Smart Neighbourhoods

WHAT

  • A Catalyst for Sustainable Practices

    Smart Neighbourhoods are designed to be efficient, healthy and economical places to live, work, shop and play. They help cut GHG emissions primarily through a reduction in car trips – up to 40 % less compared to a typical suburban neighbourhood. [1] Additional benefits are that Smart Neighbourhoods increase residents’ health and quality of life. A successful Smart Neighbourhood can act as a catalyst for community support for further widespread adoption of more sustainable practices.

    Building Smart Neighborhoods is not new in British Columbia, and many communities have retained complete, compact pedestrian-friendly neighbourhoods, such as in Nelson, Fernie, Revelstoke and Ladysmith, as well as a number of neighborhoods in Metro Vancouver and Greater Victoria. For much of the last 50 years, however, we have moved away from creating compact neighbourhoods. Smart Neighborhoods incorporate “neo-traditional” neighbourhood design elements, along with new ones that take advantage of energy and environmental innovations.

    Smart Neighbourhoods exhibit all or some of the following characteristics, including:

    • Compact and complete, characterized by higher densities and a mix of uses
    • Central location, with clustering of employment, retail, residential, and other activities and uses
    • Accessible, multimodal transportation, allowing people to get around easily on foot, bicycle and transit
    • Green networks, integrating landscaping, green roofs, street boulevards, parks, and environmentally sensitive areas
    • Green buildings
    • Reduced energy and resource use, based on district energy and efficient infrastructure
    • Diverse housing options, accommodating people of all ages and walks of life
    • Economic viability, ensuring the long-term resilience of developer, town, and residents

    [Use the tab above to learn HOW to reduce emissions with this tool.]
    [1] Ewing, R., K. Bartholomew, S. Winkelman, J. Walters, and D. Chen, 2008. Growing Cooler: The Evidence on Urban Development and Climate Change. Urban Land Institute, 4.

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HOW

  • How to Foster Smart Neighbourhood Development in your Community

    Smart Neighbourhoods may be encouraged at a number of scales and locations:

    • New neighbourhood developments: Encourage sustainable practices, e.g. through the use of the LEED ND standard, development checklists, and/or local government-led OCP sub-area planning processes.
    • Greyfield and brownfield redevelopment: Redevelopment of malls and ex-industrial sites.
    • Infill and redevelopment: Encouragement of small-scale, lot-by-lot development, either by filling in empty spaces or by redevelopment of existing buildings.

    Fostering Smart Neighbourhoods involves overcoming a number of barriers.  Key strategies include:

    • Working with the development community to facilitate financing for redevelopment in desired locations and with a mix of uses;
    • Engaging openly with the public to explore the benefits of Smart Neighbourhoods, as well as the potential pitfalls, and to identify where and how the community wishes to proceed; and
    • Removing regulations that prohibit appropriate mixes of uses, pedestrian-friendly street design, etc.

    Typical tools include:

    Examples of actions include:

    • OCP amendments to encourage redevelopment of greyfield sites, e.g. through density bonus provisions 
    • Revise zoning to allow small-scale redevelopment and intensification of use along and near main streets
    • Revise development standards to allow and/or encourage narrow streets, mews and shared streets, and to support Complete Streets principles
    • Implement parking strategies
    • Develop green network plans that integrate public parks, street design, and private landscaping regulations and voluntary programs to enrich the landscape
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