I recently attended my first community information meeting about planning for future development in the downtown core of London, Ontario. The meeting helped me understand the negative stigma that residents in low-rise communities often have against high-rise development close to their homes. At this meeting, many attendees spoke out against the concept of high-rise development. This inspired me to discuss the topic with other Stantec team members, including one of our planners, Stephanie Bergman. Stephanie explained that, unfortunately, this is the reality of these sorts of public meetings. The “Not in my backyard” (NIMBY) voices nearly always overpower the “Yes in my backyard” (YIMBY) voices. The result is less high-rise development.



So, what’s the solution? According to Stephanie, we need more YIMBYs taking part in the processes that will shape their communities to help promote some of the positive impacts of high-rise development. If high-rise development is done right, there can be many positive effects for communities. Here are five benefits that just might shift you from NIMBY to YIMBY.