Editor:
Aren’t you just a little bit bored of the “same old” solutions to the housing problem that affects all income levels? Homes in the sky for Metro Vancouver are becoming a blight. The towers look like grain silos that you see across the Prairies.
They aren’t interesting to look at, and their amenities are almost non-existent. Physically and visually, bylaws have allowed towers to be built out to the property line. Schools and daycares need more care in development of buildings and play areas. (Investors should not be part of the equation.)
If you want democratic solutions to the so-called housing crisis, I believe this vital work has already been done. Just check in with the excellent schools of architecture in our country. Extreme density, as in Hong Kong, might be OK with them, but not here. Low density, meaning to the tops of tree canopies and/or a cap on towers no more than 20 stories, is more humane.
Planners need to consider community safety: the more towers, the more crime; the higher the tower, the less neighbours engage with each other. And so on, and so on, and so on ...
Douglas McSavaney
