Smaller outskirts communities are likely to be the next targets of densification efforts
A substantial increase in housing inventory should also come with smart urban planning to ensure a sustainable solution to the ongoing housing crisis, according to RE/MAX Canada.
“Canada needs to invest in building a lot more homes in the next decade, but it must be the right kind of housing within the context of the wider neighbourhood, its socioeconomic diversity, and indeed with climate as a constant potential disruptor,” RE/MAX said in its new analysis.
This is especially important as smaller outskirts communities are likely to be the next targets of densification efforts meant to ease some of the urban cores’ burden.
Development policy should “learn from the design, zoning and infrastructure investment mistakes of larger city centres and examine how more homes can be added to the existing mix of inventory and land, while making these communities more resilient to impacts of climate change and extreme weather,” RE/MAX said.
“Existing urban sprawl is being exacerbated by a continued focus on one design of monoculture-type housing, with all sorts of unintended consequences, such as gentrification, impacts to housing price value, mortgage rates, and rising insurance premiums and availability,” the report added.
Aside from the immediately obvious environmental benefits, a more circumspect development strategy would ensure that the smaller communities retain the qualities that made them attractive in the first place.
“The 15-minute neighbourhood lies in a much greater diversity of housing types, transportation options, businesses, green spaces, and indeed residents,” RE/MAX said. “In a way, it’s also breaking away from the ‘typical’ way of building housing and neighbourhoods in Canada.”
A more sensible approach would also help maintain – and in many cases, even improve – a locale’s quality of life.
“Densification does not always need to mean ‘higher’ exclusively – a key mistake large cities, North American cities, repeatedly make by limiting growth to only a very small area of their land,” RE/MAX said. “Done right, densification should diversify building types, including high, low, and medium-rise, beside existing single-family dwellings.”
