Urban change requires vision
Toronto Star
February 26, 2004


Scarcity is a fact of life for many these days. Frustrations mount about
homelessness, poverty, ill health and environmental degradation — problems
whose solutions are often implemented too slowly or are too small in scope
for reasons of cost.

It is times like these, with new legislators and tight budgets, that we need
to consult with our visionaries — leaders with a holistic perspective who
have low-cost ways to overcome scarcity.

One visionary, Martin Liefhebber, recommends simple solutions that have the
potential for large-scale implementation — legislative changes that, if
enacted, would turn our politicians into heroes. Liefhebber, principal
architect of Breathe Architects, is the internationally recognized designer
of the Toronto "healthy houses" on Sparkhall Ave., and sustainable buildings
and technologies in Canada, including York University's Calumet College,
OCAD's Rosalie Sharp Pavilion and Buddies in Bad Times Theatre.

Liefhebber's solutions are based on the need to provide for our changing
population. More people are living alone, paying more to do so, and our
aging populace needs community supports for independence. "Employment
options are diminishing for a greater proportion of people," says
StatsCanada — one reason why more young adults are living with their
parents. Employment scarcity exacerbates the need for affordable housing.


Toronto's 2003 Report Card on Housing and Homelessness stated the crisis:
About one-quarter of our city's population is earning less than the low
income cut-off ($34,572 for a family of four, $18,371 for one person).
Approximately 885,000 Ontario families (250,000 in Toronto) are paying more
than 30 per cent of their income for shelter, and more than 71,000 Toronto
households are on the waiting list for affordable housing. Liefhebber's
answers to these issues stress the need for legislative changes and natural
systems "to create humane ways for people to live more affordably in
difficult economic times."

What do these natural systems and legislative changes include?

Mixed use: change land use zoning everywhere to include live/work

People should be able to start a business within their home but most land is
now zoned either residential or commercial. "Having retail operations at
street corners, even in the suburbs, would provide grocery stores at more
frequent intervals and negate the need for a car," Leifhebber says.

Intensification

Liefhebber states: "Traditional means of achieving affordability call for
large-scale apartment buildings." He suggests that instead we double our GTA
housing capacity by "rezoning to accommodate a doubling of families per
housing unit — a more cost effective use of road and public transit
infrastructure while slowing sprawl." Currently, municipal zoning does not
allow lots to contain more than one dwelling for a single family.

Rezoning could also facilitate converting laneways into ecological villages.
"This creates a huge supply of inexpensive housing for the elderly, for
grown children and for students," says Liefhebber. "Why do we have cars in
garages when we have people sleeping on the streets?"

Alternative technologies

In the buildings he designs, Liefhebber often opts for alternative
technologies found to be superior to standard (legislated) ones, which offer
an ecological solution to indoor and outdoor air quality concerns.

In his Clarkson co-housing home, straw bales create a breathing wall
technology that has been deemed to be superior to conventional walls by
building code specialists. Yet, its use must be applied for by special
permit each time, although buildings that can breathe instead of having a
tight seal are suitable for people with respiratory sensitivities and reduce
health-care costs.

Liefhebber adds: "Most buildings primarily are designed without any clue
about the sun and its ability to heat air and water, and they fail to
address our growing urgency to lower our energy consumption, use renewables,
and live more lightly on the planet."

Redesign residential streets and sewage systems

Liefhebber says, "We can redesign residential streets so pedestrians are
treated as more valuable than cars. Calming the traffic would promote a 3-C
neighbourhood — a commons of community and commerce similar to those in the
Netherlands."

Additionally, he notes, "Why continue to design a closed storm sewage
system — the pipe approach — depriving our water table of rainwater
penetration and causing it to deteriorate through dropped water levels?
Having an open storm water system would also help cool our city because we
would rely more on natural, grassy surfaces (rather than paved ones)." This
seepage principle "would water our drought-ridden urban trees."

People and markets are hungry for viable societal, health and ecological
alternatives. Given tighter government budgets, we need political leadership
to help us achieve these changes through legislation that is less
restrictive and which creates opportunities for an improved quality of life.