At the periphery of the Greater Toronto Area, the employment lands are at risk of diminishing as a result of the large vacant developable lands and the growing interest of private condominium developers. Mass gentrification has caused general employment type businesses to displace to the suburbs of Toronto resulting in the conversion of existing employment lands into single use residential development.

The York University Heights Tech Hub is a pilot project situated in York University Heights employment land. It intends to renew the existing deteriorating employment land, green spaces and parking lots. It envisions a new model of urban development for the employment lands where existing employment programs are densified into mixed-use mid-rise typology rather than low-rise pancake buildings. In the short term scenario, the small addition/adaptive reuse strategy will be used to house start-up companies to the site. In the long term scenario, a new mixed-use building typology is introduced where the inward-facing terraces surround the courtyard to promote social interaction and productivity while the outward-facing facade is reserved for the residential units to capture uninterrupted views of the surroundings.