04-26-2022, 01:41 AM
(04-25-2022, 08:29 PM)nms Wrote: As a control, it would also useful to know how much construction has occurred outside the 800m LRT zones. If the construction has been higher to the LRT stations, well done everyone, now lets talk about affordable housing. If the levels of construction across the Region don't show much difference, then it might be said that the LRT didn't make as much of difference as other factors that have affected construction (eg pressure from the Toronto housing market, available land, local employment market etc)
This isn't a completely unbiased "control"...development is localized for many reasons...is the development near the LRT occurring because of the LRT or because Google (and other major employers) are located there? Is development away from the LRT occurring less because there is no LRT, or because there are more NIMBYs and countryside boundaries?
The LRT was intentionally put near nodes which were ripe for intensification, and then zoned that way. It's all well and good to look at data, but it's basically impossible to make it objective.
I used to work for Google and fully bought into the "metrics above all else" beliefs, but I'm over that now. We should build the future we want, and data should be used to support and refine a vision, it shouldn't be the vision. But I guess I'm just proselytizing now.