New Urbanism in Troubled Times

Matthieu Gagnon, Vice-President

I am currently writing this in the wake of Donald Trump’s inauguration. The tableau made it clear that our closest neighbour has been captured by oligarchs who do not have the best interests of their citizens in mind let alone the interests of foreigners including us Canadians. The global environment does not look very favourable for the Canadian economy and our community will be impacted sooner or later. We need to build resilience in our community because some people may financially struggle in the coming months and years if they are not already. New urbanism provides us with a framework to build that resilience.

The current model of suburban development has robbed us of choices in how we spend our money on housing and transportation. Look at a map of Ottawa, you can see that it is dominated by single-family homes and high-rises with very little in between. You can also see loads of infrastructure dedicated to the movement of cars and comparatively little dedicated to transit and active transportation. Housing and transportation in Canada for 2021 accounted for an average of $31,205 ($21,106 for housing and $10,099 for transportation) per household. To put things in perspective, the average Canadian household income in 2021 was $68,400 which means that the average household dedicated 45% of their income to housing and transportation. The situation has become worse since 2021 through high inflation, higher costs of car ownership and higher interest rates. Our current development ecosystem is not conducive to the building of cheap housing. The main products offered throughout the city are still single-family homes which are expensive to buy and maintain or condos and apartments that are too small to comfortably house families. Our current development pattern forces us to keep buying cars since public transportation is inefficient in sprawling areas, amenities are too far for a walk and the bike network is currently unsafe, uncomfortable, and disconnected. It is hard to reduce our housing and transportation costs if you need to do it.

New urbanism to me is about choice. For housing, it’s about building a variety of housing with a variety of price-points that allow any member of our community to afford a home that is right for them. It is not about preventing people from owning a single-family home if they can afford to buy and maintain them. For transportation, it’s about building infrastructure that can be used by anyone. If you are unable to drive, you can walk, bike, or take public transportation. If you want to drive, you will still be able to do so and there is a good chance that the experience will be greatly improved. Those choices allow households to choose housing and transportation modes that work for them instead of being forced into single-family homes and apartments or cars.

Fortunately for our community, the proposed secondary plan for our area is based on new urbanism principles. As a community association, we have put a lot of emphasis in our new strategic plan on inclusivity and sustainability which is in line with this plan. We also made a commitment to increase our advocacy work. I am hopeful that the Ontario Land Tribunal appeals proceedings on this do not water down the plan too much and that the board can adopt it as the tracking document for our advocacy work. My next article will be about what I see as the role of the community association as an advocacy group.