The ADS Project

This chapter presents important background information that helps explain the impact of design standards to the configuration of our streets and consequently of our communities, and ultimately to the stability of our region. In this chapter we examine three distinctly different ways of building neighbourhoods.

The first two communities discussed are real neighbourhoods located within the greater Vancouver region. The third is a hypothetical neighbourhood proposed by one of the four design teams during the first Design Charrette for Sustainable Urban Landscapes. We compare and contrast these three neighbourhood patterns in order to answer certain recurring questions about the relative merits of each pattern.

The first section of the study compares the three patterns with a close focus on the block as the unit of the entire. A two block area located within Vancouver's Kitsilano district was selected to model the Traditional Pattern. This 0.03 square kilometre (7.4 acre) site is bounded by Waterloo and Blenheim Streets on the west and east respectively and 6th and 8th Avenues on the south and north respectively. These blocks contain a variety of house types, with each parcel containing anywhere from one to four dwelling units. A 0.03 square kilometre (7.4 acre) residential site in the Fraser Heights district of Surrey, BC was selected to model the Status Quo Pattern. This area contains only single family homes with one dwelling unit per lot. A similar size portion of one of the four Surrey Charrette plans was selected for the Traditional Pattern with Ecological Underlay case study site. This as yet undeveloped parcel is located on the south side of 64th Avenue, slightly east of the 64th Avenue/King George Highway intersection in Surrey’s South Newton district. The housing mix in this hypothetical neighbourhood is similar to the mix in the Traditional Pattern.

In the comparison matrix we identify the following aspects of each of these three sites: building use, housing density, surface permeability, road right of way geometry and construction, utility line locations, property line locations, and building setbacks.

In the last section we model the development of a 46 square kilometre (11,500 acre) tract of sparsely developed land in Langley Township, BC two different ways. First we examine the ecological and urban design consequences for this land if it were developed in conformance with existing planning, engineering and subdivision regulations. We then take the same land and examine the ecological and urban design consequences for this landscape if it were developed in conformance with an alternative set of regulations, regulations specifically designed to encourage more sustainable communities.

table of contents			SUSTAINABLE URBAN LANDSCAPES Alternative Development Standards for Sustainable Communities
CHAPTER TWO
Three Alternative Neighbourhood Patterns Compared			This chapter presents important background information that helps explain the impact of design standards to the configuration of our streets and consequently of our communities, and ultimately to the stability of our region. In this chapter we examine three distinctly different ways of building neighbourhoods. The first two communities discussed are real neighbourhoods located within the greater Vancouver region. The third is a hypothetical neighbourhood proposed by one of the four design teams during the first Design Charrette for Sustainable Urban Landscapes. We compare and contrast these three neighbourhood patterns in order to answer certain recurring questions about the relative merits of each pattern. We refer to the first of the three neighbourhoods as the "Status Quo" pattern because it is typical of most new neighbourhood development in our region. We call the second one "Traditional" because this pattern was ubiquitous in most North American cities prior to the end of the Second World War. The third community pattern is named the "Traditional Pattern with an Ecological Underlay" because it takes on the basic arrangement of the Traditional Pattern while still preserving and enhancing the natural systems of the site. It is this third pattern that was proposed by the participants in the Surrey design charrette as a practical way to make our communities more socially and ecologically sustainable. In this project we have taken their ideas a few steps forward so that they can be productively compared with the other two real sites. The first section of the study compares the three patterns with a close focus on the block as the unit of the entire. A two block area located within Vancouver's Kitsilano district was selected to model the Traditional Pattern. This 0.03 square kilometre (7.4 acre) site is bounded by Waterloo and Blenheim Streets on the west and east respectively and 6th and 8th Avenues on the south and north respectively. These blocks contain a variety of house types, with each parcel containing anywhere from one to four dwelling units. A 0.03 square kilometre (7.4 acre) residential site in the Fraser Heights district of Surrey, BC was selected to model the Status Quo Pattern. This area contains only single family homes with one dwelling unit per lot. A similar size portion of one of the four Surrey Charrette plans was selected for the Traditional Pattern with Ecological Underlay case study site. This as yet undeveloped parcel is located on the south side of 64th Avenue, slightly east of the 64th Avenue/King George Highway intersection in Surrey’s South Newton district. The housing mix in this hypothetical neighbourhood is similar to the mix in the Traditional Pattern. In the comparison matrix we identify the following aspects of each of these three sites: building use, housing density, surface permeability, road right of way geometry and construction, utility line locations, property line locations, and building setbacks. In the last section we model the development of a 46 square kilometre (11,500 acre) tract of sparsely developed land in Langley Township, BC two different ways. First we examine the ecological and urban design consequences for this land if it were developed in conformance with existing planning, engineering and subdivision regulations. We then take the same land and examine the ecological and urban design consequences for this landscape if it were developed in conformance with an alternative set of regulations, regulations specifically designed to encourage more sustainable communities. next page
Click to view detail Status Quo Pattern Traditional Pattern Traditional Pattern with Ecological Underlay Status Quo and Traditional Pattern Comparison Matrix Langley Township Case Study Comparison

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