The Toronto Star, Sat 25 Aug 2007 A new live-work development planned for Whitby is part of an evolution in urban planning that will see more of us walking to work, riding our bikes and parking the car, say architects, planners and politicians.
"My sense is that we're at the beginning of what is going to be a profound transition to a more healthy, balanced and sustainable way of building our communities," prominent architect and urban designer Ken Greenberg said yesterday.
A planned development in Whitby that grabbed attention this week may provide homes for 14,000 and jobs for 10,000 when it's completed in a decade. Residents will be able to live and work in the same community rather than spending hours commuting to jobs in downtown Toronto.
It's the latest in a string of such developments planned or under construction in the Greater Toronto Area.
"It's the new urbanism. It's all about sustainable communities," said Dave Ryan, mayor of Pickering, where the largest of such projects is now in the works.
Construction of the Seaton community in North Pickering is to begin in about two years. When it's complete, about 20 years from now, it will be home to 70, 000 people and 35,000 jobs.
The high-density developments will include more condominiums, more mixed-use buildings and more "green" components.
"It's about a more compact lifestyle where people are taking up less space in their living environment. The complete community provides jobs as well as places to live. It brings the amenities that contribute to the quality of life closer so that people don't have to get in their cars to go shopping and go to schools," Ryan said.
The province is pushing for more developments like this through its Places to Grow Act. Passed two years ago, it requires that at least 40 per cent of any new development in the Greater Golden Horseshoe be in areas that are already built up.
This movement in planning, also known as smart growth, is responding to a way of life that has its roots in the Industrial Revolution.
"It was at a time when smokestacks were spewing soot and toxic fumes. People wanted to get away from workplaces that were seen as unhealthy environments. There was this whole idea of a bucolic life in the countryside," Greenberg said.
The emergence of the car made this possible. Zoning followed, with central business districts, industrial districts, residential districts, cultural districts, shopping centres and the list goes on.
But the downside of this way of life spawned a counter-movement.
"At least for the last couple of generations, there has been a realization that there were some terrible downsides and opportunity costs," Greenberg said.
"Life on the fringe was isolating, it was hard on families, it left women very often as the primary caregivers and homemakers in situations where they were separated from everything else. We got to the point where virtually every adult had to make every trip in an automobile and traffic congestion became astonishing," he said.
Today's workplaces aren't the health hazards they once were and it's possible for people and their jobs to co-exist in the same community.
"This mixing of things is the most fundamental thing you can do about sustainability. We need to get people not to spend enormous amounts of fuel and fumes and time moving from one thing to another. We need to bring things in closer proximity to each other," Greenberg said.
In addition to homes and jobs, this also applies to recreation, retail and culture.
This kind of mixed-use community stands in stark contrast to what most of the GTA looks like today.
"If you fly into Toronto, 90 per cent of what you see from the air is old- style subdivisions. They are essentially tract housing," Greenberg said.
There is little employment in these neighbourhoods. Residents have to jump into their cars just to buy a litre of milk, and there are few amenities.
Gary Wright, Toronto's director of community planning, cites Maple Leaf Square, being built beside the Air Canada Centre, as an example of the type of development the city is encouraging. The development will include a hotel, offices, condominiums, restaurants, stores, a daycare and underground access to the subway.
"In a lot of areas, we do want mixed-use because it just adds to the vitality," Wright said.
No comments:
Post a Comment