The sustainable city

It costs much more money and resources in infrastructure to build suburbs, rather than a densely populated city area. Land consumption; loss of ecosystems and farmland; automobile dependence, contributing much more to greenhouse gas emissions and depletion of oil and petroleum; lack of exercise; and social discrepancies are all impacts of living in suburbs. (Ling, Personal Communication, 2011)

I do feel suburbia as being a major problem in society.  I didn’t grow up in a suburb, but on a farm, which can be thought of the same when you need to drive everyday to school or work into town. It’s a sort of isolation from the rest of the world, and as a young person growing up; it was tough to become social with very few friends close-by. Many school friends that you wanted to see, you would need to drive an inconvenient distance, which from unwilling parents or siblings, was a tough one to get around.  So working as a young adult to save up money for a car was a major goal of growing up.  Now, I feel the sense of having a car as a necessity, rather than a luxury.  I live in a suburb now, and I’ve wanted to buy a bike to school, but the option is very inconvenient with long back roads, hills and weather. Though I am making an effort to find a new place that is closer to school, the options are slim in Victoria, as the vacant rentals in the area are one of the lowest in Canada at 1.5% vacancy and 2.6% availability (CMHC, 2010). http://www.cmhc-schl.gc.ca/en/corp/nero/nere/2010/2010-12-09-0815.cfm

An interesting program to figure out the “walkability” or “Walk Score” of your home or wherever you input. http://www.walkscore.com/score/v9c-4m8

I inputted my postal code and received a Walk Score of 3 out of 100!  That’s the worst one out of all the possible ones imputed during our class lecture.

A good walkable neighbourhood should have most necessities within a 10 min. walk.  The old cities have a structure where one can walk in a multitude of directions in order to travel from one point.  But new communities are structured for the vehicle, creating barriers for pedestrians to travel very far.  For instance, think about how one may get to their neighbor’s house that is a few blocks behind your house. You might have to walk around many blocks, covering a much farther distance than you would if or cut through many other neighbors’ properties.  In a highly dense neighbourhood, there is easier access to services and it is easier to provide the services.  This can be called “environmental efficiency”, providing efficient services that impact the environment less, and preserves land for wilderness with less habitat fragmentation and healthier air and ecosystems.

People have a better psychological well being in functional, attractive neighbourhoods and meeting places that people flock to, such as green spaces, and downtown social spots.  The problem is there isn’t enough attractive dwellings to make them affordable for everyone, thus higher crime rates and social issues arise from unattractive, dense apartment buildings.

I can’t help but think about crime rates or other issues that may arise from densely populated smaller areas, or even risks of natural or human disasters may affect more people in a smaller, dense area.  What other issues may arise in this new urbanism concept?  Though, crime rates may be less due to greater happiness by the people in these areas.  Disasters may include a natural gas explosion, or virus outbreak, or the ability to evacuate these people in an emergency.  On the other hand, a densely populated community may be evacuated easier, as there are more people to inform in a shorter time.  The impact on the environment is the core issue here though, and this new urbanism will be less impactful on the environment. There would be better emergency systems, such as storm water management, and buildings could be equipped with biomass recycling, water treatment, and energy efficiency.  These communities would provide a better quality of life, along with a quick shift in social norms would come from the environmental principles people will adopt in the lifestyle.

In order to avoid all of these societal breakdowns, we need to re-design the concept of urban development and living. Smart growth is the aim to have sustainable communities. Visit http://www.smartgrowth.org/. The core principles of new urbanism are:

Compact Building Design
Create Range of Housing Opportunities and Choices
Create Walkable Neighborhoods
Encourage Community and Stakeholder Collaboration
Foster Distinctive, Attractive Communities with a Strong Sense of Place
Make Development Decisions Predictable, Fair and Cost Effective
Mix Land Uses
Preserve Open Space, Farmland, Natural Beauty and Critical Environmental Areas
Provide a Variety of Transportation Choices
Strengthen and Direct Development Towards Existing Communities

(Ling, Personal Communication, 2011)

References


CCHC (2010) National Rental Vacancy Rate Edges Lower. http://www.cmhc-schl.gc.ca/en/corp/nero/nere/2010/2010-12-09-0815.cfm


Ling, C. (2011) Personal Communication: ENSC 301 - Lecture Notes - Land Use. Royal Roads University, Victoria, B.C.