Located north of Highway 403 and northeast of the Bronte study area, Glen Abbey was built almost entirely in the 1980s. Two-thirds of dwelling units are single-detached, 14% are rowhouses, and 13% are low-rise apartments. The southern fringe of the study area contains employment lands that border on the highway. A shopping plaza is located at the northwestern corner.
Much like the other master-planned communities in the sample, Glen Abbey is bounded by the concession road system and organized around an internal ring road that provides access to largely self-contained neighbourhood units. Unlike earlier developments, Glen Abbey reflects the impact of ecosystems-planning principles. Three creeks run through the study area. The neighbourhood units lie between these creeks, with buffer zones functioning as parkland, containing systems of walking trails. These undevelopable protected areas result in the study area having the lowest developable land-to-gross land ratio of the sample, reducing gross density relative to developable area density by almost 20%.
