001-43_EJQR9_SUMMER26_PT - Flipbook - Page 18
Yet another slow emergency is Canada’s cities are paying the price for getting
greyer. As StatsCAN reports, urban greenspace has fallen by eight per cent
nationally since 2000, including a drop of over 10 per cent in the country’s
larger urban centres.
A trend that can be attributed to the fact that as cities seek to densify, it isn’t
always density done well due to the fact that downtown construction projects
aren’t o昀昀set with green infrastructure requirements. And in some instances,
as in the case of what has happened in the wake of Ontario’s Bill 60, green
roof bylaws in cities like Toronto have been scrapped.
CRAIG KIELBURGER
In addition to exacerbating the heat island e昀昀ect, the impervious “grey
canyons” we’re creating in our cities are becoming 昀氀ood multipliers that
threaten to overwhelm existing sewer infrastructure.
And if those compounding challenges aren’t daunting enough, city dwellers
are also faced with urban air pollution from vehicle emissions, construction
and industry, now made more acute due to wild昀椀re smoke, which has
become an annual threat.
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