Urban Planning and Constructive Conflict
The differences between European and Canadian cultures manifest themselves in the built form of our cities. Canadian cities have compact, dense central business districts (CBDs) full of soaring residential and office towers and suburbs that spread out from the centre for kilometres with not enough density to support proper transit, collaborative commercial spaces, or cultural attractions. European cities on the other hand seem to sit somewhere between what a Canadian would consider a “downtown” and a “suburb”, with ubiquitous medium-rise medium density developments and traditional architecture resulting in a uniquely European type of urban sprawl, but always linked together with outstanding public transportation infrastructure. None of these built forms are perfect, but by mixing things up in novel ways, we can provide housing that meets everyone’s needs and build communities that work for different people in different ways. This is especially important as technology continues to evolve and change how we humans interact and build community with one another.