04-25-2023, 07:39 AM
(03-04-2023, 08:35 PM)ac3r Wrote: This is why we need more midrise apartment blocks which can add density yet mitigate the health and social issues related to living in higher towers and skyscrapers. I think issues like these are often forgotten by people who promote high density. They're only looking to solve certain issues (loss of green space, farmland etc) by mitigating sprawl and assuming high density is the key, but it comes at a cost.
Pack the kids studying and young graduates in these existing dense areas like this whilst building midrise buildings and some single family homes elsewhere which provide a better environment for raising families. Balance is the key, but it feels like Waterloo only goes in either polar opposite of SFH's and these towers up to 25 floors (which is the maximum height they allow in the city).
What is your take on how to incentivize more of this? As someone who agrees, I feel like this problem is often presented but what to do about it is less obvious, beyond a sense of the barriers (still too much red tape meaning 6 or 20 stories is about the same; as-of-right zoning; NIMBYs complaining no matter what; dollars still sloshing around post low interest rates meaning small units have investor demand).