November 21, 2008

Proponents advocate for Smart Growth initiatives that ‘change the urban form’

Construction Corner

Korky Koroluk

When the present global financial mess finally begins to get sorted out, the world is going to have a lot of questions to answer — assuming that our leaders have the guts to ask the questions in the first place.

Are we simply going back to a market system much like our old one, but with a bit more government regulation added? Will we continue to extend the old carbon economy and simply accept the problems it brings with it?

Or will we make serious moves to a low-carbon economy that might, in time, stabilize our global climate somewhat? Will we examine our consumption habits and decide there are some things we can do without, changes that can be made in how and where we live?

I’ve written in the past about the possibility that climate change is going to force changes in the way our cities are built and governed; about the energy price of urban sprawl; about the City of Ottawa’s plan to build a model urban village in suburban Barrhaven.

Now, Peter Newman, a professor at the Curtin University of Technology, in Perth, Australia, has completed a study in which he quantifies the price of urban sprawl, and makes some startling estimates of the money to be saved by building compact suburban neighbourhoods.

For every 1,000 city blocks of housing built, he claims, the government could save $85 million (Australian) on power, water, sewerage, schools and hospital services, if the building is close to central business districts rather than out on the city fringes.

That money, he says “is actually an $85 million subsidy to developers on the fringe.” That’s about $68 million in Canadian money.

There would also be the potential for transportation savings, because more densely settled neighbourhoods would allow the efficient operation of such things as light-rail transit, and greatly reduced consumption of gasoline for commuting to work.

He suggests that growing concern over Australia’s dependence on oil, and the environmental costs that go with oil consumption, mean “the old economy of car dependence is over.”

“With rising oil prices and climate change, people cannot afford to live in outer suburbs and drive to work.”

Skeptics, of course, will rightly point out that oil and gasoline prices have declined sharply as the global financial crisis has grown. But it would be a sucker bet to count on prices remaining low. There will be a lot of fluctuations, but the long-term trend can only be upward, because no matter how the data is manipulated, there is a finite amount of oil in the world. We should be conserving it.

David Goldberg is with Smart Growth America and part of a campaign called Transportation for America. He writes that we, in the industrialized world, “have been too focused on managing the immediate fall-out to focus on the root causes of the twin financial and energy crises.

“But as governments around the world consider huge outlays to build the infrastructure that can create jobs now and lay the groundwork for the future economy, they would do well to absorb Newman’s research and heed his words of caution.”

The smart growth movement has branches all over the place. There is a Smart Growth Canada as well as a Smart Growth Ontario, and the websites are well worth a visit.

There you will find discussions about the changing style of the urban form, driven in part by fuel prices, in part by a growing desire by people to live in walkable communities, and in part by cash-strapped cities’ increasing reluctance to subsidize development out on the fringes.

Much of what they advocate would impact on the construction industry — not necessarily less construction, but different types of construction in different locations.

You may not buy into everything the movement advocates, but there is much to approve of. And, through seminars and workshops, they provide a forum for discussion. So for anyone interested in smart growth, their Ontario network website is a good place to start. Check out the Smart Growth Canada Network website or the Ontario Smart Growth Network’s site for more information.

Korky Koroluk is an Ottawa-based freelance writer. Send comments to editor@dailycommercialnews.com

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