Revenge of the Downtown

 No I’m not talking about any warfare, or even about Downtown Kingston. But urban sprawl and the increasing suburbanization of places has had some serious environmental impacts, to say the least, as trees are felled to make way for low-density housing and roadways and supporting amenities (shopping, eating, and schooling).

And the impacts haven’t always been environmental. Gridlocked traffic stretching across multiple highway lanes for miles in the morning and evening is a common phenomenon. The impacts of this is also environmental (fuel consumption and emissions), but also economic (time wasted in traffic), and extends across to suburbia itself (property values, empty shopping malls, etc). Expansive and sprawling cities also tax a municipality’s service provisions (public transport, trash collection, police and emergency services, etc).

A very good example of this is Detroit 2009. Detroit is nearly 140 square-mile city that once had a population of nearly 2 million; now it’s just over 900,000. The decline of Detroit is more of an economic issue than anything else, but the sprawl itself has had serious implications on what to do.

Compact urban places, however, don’t suffer quite from sprawl, and the benefits can be economic and environmental. High density housing and land use help maximize available land, reduce transportation costs for simple commuting and everyday deliveries, etc. Sure, traffic congestion would be more acute, but that’s where effective public transportation becomes essential. And people could always walk or bike to their destinations, an activity that, by itself, has health benefits (I’ve always wondered why people would drive miles to the gym to use the treadmill, but that’s another blog sometime).

The appeal of suburbia is obvious. Certainly in Kingston, the suburbs offer nice city views, more yard space, etc, not to mention to avoid more crime-ridden areas in the inner-city. Originally, high-income people lived close to the city centre, and poorer people had to live on the outskirts. As automobiles became available, however, richer people could afford to live further away from the city centre, leaving property behind which eventually became occupied by poorer families, or abandoned altogether, reducing whole areas’ property values.

And now, there is a very important effort underway to revitalize Downtown Kingston, hoping to transform the once-vibrant city centre and recapture past glory. A text book example of flight from the Kingston city centre is the fact that we actually built a second Central Business District in New Kingston uptown!

Let the revenge begin! Bring back the inner city to its past glory. I know the National Housing Trust is planning and developing urban infill housing projects. Great move! Take back downtown from the criminals. Stop pushing Kingston further and further into the suburbs. Stop all the traffic from choking the roads any time of day.