Integrated Community Sustainability Plan

In today's class we talked about Integrated Community Sustainability Plans. During the course of the lecture, our prof started to describe some unique and interesting innovations that municipalities incorporated to reduce their impact and save money. That got me thinking about something I read on line (and watched on the Discovery Channel). It is about how a company decided to harness body heat generated in a subway. An engineering company will use this free body heat to heat a nearby building.

This is an example of sustainable infrastructure that involves sectors such as energy, transport and waste management. This plan demonstrates sustainability especially in the aspects of ecological, social and economic imperatives. By "recycling" this heat they are saving money in terms of heating costs and its it sustainable and environmentally friendly. Air in the subway needs to be refreshed as it is so removal of "used warm" air is replaced with fresh air.

Sustainable infrastructure eventually disseminates in a community but it needs an overarching plan in order to incorporate it into a community plan. This could be done using an integrated community sustainability plan, which brings together all aspects of a community in a way that they are communicating and working together for long term results. In the case of the subway body heat diversion plan, aspects of economic diversification and environmental stewardship are forming a partnership.

Pacfic Gardens

Recently we were asked in class to pick a project or community that displayed characteristics of community engagement and participation. The project my group chose was a cohousing project in Nanaimo. It is called Pacific Gardens.

The concept of cohousing is more common in Europe than in North America but it is growing in popularity in both Canada and the US. Principles of cohousing include participatory planning, non-hierarchical organization, management controlled by residents, and extensive common facilities that were designed by the residents. Cohousing is not a commune nor a shared economic community. Cohousing residents do not necessarily have a common economic, educational or religious background. What they do have in common is a shared life philosophy that includes sustainable living.

The pacific Gardens cohousing project is almost complete. Specific features of this project include:

• using "green" building methods to try to attain LEED certification (I don't know whether it has been accomplished or not)
• energy efficiency standards to control long term energy and environmental costs (such as architectural designs that allow for efficient use of heat, insulation and natural light)
• a common area that includes a kitchen and dining area, shared workshop, craft room, laundry facility and community gardens
• car-share program

Cohousing also brings together a lot of people from different backgrounds and skills. By its very nature, the ensuing community is capital rich with creativity, skills and common goals. The cohousing community forms a network that can build both horizantally and vertically. Also by its nature, cohousing communities are highly engaged and participatory. Issues and decisions related to the community are done on a consensus basis or are dealt with using predefined policies that were initially agreed upon by the community.

Although the concept of a cohousing community looks good on paper, it is not ideal for everyone. People like to have a sense of community but the prevailing attitude of society is still on the side of personal space and property. This attitude is changing but in my opinion, it is slow going.

Recently there has been some new spots on TV about a new bus route for Bay Street. As I was watching the news I got the impression that although the transit company engaged the community, the feedback for this new route wasn't very favorable. The woman representing the community wasn't happy about it while the transit representative spoke as if it were a great idea. There was definitely a bit of a disconnect. It seems Bay street is quite narrow and adding buses to it will congest it more than it already is. Another concern is the addition of buses will squeeze out the cyclists. This concern was also brought up by 2 other interviewees. Some areas of the road do not even have sidewalks for the safely of pedestrians or cyclists.

So I went on the Victoria Regional Transit site and took a closer look. The proposed route will, according to Victoria transit help to alleviate a lot of congestion, to provide transit for the employees of the new expansion to Royal Jubilee Hospital, help take on some of the downtown user burden and to provide service to Victoria West. According to the website the Victoria transit has addressed and mitigated concerns that arose from public forums and feedback from a survey on the website. That doesn't seem to be good enough or satisfactory according to the Bay Street Community Action committee interviewed on TV.

So what should Victoria Transit do? Potential users of the bus route are in favor but the residents are not. Who has more weight in this matter? I'm interested to see how this will be resolved.