The green movement and healthy communities have their roots
urban planning, and we should be indebted to the work of Dr. Trevor Hancock
back in the 70s and 80’s in founding the healthy community movement. It was an initial step on the healthy built
environment. Urban planners ran with the
concept of making parks, green spaces, planting trees and revitalizing urban
areas. Some of the solutions have
caused problems, but no doubt prevented many more.
Now we are challenged with how to build our communities to
be sustainable.
Climate change is upon us and the impacts will be felt by
our children and grandchildren. While
perhaps not all impacts are reversible, the least we can do is develop communities
that can adapt to the change and minimizes their contribution to worsening of
greenhouse gas emissions. Kudos to
those provinces that require government agencies to be carbon neutral – it is
perhaps not sufficient, but it is a significant step in the right
direction.
Social isolation can be partially overcome by designed mechanisms
to increase neighbourly contact. Porches
on the street side and not the backyard.
Pooling personal yard space into small parks on each block. Community gardens, community centres, even
community kitchens can lead to social connectedness and building social support
networks.
Planning for inclusion of children, seniors, those with
physical, mental and development disabilities, those with reintegration into
society, leads to very different
neighbourhood plans than would typically occur for two parent single family
housing. The challenge is to make such
planning integral to urban design. Eliminate
the not in my backyard (NIMBY) mentality and build from the value and strengths
of all communities members.
How we plan for and build our communities can have not only
a personal health benefit, but a benefit for the health of all community
members. Planning must be founded in the
needs of all residents, not just those that stand to profit.
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