Brent Toderian has just posted his latest entry on the Planetizen blog – Part 1 on EcoDensity.
An excerpt:
The good news is that Vancouver may be the best positioned city in North America to be a continuing model for change. We have the expanding tools and building blocks to do density well and to deliver the amenities that make density work. We have a growing level of citizen awareness around the connections of our living patterns – the most significant element being compactness and mixed use – and the consequences of climate change and the end of cheap energy. And we have a new initiative – Eco-Density – coined by Mayor Sam Sullivan, endorsed unanimously by City Council and being defined, operationalized and delivered by Staff, that is further transforming the discussion and debate about the need for a greater level of high quality, “green” densification.
That’s the kind of thing that so annoys the more cynical-than-thou bloggers like Morning Brew at Beyond Robson and Condohype. They take Vancouver’s achievements for granted, are deeply suspicious of the rah-rahs, and prefer to focus on the failures, particularly the DES and unaffordability of the housing stock.
Read ’em both, I say, to get a better understanding of the city.
” We have a growing level of citizen awareness …”
Hmmmm… I wonder where that awareness came from ? Awakened by a stirring editorial in the Province ? Perhaps they were illuminated by a report by the Frazer Institiute or perhaps ….it could have been those ‘more cynical-than-thou bloggers’.
Thanks for the kind words Gordon. -Sean, (Morning Brew)