As Canadians, we are at a critical moment in time, one that has us deeply concerned about the effects of global warming and the likelihood of irreversible damage to our communities, our biosphere, and our futures. Individually and collectively, people are seeking solutions and wondering what part they might play in bringing them about.
By taking a different approach to community planning, zoning, density, transportation, and buildings themselves, dramatic improvements are possible.
The obvious starting place is where we live. More than 90 per cent of Canadians live in cities. Canadians generate 680 megatons of carbon emissions annually (the third-largest rate on the planet), and most of it comes from our cities. Vancouverites average six tons per capita each year. In Vancouver, 54 per cent of emissions come from buildings. To reach a sustainable future, we must reduce our footprint to 2.2 tons per person. The challenge has been delivered: to reduce Vancouver's average per capita emissions by 60 per cent.
In accepting the 2030 Challenge and adopting its own Climate Change Action Plans and EcoDensity Charter, the City of Vancouver has also set out ambitious goals for densification, energy codes, building performance and other concrete measures to reduce carbon emissions and improve the livability of the city.
This is where architects, designers, planners, developers, builders, and even ordinary citizens have a chance to shine. By demonstrating your ideas, convictions, creativity and skills, you can help shape Vancouver's sustainable future.
Considerations
The following considerations have been adapted from the Vancouver EcoDensity Charter.
Vancouver 101: A Greener, Denser City Pattern
• Minimize commuting by providing space for diverse jobs, shopping and economic activity close to home for a balanced, resilient city
• Provide transit nodes, walkable shopping, local amenities, and district energy sources
• Improve affordability and livability
• Respect existing neighbourhoods through gentle or hidden density, such as rowhouses, infill and laneway housing, or invisible forms of density like secondary suites
• Reduce automobile use and ownership by constantly reinforcing walkable, complete neighbourhoods with better biking, transit and pedestrian movement
Vancouver 101: More Livable Design With a Sense of Place
• Design density with architecture and a public realm that marries meaningful and significant ecological performance with lively, beautiful, accessible, responsible, people-oriented design, particularly as density levels increase
• Create sustainable design while respecting neighbourhood context, character and identity on all scales
• Respond to microclimates, replicate natural systems like the evaporation and infiltration of water, and minimize waste
• Incorporate natural and designed green features in creative ways to improve our connection with nature and reduce urban heat and greenhouse gases
• Apply ecological best practices to the public realm to create sustainable, beautiful, safe, and engaging streets and public places
• Design buildings that embrace natural processes, use environmentally responsible materials, and produce their own energy
• Enhance urban food production, access to local food, and waste reuse and recycling