Imagine two neighbourhoods with the same number of people. In the first, a senior who uses a wheelchair can roll to the pharmacy on smooth sidewalks, a teenager can bike to a part-time job, families can afford the rent, and tall trees keep the streets cool in a heat wave. In the second, everything requires a car, rents eat up most of people's income and the streets bake on hot afternoons. Both are "communities", but only one is truly liveable. This final lesson brings the unit together: what makes a community sustainable for the environment, for the economy and for the people who live there, and how new designs, including designs rooted in First Nations, Inuit and Métis cultures, are changing what Canadian communities look like.
Issues and strategies
| Issue | Why it matters | Government and community strategies |
|---|---|---|
| Housing affordability | Housing is usually considered affordable when it costs less than 30 percent of a household's before-tax income; in many Canadian cities rents and prices are well above that for many households | More homes of all types (missing middle, rentals); non-profit and co-op housing; rent supplements; federal Housing Accelerator Fund money tied to zoning changes; Indigenous-led housing |
| Homelessness | People without stable housing face serious health risks and shorter lives; causes include high rents, low incomes, mental illness, addiction, family breakdown and discrimination | Housing First (giving people a stable home first, then support); Canada's homelessness strategy, Reaching Home (since 2019); shelters and outreach; supportive housing. Approaches and their costs are debated |
| Accessibility | In 2022, 27 percent of Canadians aged 15 and older had a disability that limited their daily activities (Statistics Canada), and everyone's needs change with age or injury | Ontario's Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act (2005), whose goal of an accessible province by 2025 was judged far from met in a 2019 review; universal design; accessible transit |
| Urban heat islands | Pavement and buildings absorb heat, so cities stay hotter than the countryside, especially at night; seniors, outdoor workers and people without air conditioning are most at risk | Tree planting, green and cool (light-coloured) roofs, shade structures, splash pads, cooling centres and heat warnings |
| Stormwater and flooding | Hard surfaces send rain rushing into sewers and streams, causing flooding and pollution | Green infrastructure: rain gardens, bioswales, permeable pavement, green roofs and protected wetlands and ravines |
Green infrastructure
Grey infrastructure is the pipes, sewers and concrete channels that move water away. Green infrastructure uses plants, soil and natural systems to do the same job while adding other benefits: a rain garden soaks up runoff from a roof, a bioswale (a planted ditch) filters water from a parking lot, permeable pavement lets rain soak through, and street trees shade the sidewalk and cool the air. Toronto's 2009 green roof bylaw, the first of its kind in North America, requires many large new buildings to include green roofs (see Climate Change in Canada, Unit 2). Green infrastructure tackles several issues at once: flooding, heat, air quality, habitat and even mental health.
Culturally informed and universal design
Communities are more sustainable when people see their cultures, histories and needs reflected in them. Culturally informed design involves the community in planning from the start and draws on its values, stories, languages and relationships with the land. First Nations, Inuit and Métis designers and communities are leading some of the most innovative projects in Canada.
| Project | What it is | What makes it innovative |
|---|---|---|
| Sen̓áḵw (Vancouver) | A development by the Squamish Nation on its reserve land in Kitsilano, near the Burrard Bridge, planned for about 6,000 rental homes in a set of towers on a site of under 5 ha; the first phase is now renting (2026) | The land was part of a reserve created in 1877; it was sold under pressure and its residents removed in 1913, and part of it was returned to the Squamish Nation through a court settlement in 2000. As federal reserve land, it was planned by the Nation rather than under city zoning, with very high density, few parking spaces for its size, thousands of bicycle stalls and a transit hub, and long-term income for the Nation |
| Canadian Museum of History (Gatineau) | Designed by Douglas Cardinal, an architect of Siksika (Blackfoot) and Métis heritage; opened in 1989 as the Canadian Museum of Civilization and renamed in 2013 | Flowing, curved forms inspired by a landscape shaped by glaciers, wind and water, in contrast to the straight lines of the government buildings across the river |
| Oujé-Bougoumou (northern Québec) | A Cree village built in the early 1990s after decades of forced relocations, planned with Douglas Cardinal | Layout and buildings shaped by Cree culture and community input, with a district heating system fuelled by sawmill waste (Lesson 5) |
| Te Aranga principles (Auckland, New Zealand) | Māori design principles used in planning public spaces and buildings | An international example of making Indigenous identity, language and relationships with the land part of city design |
- Environmental sustainability: compact, green, low-energy design that protects farmland, water and habitat (Lessons 2 to 5).
- Economic sustainability: affordable housing and transportation, local jobs, and infrastructure the community can afford to maintain.
- Social sustainability: safe, accessible, inclusive places where people of every age, ability, income and culture can live well and have a say in decisions.