Ève-Marie Surprenant,
Arch. (OAQ), M. Urb.
In response to current concerns about sustainable development, several municipalities are orienting new housing projects to combine accessibility and sustainability. A reality that changes the notions of purchase price and transportation cost, and which influences the choice of a place of residence.
These new projects, designed to be different from our traditional neighbourhoods of isolated houses, require to analyze the purchase cost while taking into account the access to active and collective transportation, the variety of available services and the quality of the spaces designed for pedestrians. The design of these living environments offers new opportunities that can help reduce the space devoted to the automobile and promote the adoption of healthier lifestyle habits that lower the emission of greenhouse gases. With their more compact built form, these environments are designed to facilitate commuting by walking, cycling and using public transit, thereby leaving the car at home more often and even eliminating the need for a second car.
PODs, TODs, ETC.
Whether developed according to the principles of a POD (Pedestrian Oriented Development) or a Transit Oriented Development (TOD), or whether they claim a green certification, including a LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) certification, the most popular stamp of approval in the real estate market in North America, new housing projects are contributing to the emergence of more sustainable residential communities.
The design of POD and TOD neighbourhoods takes into account the daily movements of people. In a POD, an attempt is made to create a walkable environment for the different social, cultural and functional activities, while the constructed framework of a TOD is densely structured around the main points of access to public transport, particularly the subway stations, train stations and bus terminals.
In both cases, the shops, services or public amenities that residents need are within walking distance of their homes or workplaces. This is what makes these projects attractive because, in addition to the synergy of the various activities that are present, active and collective commutes are planned to be efficient, fast and user-friendly. The strength of this approach is to reconnect with environments with a more human dimension creating an atmosphere, comfort and emotions that make you want to hang around there.
This form of planning can therefore be applied at the scale of a city or a neighbourhood. It can also exist at the scale of a street or even a single building. When it comes to a building, some developers want to think further and frame the design of the project using an evaluation methodology that maximizes all the building’s systems, from its envelope to its mechanical equipment. However, a “green” certification does not necessarily mean that a building is truly “sustainable.”
Indeed, it is possible that once put into service and occupied, a building does not show the theoretical performance estimated at the time of its design, but it still retains its certification. Nevertheless, there is a consensus that green certifications provide a framework for the development of sustainable buildings and that they support the achievement of certain environmental objectives aimed at adapting to climate changes.
A TURN TO TAKE
By creating POD and TOD environments that support diverse active modes of moving around, our communities are more likely to increase their resilience to more disordered weather episodes. These new trends in planning real estate developments also present the advantage of being structured around quality green and public spaces in which a considerable place is given to social life and to activities easily accessible on foot.