, forests, gravel pits and mines, usually outside the built-up area.

More and more, cities also plan mixed-use areas, where homes, shops and offices share the same buildings or blocks.

Land use	Typical buildings	Traffic and noise	Jobs per hectare	Typical location
Low-density residential	Detached and semi-detached houses	Low, mostly cars	Very few	Suburbs, small towns
High-density residential	Apartment towers	Medium; many people walk or take transit	Few	Downtown, near transit and major roads
Commercial	Stores, offices, malls	High during business hours	Many	Downtown, main streets, major intersections, highway exits
Light industrial	Warehouses, workshops, small plants	Trucks; moderate noise	Medium	Industrial parks near highways
Heavy industrial	Steel mills, refineries, large factories	Heavy trucks, rail; noise, smells	Medium	Near water, rail and highways, away from homes
Institutional	Schools, hospitals, places of worship	Busy at certain times (school start, visiting hours)	Medium	Spread through neighbourhoods
Open space	Parks, trails, ravines	Low	Very few	Along rivers, lakeshores, in neighbourhoods

General characteristics. Real places vary, so always check with local data.

Why characteristics matter

Each land use gives something to a community and asks something of it.

A factory gives jobs and tax money, but it may bring truck traffic, noise and pollution. That is why most cities keep heavy industry away from homes, schools and hospitals.
An apartment tower houses hundreds of people on a small piece of land, which can support a bus route, a grocery store and a library nearby. But it can also cast shadows and add pressure on roads and schools.
A park cleans the air, soaks up rainwater, cools the area on hot days and gives people a place to meet, but it brings in no tax money and has to be paid for and maintained.

So when geographers study land use, they ask: What is here? Why is it here? Who benefits? Who might be harmed?

A land-use map of a made-up town. Each colour or pattern stands for one land use. Count the squares: 25 residential, 6 commercial, 6 industrial, 2 institutional, 3 transportation, 9 parks and 9 water (60 in all).

Reading a land-use map

Planners show land use on a land-use map (in an official plan it is often called a land-use schedule). Each use gets a colour or pattern, explained in the legend. Many Canadian plans use similar colours (for example, yellow shades for residential and green for parks), but there is no single national rule, so always read the legend first.

To describe a land-use map like a geographer, look for:

Proportion: how much land each use takes up.
Pattern: are uses clustered, spread out, or in a line along a road or river?
Relationships: what is next to what? Is industry beside the river? Are homes close to schools and parks?

Worked example

Let's analyse the Riverbend map together

Use the Riverbend land-use map above. (a) What percentage of the town is residential? (b) Describe the pattern of industrial land and suggest why it is there. (c) Identify one possible land-use conflict.

Count the residential squares row by row: 6 + 6 + 4 + 4 + 3 + 2 = 25 squares.
Divide by the total number of squares: 25 ÷ 60 = 0.4167. Multiply by 100: about 41.7%.
Industrial squares (dotted) are clustered in the bottom-left corner, right beside the river. Historically, factories located near water to get water for processing, to ship goods and, sadly, to dump waste.
Look at the edges between uses. The transportation squares (a rail yard) in the bottom row sit right next to residential squares, so homes there may get noise and vibration. That is a possible conflict.
Write the answer in full sentences using map vocabulary (cluster, adjacent, proportion).

(a) About 41.7% of Riverbend is residential (25 of 60 hectares). (b) Industrial land forms a cluster in the southwest corner along the river, probably because early industries needed water and water transport. (c) The rail yard is adjacent to homes, which may expose residents to noise and vibration.

The same map turned into a bar graph. Residential land is by far the biggest use in Riverbend (about 42%). Bar colours match the map where the map uses a colour. Percent = squares ÷ 60 × 100.

Making a good graph (A1.4)

Every graph a geographer makes needs: a title that says what, where and when; labelled axes with units; a sensible scale that starts at zero for bar graphs; and a source line (for example, Source: City of Ottawa Official Plan, 2022, or Source: my own field survey, October 2026). A graph without a source cannot be checked.

Where to find real land-use data

You can study your own community with geospatial technology:

Most Ontario municipalities post their official plan online, including land-use schedules (maps).
Many cities have open data portals and interactive maps where you can switch layers on and off (zoning, parks, transit).
Free online maps with a satellite view let you see roofs, parking lots, fields and parks from above.

When you use these tools, write down the name of the map, who made it and the date, so you can cite it.

Just for fun

A planner walks into a meeting and says, "I have a joke about zoning." Everyone groans: "Is it residential, commercial or industrial?" The planner replies, "Mixed use. It works on several levels."

Hands-on activity

Field survey: map one block

You need: paper or graph paper, a pencil, coloured pencils, a clipboard or hard book, and a grown-up to walk with you. (Stay on sidewalks, and walk with an adult near busy roads.)

Choose a route of about 10 minutes near home (or use the satellite view of an online map if walking is not possible).
Draw a simple sketch map of the streets. Divide it into rough squares or lots.
Colour each lot by land use using your own legend (make a key with at least five categories).
Tally how many lots are in each category and calculate each as a percentage of the total.
Make a bar graph with a title, labels and a source line ("Source: my field survey, date").
Write three sentences: the biggest land use, one pattern you noticed, and one possible conflict or benefit.

What to look for: a legend, correct percentages that add to about 100%, and sentences that use the words pattern, adjacent and proportion.

Your turn

Name the land-use category for each: (a) a public library, (b) a car dealership, (c) a hydro corridor, (d) a townhouse complex, (e) a gravel pit.

In Riverbend, what percentage of the town is parks and open space?

Why do cities usually keep heavy industry away from residential areas?

Give one benefit and one cost of a large park to a community.

What is mixed use? Give an example you might see on a main street.

What three things should you look for when describing a land-use map?

A town has 400 ha of land. Residential land covers 180 ha. What percentage is residential?

More practice: warm-up

What does a legend on a map tell you?

Is a hospital commercial or institutional?

How big is a hectare?

Name two kinds of residential buildings.

What land use would a rail yard be?

More practice: on your own

Explain why commercial land is often found at major intersections and highway exits.

Riverbend's council wants to build a new high school. Using the map, would you put it next to the industrial cluster or among the residential squares in the east? Explain.

A suburb is almost all low-density residential. Describe two effects this might have on residents.

Why should a graph of land-use data include a source line?

Riverbend has 9 ha of water. What percentage of the land (not counting water) is residential?

Challenge

Riverbend's industrial land is by the river. Suggest one environmental risk and one way planners could reduce it today.

A city says it is 60% residential and wants to be "more liveable". Do you think the percentage alone tells you how liveable it is? Explain using at least two other characteristics.

Design a fairer layout: if you could swap any 3 squares on the Riverbend map, which would you change and why?

Check your understanding

Quiz

Which land use includes schools, hospitals and places of worship?

A building with shops on the ground floor and apartments above is an example of:

A town covers 250 ha and has 50 ha of parks. What percentage is parks?

Why were many older factories in Canadian cities built beside rivers or lakes?

What is the FIRST thing you should check when reading a land-use map?

Which feature belongs on every graph a geographer makes?

For parents and teachers

This lesson builds on the Grade 8 land-use types and adds characteristics and map analysis. Help by going on a short walk or looking at a satellite view of your area together, naming each land use you see and asking "why is it here?". Many Ontario municipalities post their official plan and land-use maps online; looking at your own town's map makes the lesson real. Common difficulties: mixing up commercial and institutional (ask: is it selling something, or is it a public service?), and forgetting that percentages depend on the total used (with or without water). Check that graphs have titles, labelled axes and a source.