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The Subdivision Approval Process and the Barriers it Poses to the Implementation of Sustainable Housing Types and Patterns | ||
| Sherri Hanley | |||
| Session: Wednesday, April 19, 2000, 8:45 - 11:30 a.m. | Author Info | ||
There are several different areas through which planners can promote sustainability. One area with great promise however, is through housing. Housing in Canada has changed very little in form since the suburban home was first introduced in the early 1950s. This is unfortunate since housing has a large ecological footprint due to its consumption of land and resources, its use of energy and the waste it produces. This need not be the case since advances in technology have been made to significantly reduce the impacts incurred by typical housing development. The problem however, is that these advances have not become mainstream.
In order for these innovations to become mainstream many barriers will need to be overcome. Don Alexander, Steven Peck and Guy Dauncey have identified five thematic barriers to implementing more sustainable housing these include:
Each thematic barrier needs to be thoroughly researched in order for them to be eventually overcome.
In an attempt to contribute to the realization of sustainable development in Ontario, the policy and regulatory barriers to sustainable housing have been examined in detail. To achieve this three case studies were conducted in the Region of Waterloo. Specifically, the study examined the implementation of housing built using alternative development standards in three municipalities: Cambridge, Kitchener and Waterloo. The subdivision approval process was chosen as the primary focus to measure the policy and regulatory obstacles that new housing types encounter before implementation. Three subdivisions were chosen and traced through the subdivision approval process.
A content analysis of Official Plans, Community Plans and draft plans of subdivision were evaluated to determine the policies that existed in each the Region and each municipality in an attempt to identify innovative housing approaches and those that were actually realized. This was followed by a series of semi-structured interviews with planners, engineers, consultants and developers to determine what barriers exist between departments, agencies and the public and private sectors. As well participant observation was used as a technique to gain insight from various committee meetings in each municipality.
The result of this study was a series of barriers and obstacles, which exist in the subdivision approval process. Some of these barriers included:
Each of these obstacles was explored in detail and recommendations for overcoming them were proposed.
From "Strategies for Overcoming Market and Institutional Barriers to Sustainable Real Estate Development in Canada" presentation at CIP conference June 8, 1999 in Montreal.
Copyright 2000 By Author
Sherri Hanley
MA Candidate
School of Planning, University of Waterloo
Waterloo, ON Canada