[MarchHare]

Originally Posted by GGG

Your New Brunswick neighbourhood is far less sustainable the 2nd burb

Oh, no question. I wasn't posting my childhood neighbourhood as a paragon of sustainable development, but rather as an example of a community where people would actually like to live because the homes have yards large enough for their kids to play. This is what people envision when they say they want to move to a house with a yard, but neighbourhoods like that just don't exist in Calgary. Instead what we have is the worst of all worlds: all the drawbacks of low-density suburban development without any of the perks of having large yards with room to live and play.

I think you pictures ignores parks. As a person who lives in a suburban cookie cutter neighbourhood I disagree with this sentiment that there is no place for kids to play.

I didn't purposely go fishing on Google Maps for a community with no nearby parks. I just chose that photo at random as being typical of a Calgary suburb. Suppose you lived in one of those homes from the second image. Would you let a six or seven year old go to the nearest park (not pictured off-screen) to play without adult supervision?

Also, high-density neighbourhoods have parks too. In fact, through economies of scale, inner city residents likely have more park space near their homes than most suburbanites have. My condo in the Beltline has two parks (one with a playground) and a large schoolyard within a three minute walk of my front door.

Putting up a picture of the worst urban design in the 50s of large lots and low density as something good seems like the opposite of what is desired.

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You can’t complain about car infrastructure dominating and then claim the 1st photo is better than the 2nd photo.

I'm not saying it was good. I'm just saying it was desirable and represents the idyllic image people have in their heads when they picture living in a home with a yard. Personally, I think both example communities represent unsustainable urban planning that leads to high municipal taxes and car dependency. But at least the first one also offers a decent quality-of-life for families with children.