TorontoPlanning ApplicationsPlanning guidelines

Best Practices for Effective Lighting

Published by City of Toronto

This is the City of Toronto’s document, as published on its website on 20 October 2026. The municipality may have changed it since: check the current version at the source. Legal notice

Type: Document
Published by: City of Toronto
Date: 2017
For: designer
Building types: All building types
Pages: 82

Overview

Best Practices for Effective Lighting, an 82-page City of Toronto document marked 2017 on its cover as the companion book to the Bird-Friendly Development Guidelines. It covers light pollution (glare, light trespass, overlighting, sky glow), lighting for safety and security, external lighting fixtures, approaches to effective lighting from low-rise residential to street lighting, Toronto Green Standard lighting requirements, planning tools, and appendices on energy efficiency, lamp ratings, ecology, health and a glossary. It supports lighting design in Toronto development applications.

What it covers

Introduction
Rationale
Need for Policy and Action
Scope of the Document
Current Official Plan Policies
Light Pollution
Glare
Light Trespass
Overlighting
Sky Glow
Lighting for Safety and Security
External Lighting Fixtures
Effective Lighting Fixtures
Ineffective Lighting Fixtures
Approaches to Effective Lighting
Low-Rise Residential
Mid to High Rise Buildings
Parks
Natural Heritage Areas
Street Lighting
Design for Effective Lighting
Planning Tools
Applying Effective Lighting
Appendices
Appendix A: Lighting and Energy Efficiency
Appendix B: Lamp Cutoff Ratings and the BUG Rating
Appendix C: Lighting and Ecology
Appendix F: Glossary
Acknowledgements

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