this post was submitted on 15 Sep 2023
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Increasing housing density isn’t going to fix the problem of an infrastructure that’s not designed to handle it. Fewer single-family homes is great, but there needs also to be an emphasis on walkable communities, more emphasis on public transportation, and more emphasis on streets that are safe for biking.
I don’t see anywhere here prohibiting infrastructure expansion, this is a yes-and approach. All of the things you mentioned is infinitely more effective and cheaper with denser housing.
It’s all kinda moot in this context because this plan is virtually useless for bringing any real density. The city only expects 200 multiplexes a year.
The problem is that without those things, increased density creates a lot of problems: E.G. Traffic around Metrotown
Metrotown is miserable exactly because of our planning. It follows the North American style of density from the last 40 years where we only build 30-story towers or single family homes.
Urbanists are saying we should instead expand the missing middle density to build livable communities and upzone the entire metro area.