In the last few decades – particularly in Downtown South – a lot more attention has been paid to the treatment of lanes. They’re no longer just places to store garbage dumpsters, string hydro lines and handle parking entrances. They’re considered the back entrances to buildings, and as such treated more appropriately, particularly with landscaping.
Here’s an example of the lane south of Davie between Seymour and Richards.
Other examples welcome.
Homo sapiens sapiens appreciate a bit of green.
That’s Domus (in brown) – so that would be the lane south of Nelson, between Richards & Homer)
This works because the townhouse podium is only on the street side of the site, allowing the greenery and a landscaped “porte cochere” driveway off the lane behind.
Projects with laneway townhouses or a wider commercially-focussed podium probably don’t have the site width to allow a lot of greenery on the lane side.
I don’t have any pictures at the moment, but a lot of design attention is being paid to the laneway between 1st and 2nd Aves in SEFC, including landscaping courtyards, and even some podium townhouse entrances.