By
Diane Selkirk
| Image:
Flickr / Editor B |
Published: June 14, 2010
In this age of peak oil and historic oil spills, here are everyday things we can do to reduce our dependence on oil
By
Adam Gaumont
| Image:
Flickr / paytonc |
Published: August 19, 2009
Vancouver takes a kinder, gentler approach to EcoDensity
As an urban planning concept, density is not new—a few decades of unchecked suburban expansion notwithstanding, cities have always been inherently dense to a more or lesser degree. As a City of Vancouver urban planning initiative, however, EcoDensity dates back to just 2006—but it’s quickly gaining traction in one of the densest and most desirable cities in North America.
Audio: 'EcoDensity' from the experts
Listen to
extended interview clips featuring Brent Toderian, Randy Knill and Dr. Raul Pacheco-Vega.
Click to play streaming audio or right-click and choose "save link as" to download the mp3.
In fact, Vancouver is not as densely populated as its postcard reputation might suggest: Beyond the skyscrapers of downtown, vast swaths of the city are zoned for single-family dwellings, be they West Side Shaughnessy mansions or East Side Vancouver Specials.
But as the vacancy rate dips ever closer to zero, real-estate prices continue their stratospheric orbit, traffic gets jammed, transit gets fuller and energy demands continue to soar, an increasingly wide array of Lower Mainland residents are ready to hear this or any other idea that will lead toward a more sustainable solution.
By Guy Dauncey, president of the BC Sustainable Energy Association
| Image: Davinia Yip |
Published: December 08, 2008
<<< Go back to "Guy Dauncey's vision of a sustainable Future Vancouver"
Part One: Home
My story begins with an accident of nature—I was cycling, and fell, but even as I was falling I knew this was no ordinary fall. It’s true, I had been recently been rather obsessed with the appalling future that I saw facing us—in particular, the future in the year 2030, which I saw as reasonably close yet distant enough for major changes to occur. But I never expected to find myself, suddenly and without cause, physically present in Vancouver in the year 2030 (or as close to physically as my strange transmigration allowed for). If it was a dream, it was certainly as detailed and robust as the best of dreams.
