Complete Communities and Climate Change

For those of you struggling with how we can possibly get to an 80% reduction in carbon emissions by 2050 - consider the value of complete communities.

Here's one definition of complete communities, from the Growth Plan for the Greater Golden Horseshoe, 2006:

Complete communities meet people's needs for daily living throughout an entire lifetime by providing convenient access to an appropriate mix of jobs, local services, a full range of housing, and community infrastructure including affordable housing, schools, recreation and open space for their residents. Convenient access to public transportation and options for safe, non-motorized travel is also provided.

There's an even simpler way of looking at it. Think of a complete community as being your local village -- an urban village. A village is a place where you can find most everything you need, and you can walk to get there. An urban village is a vibrant neighbourhood within a city or town, and a great city is made up of many urban villages.

In short, complete communities rock! They are great places to live, and at the same time they can drastically reduce the distances and need for commuting and shopping by car.

In our world of silos, we need to form a strong bridge between climate plans and urban plans.

For more information, see the recent newsletter of the Ontario Smart Growth Network.