Just a quick message to let you know about this video I found. It was on the website TED Talks and deals with the problem of urban sprawl. James H Kunstler dissects suburbia and discusses how we should go about fixing what we have destroyed. It is a really entertaining video, let me know what you think.
Earlier I began a discussion of the relationship between urban sprawl and several other social problems in Vancouver. This is part 2 of that post and this is an analysis of what has been done to tackle another social issue.
A New Way to Live: Make Better Use of What We Have
A recent trend in Vancouver and many other urban areas is the revitalization of some of the cities least desirable areas. Many of these revitalizations are, at least in part, undertaken to offer low cost urban housing to people in need. Projects like the Woodard’s Building (http://vancouver.ca/bps/realestate/woodwards/) and the restoration of the Chinese Freemasons Building (http://vancouver.ca/commsvcs/planning/chinatown/program/residential.htm) have gone a long way to revitalize these underutilized neighbourhoods. These projects, undertaken with a goal of reducing homelessness and reducing costs of living in Vancouver also have the potential to make a lasting effect on urban sprawl. This practice of making better use of the urban resources we have is important to fighting sprawl and making a more pleasant centre.
Now, how can this solution help reduce urban sprawl. While building in higher densities is a useful way to reduce sprawl, resources act as a barrier to widespread adoption. New high-rise buildings are incredibly expensive to build, passing these exorbitant costs on to buyers, who in turn run for the suburbs. By using this social housing restoration model, we will be able to make better use of the buildings that we have and sustainably increase the density of the neighbourhood. By creating affordable places to live out of significantly underutilized pieces of real estate, we are able to keep people from heading east to more affordable housing.
Now, let’s look a little deeper into whether a systematic adaption of this building concept is likely. Once again, there is clearly an opportunity present as there is a need for affordable housing in Vancouver. The problem is, the opportunity may be too large. There are tens of thousands of people in the lower mainland who would love to get there hands on a low rent condo in downtown Vancouver. The availability of capital and people is another potential difficulty. While there are always business people with money who are looking to make a profit, it is questionable whether a large number of them would be willing to take cuts in their profits to be socially responsible.
Overall, I believe this could be a sustainable solution to this problem, but I question whether the scope could be large enough to make a real effect on the effects of urban sprawl.
I have recently done some research into the concept of smart-growth, which is basically a fancy way of describing sustainable growth with as little urban sprawl as possible. This concept seems directly in line with what I believe is needed for the lower mainland. Anyone who has ever visited a major US city knows that Vancouver has a relatively small city centre, and even worse, geographic barriers that prevent it from growing. While 30-story apartment buildings may not seem that green, the effect they have on our environment and the land used to build on is significantly smaller than that of developments in the suburbs. Could the barriers to expansion Vancouver faces be overcome by creating higher developments in current suburbs?
The Vancouver Sun published an article slightly more than a year ago outlining the difficulties Greater Vancouver has in controlling its urban sprawl (http://www2.canada.com/vancouversun/news/story.html?id=22ce2e22-95e0-4f18-8067-923477cfff81). It basically says that new developments in the lower mainland are failing to think about land destruction when planning new projects. One has to wonder if the new focus on sustainability in building practices is making people believe that they can expand the amount of land they inhabit because they are making up for this destruction in other ways.
