Part 10 (the last section) from a discussion guide, Density in a City of Neighbourhoods – my perspective of a journey from the earliest years of land-abundant settlement to the towering glass city of 2012 – written for Carbon Talks at SFU.
.
THE DENSITY DILEMMA
A stable community doesn’t often wish to negotiate change in the form of more growth once it has a sufficient level of services and amenities. That it might benefit those who do not live in the community, even future progeny, is usually not sufficient to overcome immediate fears. Those with a vested interest in the community, whether homeowners or renters, demand mitigation for all perceived impacts. And that process – to discuss and agree on the trade-offs – takes time, if it is even achievable in environments where the community is polarized.
This is why zoning is difficult to change quickly. It can take years to survey, consult and achieve a consensus – legalizing secondary suites, for instance – and more years to get a rezoning through the political, bureaucratic and legal process. Indeed, it’s meant to be slow, even if it adds costs and reduces affordability. Affordability, however, has now become a critical issue, creating a countervailing force that politicians, planners and communities cannot defer.
The reality is that not all neighbourhoods have the same conditions. A 1960s suburb with large lots and abundant parks may be more able to accommodate infill but be more reluctant to do so than an already compact but century-old community of narrow lots with a need for new construction. The politics of equity can be as challenging as the politics of growth.
The risk is that real change tangibly affects the character of existing communities. The related challenge is retaining the values (if not the price) Vancouverites have come to expect in our residential neighbourhoods. The need then is a consensus-based process that anticipates the future and respects the past.
We have an overall policy framework that calls for densification at neighbourhood centres and strategically around transit and district energy. Policies are turning into plans, which will soon become reality. Whether along Cambie or at Norquay, change outside of the downtown is now occurring. These land-use moves are linked to affordability and greenest city aspirations, and hence offer ways to evaluate real-world change. They are, in short, learning opportunities that allow for the next succession of plans to be modified.
The lesson to be learned is that even when we have undergone change at a scale that would be unacceptable today – such as the West End in the 1960s – we have been able to introduce new forms of housing, absorb the growth, mitigate the impacts and create a community that is livable, stable and that residents will fight to defend. Ironically, once change has occurred, we tend to assimilate it – however when it’s threatened with further change, we want it declared heritage.
What everyone will agree on is the need for certainty, for a plan and a process that identifies and addresses issues and costs as early as possible, avoids spot rezonings as much as possible (recognizing that new ideas and forms can emerge with a single innovative proposal), and treats everyone with fairness and respect, including those not yet present.
The first immigrants from which most of us are descended arrived with an expectation that they would be accommodated. That expectation still prevails, albeit with different perspectives on what is achievable and affordable.
Different generations, for instance, have different attitudes: younger ones thrive on disruptive change; the older value stability. That, in the end, is why change – and some kind of densification – is inevitable. We could only stop change if we only stopped aging.
.
Part 3: The Beginning of Densification
Part 4(a): The Modern Era – Transition
Part 4(b): The Modern Era – A Decade of Highrises
Part 6: Condos and Megaprojects
Part 7(a): Vancouver’s Greenest City Goals
Part 7(b): Vancouver’s Greenest City Goals
Part 8: New Issues, New Challenges
Part 9: Livability, Sustainability … and Affordability?
Density in a City of Neighbourhoods (full document)
Very well put. The Density issue seems to be more of a human psychological and sociological holdup than it is a city planning breakthrough yet to happen. Such advances have been made to overcome the ugly past cities once had, but yet little breakthrough has been made in common consensus that people can live/work/play near other people. Unfortunately the easiest way to change perceptions is to show it can be done… leading back through the paradox cycle.