Thanks for helping to raise awareness here. If you care about this, then please consider adding me. “Cities have the capability of providing something for everybody, only when, they are created for everybody.”― Jane Jacobs Urban planning is not designed for the people, but for private interests. Cities are designed for construction, more contracts. It is more profitable (in the short-term) for these private interests to operate in this way, however, unsustainable for future generations. Developers are on the OMB (Ontario Municipal Board) which makes these sorts of planning decisions in Ontario. It is a serious conflict of interest to have developers making decisions with regards to what is in the public interest when it comes to urban planning & analogous to the fox guarding the hen house. Cities could be designed so that people live where they work (one of many examples), resulting in less transportation and the associates pollution. Public transit should be free (like health care) to increase ridership and cut down on pollution. In addition, if we utilized the spaces already developed, it would save our green space and have less of an impact on our natural environment. However, none of these ideas are profitable in the short term for these vested private interests and as a result will cost future generations (socially, economically, and ecologically. We should be revitalizing the downtown core more aggressively. (Where the infrastructure that already exists), instead of promoting costly urban sprawl. There are no infrastructure costs to redirecting growth towards the core (i.e., roads, storm water management, parkland, community centers, libraries, schools, sidewalks, street lighting, traffic controls, transit, police and fire protection, sewage and water pipelines). For example, Downtown Hamilton could accommodate another 25, 000 residents without the costly infrastructure associated with low density suburbs. A shift from development on the periphery to higher density inner city developments. It is cheaper, involves less commuting and associated pollution, more green space, more mixed use, and a decrease in runoff associated with paved surfaces. An increase in paved surfaces results in less infiltration of water into the ground and thus sediment loaded water from construction sites finds its way into water bodies such as Hamilton Harbour. Anytime you hear the word infrastructure / urban planning / public works / construction / or development there is more often than not, corrupt government practices taking place. The constant expansion of suburban sprawl is eating up green space not to mention capital in terms of infrastructure. It all promotes construction, roads, car ownership, mining, steel, and petrochemical interests, but not the long-term interests of people and the planet. Example from Ontario, Canada: The Niagara Escarpment - Designated A U.N. Biosphere Reserve, The Bruce Trail runs along it, The Green Belt Plan, The Niagara Escarpment Plan, 4 Levels Of Government, The Conservation Authority, The Ontario Municipal Board, Environment Canada, Ministry of the Environment, Ministry of Natural Resources. Yet Aggregate & Development Interests Trump All Of These Too? facebook/notes/navneet-gupta/the-biosphere-our-impact-on-future-generations-other-species-ecosystems-problem-/10150957330799344 Apologies for the long post.
Posted on: Sun, 16 Feb 2014 00:31:15 +0000