As young families increasingly choose to stay in the GTA instead of moving to the suburbs, condos are in ever more demand. But most condos weren't built for families. The Agenda discusses how they are adapting to high-rise living in busy urban spaces.

Condo families are congregating by the thousands in courtyards, pools and party rooms, and the kind of community spirit and closeness normally associated with small-town neighbours is developing within the towers across the GTA.

Conventional wisdom says that it’s best that kids be raised in a big house with a backyard to play in, but author Jackie Burns wants to challenge that vision with the debut of her first book series, The Condo Kids.

With housing prices in Canada off the charts and most families' "dream home" out of reach, it's not surprising to see households looking to high-rise living as an alternative.

The emergence of the popular “condo lifestyle” is the inspiration behind a new Toronto children’s book.

Noah, Harper, Ava and Michael have typical Canadian childhoods: they hang out at the pizza joint, try not to get kicked out of the swimming pool, get into trouble for trying to smuggle a purloined Barbary sheep into their home. The mountain-bred sheep was an ideal pet, they had thought (though their parents very much disagreed), because they live on the 30th floor of a 47-storey apartment building.

Nathaniel Durkacz, now 9, was the inspiration for the book and says it's 'kind of cool'

Whenever Jackie Burns went to the bookstore to look for a children's story featuring characters that live in highrises, she always came up empty.

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The Toronto-based writer was looking for a story that was relatable for her two children, who she is raising in a condo building.

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So she decided to create her own.

Is it possible to raise kids in a Condo?  With rising house prices in Metro Vancouver, it might become a reality for new parents.

Guest: Jackie Burns - freelance writer for the Toronto Star and author of ‘The Condo Kids: Adventures with Bob the Barbary Sheep’

It’s an urban myth that children need a house. Our sons and their friends benefit from highrise living in so many ways.