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Urban Development that Meets 21st Century Conditions

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In Development
Aug 22nd, 2010
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Letter to AWARE Simcoe and other groups from the Sustainable Urban Development Association — August 21 2010
SUDA recently mailed and e-mailed letters to stakeholders of urban development in Ontario (builders, municipalities, and others) to bring their attention to the importance of sustainable urban development. 

As you know, the way our towns and cities grow and develop has a profound effect on our environmental, economic and social well-being.  Places to Grow legislation and the Provincial Policy Statements have taken the first steps towards a sustainable future.
However, the result of the new official plans of municipalities in the GTHA and elsewhere will be very high consumption levels for energy, land, water and material resources, and steep increases in travel by automobile, even though the plans conform to provincial legislation.  It is also unfortunate that the requirement for all new greenfield development to be at a minimum of 50 residents and jobs per gross hectare is being used by municipalities as a maximum target, when unfortunately, that is not much better than the 44-45 that the suburban city of Mississauga is at today.  Better results are needed.
In 2009 SUDA released “Newburg: Embracing High Density at the Urban Fringe”, a document describing an example of what a high density yet very family-friendly sustainable community might be like.  This highly illustrative document about greenfield development is intended to help move sustainability forward in growing urban areas, by showing that densities for greenfield development can be both high and yet very family-friendly.  In fact, the Newburg example achieves up to 135 residents and jobs per gross hectare.  The document includes a long list of benefits to public and private sectors. 
SUDA has also undertaken an examination of whether alternative (i.e. more sustainable) housing forms can be marketable in the GTA.  Although many people ‘want’ or ‘prefer’ single detached housing, they also have circumstances that make it more beneficial and acceptable for them to be in communities where housing is more affordable, daily destinations are within walking distance, and community life is more vibrant.  SUDA’s Housing Alternatives Acceptability Study (HAAS) showed that more than half of GTA respondents (mostly suburban residents) to the survey found certain sustainable housing forms as ‘acceptable’ or ‘may be acceptable’.  Most respondents also wanted daily non-residential destinations to be within walking distance. 
Because city-building must take into account the conditions in the longer term future that our children will experience, issues of energy costs (for transportation and HVAC), environmental damage and economic uncertainty must be significant drivers of the shape and form of what is to be built. 
As you know, SUDA considers the issue of energy as critically important, economically, socially, and environmentally.  It is inevitable that the price of a barrel of oil will surpass the peak seen in 2008; the resource is finite and global demand is growing.  The economic impacts to Ontario will be very serious – a drain of many billions of dollars each year, because all of Ontario’s gasoline and petroleum products are imported.  Alternative energy sources will not be able to compensate.  The challenge, even now, is to ensure that the shape and form of communities and growth results in a dramatically-reduced need for energy, and especially for imported fossil fuels.
SUDA encourages you to develop and communicate messages to stakeholders of urban development to foster sustainable urban development that goes beyond the minimums set by Places to Grow.  Please also take the time to forward this message to others in your organization and beyond who are involved in the decision-making and design processes of urban development, and to explore some of the opportunities that are presented by the Newburg idea.
SUDA is available to answer your questions about Newburg and HAAS.  Please contact me at mail@suda.ca or by calling 416-400-0553.
Sincerely,
John Stillich
Executive Director, SUDA
The Sustainable Urban Development Association is a registered charitable corporation whose mission is to foster a healthy natural environment by providing information about sustainable city-building
(AWARE Simcoe note: The work of this group to intensify urban and suburban development is necessary if we in Simcoe County are to preserve our agricultural base and natural infrastructure (forests, lakes, rivers, wetlands). It is too tempting for developers to ignore “vacant” land in the Golden Horseshow that’s approprately zoned and serviced and instead pressure our councils to redesignate the land they’ve picked up at a much lower cost in the county.)

 

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