The current planning processes that have confined a developer to an approved plan for the entire life cycle of a project are presently being questioned. Rapid sociodemographic and economic changes in Canada have created a need for planning strategies that allow for a greater degree of flexibility. Adaptability to changing market trends has now become extremely important to planners and developers of large subdivisions. The demands to permit quicker planning and approval processes are the motivating force behind this paper. The proposal simplifies the development and approval process by introducing a piecemeal approach to design and building—one that can easily be modified in accordance with market changes. Fundamental to the proposed concept is the argument that one cannot forecast market trends in the course of developing large communities. Rather than design subdivisions today and subject their developers to lengthy and costly change processes later, one can propose an approach that will allow change to occur with reduced intervention at a later stage. Rooted in the hierarchical principle, the proposed strategy integrates components with which both municipalities and developers are presently accustomed, but arranges them in a structure that reduces control as the scale of the development increases. The paper begins with an overview of the hierarchical principle which defines the relationships of the different elements that make up the city, in order to understand and envision the various options for urban growth. The development and design processes are outlined—first the conventional and then the alternative variations—followed by the conventional and proposed versions of the approval process. Organizing urban growth through a system of hierarchical progression allows flexibility and freedom in the design of staged developments in a manner which reflects the pace of construction and the needs of society at the time.