Re-Imagining our Neighbourhoods Slides

Re-imagining our neighbourhoods John Purkis & Karen Miller John Purkis, Senior Advisor Senior Manager, Ottawa, Ontario Sustainable CommunitiesAREF Thought Leaders Series,2010 May 18-19, Wednesday October 19th, 2011 © 2011 The Natural Step

The Natural Step: who are we?• Accelerating change in organizations and communities – Define sustainability – Embed and integrate sustainability – Collaborate to get there• Supporting individual leadership – Courses and workshops – Toolkits, resources and best practices – Peer to peer learning exchange• Supporting emerging leaders © 2011 The Natural Step

What makes us different?We’re working with organizations behind the scenes tohelp build leadership capacity and success stories. Wehelp organizations in three main ways:1. We help organizations DEFINE sustainability.2. we help organizations EMBED and INTEGRATE sustainability into their strategy, operations, products, services, governance, culture and stakeholder engagement.3. we help teams, groups, departments and stakeholders collaborate. © 2011 The Natural Step

Why Sustainable Neighbourhoods?As the population continues to expand, consumption ofland grows exponentially—currently, three times the rateof population growth. At this breathtaking pace, two-thirdsof the development on the ground in 2050 will be builtbetween now and then.The way we grow—especially how and where we grow—will have a profound effect on our planet and on us.Source: US Green Building Council LEED ND © 2011 The Natural Step

Current challenges survey quotes• lack of community spaces and events• crumbling infrastructure with a significant replacement cost• traffic going through neighbourhoods makes safety an issue when it comes to increased walking and biking.• incentives encourage that kind of development, including cookie cutter houses, uniform streets, and often single-use functions, not mixed use. © 2011 The Natural Step

Water Use• Canadians – Use an average of 390L/day of water in buildings – Largest per-capital users of water in the world• Buildings – Use only 3% of clean, treated water for drinking! © 2011 The Natural Step

Impact of Buildings on the Environment Buildings are responsible for: • 33 percent of all secondary energy used • 35 percent of greenhouse gases emitted • 50 percent of natural resources consumed • 12 percent of non-industrial water used • 25 percent of landfill waste generated • 10 percent of airborne particulates produced © 2011 The Natural Step

Construction Waste•Construction waste makes upabout 25% of solid waste in ourlandfills. More waste means morelandfills means more taxes for youand me.•The average home built inCanada generates 8,000 lb ofwaste. © 2011 The Natural Step

1. Social well being – creating a feeling of belongingAccording to Paul Born from the TamarackInstitute there are three principles for what makesfor a successful community in neighbourhoods:• The first is know each other. We need to know our neighbours as a very first pre-condition to creating great places to live. Too often we don’t know or trust our neighbours.• The second principle is that we need to take care of each other. There are many ways of doing that, such as Neighbourhood Watch, block parents, babysitting programs, car pooling, etc.• And the third thing is working together to do something for the public good. This gives a shared sense of purpose and a strong feeling of belonging. © 2011 The Natural Step

How happy are you?“If you look at what makes people happy income is important,but human relationships are much more important and we’veincreasingly allowed our human relationships to deteriorate inthe interest of having more income.” Lord Richard Layard,London School of Economics. © 2011 The Natural Step

2. Governance – effective and inclusive participation, representation and leadership• residents need to interact and be involved in the co-creation of their neighbourhood.• Neighbourhood associations are key success factor to facilitate citizen engagement © 2011 The Natural Step

3. Active Convenient and Green Transportation• walkability• public transport services linking residents to their work places and services• transportation system powered by 100% renewable energy• Bicycle network © 2011 The Natural Step

4. Nature - Thriving Ecosystem Parks and Green Spaces• should not be built on sensitive natural ecosystems (Habitat exchange)• places with ample green spaces: parks, community gardens• habitat exchange• no relative impact on natural systems © 2011 The Natural Step

5. Economy: a flourishing and lively local economy• encourage and foster local businesses and local entrepreneurship whose activities contribute to the well-being of social and ecological systems, as well as encourage local food.• All residents of working age have access to employment at a living wage. All community members—including youth and elders, in particular—have access to meaningful work in their neighbourhood or community. © 2011 The Natural Step

6. Density: compact, beautiful spaces• compact, beautiful spaces that allow for social interaction and privacy, and minimise resource consumption, while providing access to various shops and services.• designed around people, not cars• balanced with appropriate green spaces © 2011 The Natural Step

6. Density: compact, beautiful spaces “density is a tool—arguably the most powerful one controlled by amunicipality—to create a more sustainable city while at the same time helping to preserve agricultural land and the open space beyond its borders.” Brent Toderian and Mark Holland © 2011 The Natural Step

7. Services: diverse and local• a diversity of public, private, community, and voluntary services accessible to all residents• local shops, community and recreational centers for all ages, entertainment, cultural opportunities, places to work, places for recreation, and medical services• volunteer services to help take care of each other are important• live work play © 2011 The Natural Step

8. Diversity• Experts feel strongly that diverse neighbourhoods are much healthier than those with one income bracket, family type, or ethnic group.• socially cohesive and diverse communities © 2011 The Natural Step

CMHC - Equilibrium Communities 6 Themes1. Energy: balances energy supply and use to minimize greenhouse gas emissions.2. Land Use and Housing: a balanced mix of activities, housing choices, and commercial, institutional, recreational and industrial land uses.3. Transportation: reduces fossil fuel use from personal vehicle travel and provides opportunities for energy- efficient and healthy alternatives to personal vehicle use.4. Water, Wastewater and Stormwater: minimizes the use and disposal of water and the negative impacts on watersheds.5. Natural Environment: protects and enhances/restores the natural environment.6. Financial Viability: a marketable community that, through its design, operation, integration and financing, is economically viable over the long term. © 2011 The Natural Step

Living Building Challenge for Neighbourhoods1. Restoring a healthy coexistence with nature (site) • limits to growth, habitat exchange, car free living2. Creating water independent sites, buildings and communities • net-zero water, ecological water flow3. Relying on current solar income • net-zero energy4. Maximizing physical and psychological health and well being • civilized environment, healthy Air, biophilia © 2011 The Natural Step

Living Building Challenge for Neighbourhoods2. Endorsing products and processes that are save for all species through time • red list, embodied carbon footprint, responsible industry, appropriate sourcing, conservation and reuse3. Supporting a just, equitable world • human scale and human places, democracy and social justice, rights to nature,4. Celebrating design that creates transformative change (beauty) • beauty and spirit, inspiration and education © 2011 The Natural Step

Table Discussions “The best way to get a good idea is to get a lot of ideas.” – Linus Pauling, world-renown scientist and humanitarianAt your tables please discuss the following question:• What are your recommended ideas to move us to more sustainable neighbourhoods? What are your top three priorities ?• Please write your tables top 3 ideas on the paper provided. © 2011 The Natural Step

The Landmark Group of Builders • 5 construction companies • Edmonton, Red Deer and Calgary, Alberta, Canada • ~ 200 employees • Residential housing and small developments • Getting into high-rise © 2011 The Natural Step

Key Sustainability Challenges• We are highly dependent on the degradation of ecologically and agriculturally productive land through development.• We are highly dependent on the dispersive use of hydrocarbons as fuel and raw material.• We are dependent on an economic and physical system that systematically converts virgin material into unusable waste in both the short and long term.• We are dependent on materials that have toxic effects in the ecosystem and organisms.• We support and are dependent on an unsustainable supply chain. © 2011 The Natural Step

Landmark Group of Builders• Empower People . Enable a sustainable society through research, innovation, charity, advocacy, education and affordability that provide people with better, more sustainable lives.• Sustainable Land Use. Develop the built environment to maximize the ecological, agricultural, economic and social potential of the land.• Carbon Neutral. The net lifecycle greenhouse gas emissions of our products and processes are zero or negative.• Non-Toxic. Eliminate all toxic and potentially toxic materials from our products and processes.• Zero Waste. Eliminate all waste in all its forms. Waste occurs when our use of time, material, energy, space and capital exceeds that which is necessary to generate value and well being for our customers, ourselves and our society.• Closing the Loop. The materials in our communities are recovered and recoverable, recycled and recyclable or borrowed from nature in such a way that they can be returned to nature without doing harm.• Revolutionize Industry. Our business model and supply chain relationships reinforce and support the drive towards sustainability. © 2011 The Natural Step

Re-Imagining our Neighbourhoods Slides

by Alberta Real Estate Foundation on Dec 05, 2011

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