The End of Sprawl 26.3

27 July, 2000
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Editorial: Beyond Sprawl

The cover of this issue of Alternatives depicts a vibrant community with a healthy mix of lifestyles and incomes, a variety of transportation choices, and a respect for the intelligence of nature. Many Canadians would want to live in such a community. The bad news is that they can't. This is a place that does not exist.

Instead of building sustainable communities, our designers, developers, builders, planners and bankers appear to be stuck in a destructive and costly paradigm. The central theme throughout this issue, and probably the critical first step to building more sustainable communities, is the need to curb urban sprawl. This is the paradigm of car-dependency, traffic jams and identical homes on characterless streets with names like "Forest Lane" and "Woodland Trail" - streets named without the slightest hint of irony after the natural features that were destroyed in order to build them. ...

Editorial: Beyond Sprawl
Nina-Marie Lister

The Best So Far
Don Alexander
Vancouver's remarkable approach to the Southeast False Creek redevelopment is a big step towards sustainable redevelopment planning for urban sites.

Gardens Overhead
Jessica Kwik
Rooftop culture sprouts in North American cities.
Inset: The Up Side of Green Roofs and Walls

Climbing the Walls
Brad Bass and Roger Hansell
Vertical gardens can cool buildings and clear the air.

Retrofitting Suburbia
Zinnia Clark
Transforming car-dependent subdivisions into transit- and pedestrian-friendly neighbourhoods sounds like a miracle - and it is!

Walkabout
Lisa Rochon
The act of walking is both a joy and a rebellion.
Inset: Good Urban Design is Walkable
Inset: When I'm Walking by Jonathan Richman

Life With Less Sprawl
Jill Grant
Japanese communities demonstrate designs for more compact living.

Our Place
Nik Luka and Nina-Marie Lister
Community ecodesign for the Great White North means re-integrating local culture and nature.
Inset: John Todd's Miniature Ecosystems by Jamal Ramjohn

Retrofitting Fredensgade
David Van Vliet
A small Danish city renews an inner-city block in an extraordinary union of ecology and community.

Shared Space
Nina-Marie Lister
By bringing a range of users under one roof, designers are helping to create more ecological and liveable institutions.

Greening the Ivory Tower
Emmannuelle Tittley
North American universities learn to apply environmental wisdom.

Crystal Waters
Rebecca Pollock
Australian ecovillage is a world-recognized pioneer in low-impact living.

Six Better Ways
Alternatives picks exemplary initiatives for community redesign.

Resources for Redesign
Alternatives gives a sampling of some of the many ecodesign resources.

More Alternatives

Notes

Law and Odour
Elisabeth Barrett Ristroph
Our intrepid reporter accompanies Mexico City pollution inspectors to a small factory.

Fairway Trap
Francis Paul
Cash-strapped conservation authorities are being targetted by golf course developers.

Debate
Should Hunting Be Allowed in Parks?
Maybe - Sometimes by Kevin Van Tighem
Never by Tony Weis and Anita Krajnc

Reviews
Totem Salmon: Life Lessons from Another Species by Freeman House, Boston: Beacon Press, 1999.
Healy Park by Graeme Pole, Calgary: Mountain Vision Publishing, c/o Rocky Mountain Books, 1998.
Farmageddon: Food and the Culture of Biotechnology by Brewster Kneen, Gabriola Island, BC: New Society Publishers, 1999.

Letters

Global Worming by Ryan Kennedy

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