The prevailing development pattern of sprawling suburbs prevents
sustainability and can no longer be tolerated . Since the end of WWII
the "American Dream" to own a single - family home on a large lot away
from the blight of downtowns has greatly reduced the quality of life
of North Americans. To reverse this trend sustainable development/
sustainability must be society’s goal. This means that the actions of
society - particularly where community development/design is concerned
- must promote environmental integrity, economic vitality , and social
well - being . The recent New Urbanism Movement which focuses on
community development/design makes this important realization . In
doing so, it has fostered a series of alternative methods of community
development/design which promote environmental integrity , economic
vitality , and social well-being. The most prominent examples are
Traditional Neighbourhood Development, Transit Oriented Development,
and, more recently in Canada, the Metropolitain Purlieu . However, these
concepts are not panaceas to sustainability and can gain further
insight from earlier development/design projects such as Village Homes
in California . By combining the best of the ideas from these concepts
and supplementing them with further ideas a concept which further
enhances environmental integrity , economic vitality , and social well -
being is developed. However, such a concept is only useful if it can
be successfully implemented. Thus, prominent barriers to sustainable
community development/design such as uncertainty over cost and
marketability , and inadequate regulations / guidelines to allow for or
promote alternative methods of development/design must be overcome.
One method of achieving this is through the use of the performance
point system which is devised here. Regardless of the method of
implementation used to enhance the environmental integrity , economic
vitality , and social well-being of a community, it is clear that
immediate action is required . Without it, the quality of life of North
Americans will continue to deteriorate and sustainability will not be
realized .
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:LACETR/oai:collectionscanada.gc.ca:BVAU.2429/5816 |
| Date | 05 1900 |
| Creators | Laurien, Jeff |
| Source Sets | Library and Archives Canada ETDs Repository / Centre d'archives des thèses électroniques de Bibliothèque et Archives Canada |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Electronic Thesis or Dissertation |
| Relation | UBC Retrospective Theses Digitization Project [http://www.library.ubc.ca/archives/retro_theses/] |
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