Urban Issues in Canadian Cities - Essay Example

Urban Issues in Canadian Cities Urbanization has become the new trend all across the globe. There has been more planned urban growth as compared to the organic one, the designers that have taken up various approaches to make “Good Urban” cities. The variation in approach clearly signifies the outcome that they have in the end. Canada is the country which had its urban growth through a mix of culture and population. If we generalize the Canadian cities as a whole, the preservation of green space and overall healthy urban environment is encouraged at Vancouver, Toronto, Ottawa, Waterloo and Ontario. Whereas, Edmonton, Calgary and Winnipeg do not have these elements. Canada is a highly urbanized country, with majority of its population being city centered in the world. The issues that Canadian cities face on urban level are divided into three main categories social, economic and ecological. All these play a major role in the overall urban growth of the area. A good interlinked transport system is one of the most basic requirements of a good urban space. Since interaction is one of the most important factor to let the urban environment flourish, a nicely designed transportation system is the back bone of an urban environment. (Le Gates, 2009) There has been a greater increase in population in Canada after the year 1996. More people have started to move into the cities and hence the economic and social factors are changing too, there has been an increased demand. There are basic elements that define a good urban space, legibility, permeability, variety, robustness, richness and visual appropriation. Any urban space can be analyzed in respect to these elements. Keeping the Canadian Cities in the view, one can look into the urban space that is offered by these cities. First of all, let’s look into what these elements mean. Legibility is basically defined as the ease with which one can understand the layout of the space; this includes both the physical form and activity patterns. Permeability both visual and physical describes the level of penetration that an urban space offers. A good urban space usually has higher level of legibility and permeability. Variety includes both the visual elements and the mixed land use that break the monotony of an urban space. Robustness is basically the quality of urban space that allows multiple uses of the same space, more or less appropriateness. Richness is the quality of build environment in the urban space, whereas the visual appropriateness means how the visual elements can add up to the other elements of urban design. (Alto, 1993) If all these elements are individually applied to the Canadian cities, they give us a unified result. Majority of the Canadian cities have a very high legibility in terms of access and layout. But if we consider the topophilic element of the space, the factor connecting the humans and space is highly missing in the majority of the cities. All the urban spaces are pretty much permeable and the visual permeability is also high, since the space is not densely build. Despite the high legibility and permeability level, the Canadian cities fail to operate as good urban spaces. There is a high dependency on cars; the build environment and the road network do not encourage pedestrian flow. This does not only reduces the urban experience but also adds to the overall carbon footprint of the cities. The increased dependency on the cars has had greater impact not only on the design quality of the spaces but has added to the environmental damage as a whole. A good urban space does not only encourage pedestrian flow but also contributes positively in the overall environment. High dependency level on car also has impacts on the economic factor; it increases the cost of living too. (Jacobs, 1961) Despite all the urbanization and increased population, we do not see much of a mixed land use and designed variety elements to add richness to build environment and urban space. There are physical elements that mark the activity patterns too in the space. These are usually the paths, streets, landmarks and nodes. Quality level of a street means a good urban environment, since the Canadian cities have pretty much monotonous urban fabric that alienates the user from its surroundings. Green spaces are very much important for the overall growth of the build environment and streets, majority of the cities in Canada like Edmonton, Calgary, do not have them. (Wachter, 2008) This does not only make it a visually very dry space but also creates an ecological misbalance, making the overall environment unfriendly to reside in and also contributing to the greenhouse effect and global warming factors. The robustness of the build environment highly depends on the variety and permeability of the environment. Using the basic tools of the urban design, the place that does not encourage the pedestrian land use is not quite able to get appropriated to the multiple uses. Hence, the cities of Canada do not have a high robustness if looked at on a broader picture. But yes there can be individual places that can be categorized under good urban spaces but cities as a whole do not follow the principles that encourage human interaction with the physical form of the cities. The quality of streets and the surroundings are highly influenced by the façade and the landscape, if these factors do not engage the user of the space, the space as a part of urban environment, does not succeed. (Alto, 1993) The richness of the space is the quality that engages the senses of the user, if there are not the elements of the design are absence; the space cannot be categorically rich in its own aura. The visual appropriateness is usually achieved by the variety in build environment, the elements used and the way they communicate with their surroundings. They simply add up to the overall picture of the cities as a whole, along with the other factors this is also found missing in the urban factors of the cities of the Canada. References: LeGates, R. T. (2009). The city reader (4th Ed.). London: Routledge. Elrod, S. (1993). The Responsive environment. Palo Alto, Calif.: Xerox Corp., Palo Alto Research Center. Wachter, S. M. (2008). Growing greener cities urban sustainability in the twenty-first century. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press. Jacobs, J. (1961). The death and life of great American cities. New York: Random House. Read More