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diff --git a/html/notes/build_towns.html b/html/notes/build_towns.html new file mode 100644 index 0000000..30c20da --- /dev/null +++ b/html/notes/build_towns.html @@ -0,0 +1,307 @@ +<!doctype html> + +<html class="html-note-page" lang="en"> +<head> + <meta charset="utf-8"> + <meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1"> + + <title>Can we just build walkable towns?</title> + <meta name="dcterms.date" content="2025-04-08" /> + + <link rel="stylesheet" href="/assets/style.css"> + <link rel="icon" type="image/x-icon" href="/assets/favicon.svg"> + <link rel="icon" type="image/png" href="/assets/favicon.png"> + <link rel="alternate" type="application/atom+xml" title="Fryzek Concepts" href="/feed.xml"> +</head> + +<body> + <div class="header-bar"> + <a href="/index.html"> + <img src="/assets/favicon.svg" alt="frycon logo"> + </a> + <div class="header-links"> + <a href="/about.html" class="header-link">About</a> + <a rel="me" href="https://mastodon.social/@hazematman" class="header-link">Social</a> + <a href="https://git.fryzekconcepts.com" class="header-link">Code</a> + </div> + </div> + <main> +<div class="page-title-header-container"> + <h1 class="page-title-header">Can we just build walkable towns?</h1> + <div class="page-info-container"> + <div class="plant-status"> + <img src="/assets/budding.svg"> + <div class="plant-status-text"> + <p>budding</p> + </div> + </div> + <div class="page-info-date-container"> + <p class="page-info-date">Published: 2025-04-08</p> + <p class="page-info-date">Last Edited: 2025-04-08</p> + </div> + </div> + </div> +<div class="note-divider"></div> +<div class="main-container"> + <div class="note-body"> +<p>For the last year I’ve been living in the small city of Puerto de la +Cruz (PDLC) in Tenerife. PDLC is an interesting place for a number of +reasons, but one of those reasons is that fact that it’s not very big. +The city has a population of ~30k people in an area of 8.73 km² +according to <a +href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Puerto_de_la_Cruz">wikipedia</a>. +Because of this, its really not that hard to walk around the city, as +long as you avoid walking in the extremely hilly areas. Although I’ve +been loving living here, my wife has been very home sick and longing to +move back to Canada and be closer to family. So lately we’ve been +looking at areas in KW, Ottawa, and Montréal to move back to. During +this search I’ve found it increasingly depressing to evaluate places in +Canada against my beloved PDLC. Even ignoring things like transit it +seems very difficult to find walkable neighbourhoods or towns where you +don’t have to cross a big stroad just to get to a grocery store.</p> +<figure> +<img src="/assets/build_a_town/pdlc_2.jpg" +alt="Photo of the lower part of PDLC from Parque Taoro" /> +<figcaption aria-hidden="true">Photo of the lower part of PDLC from +Parque Taoro</figcaption> +</figure> +<div class="gallery"> +<p><img src="/assets/build_a_town/pdlc_cover_1.jpg" /> <img +src="/assets/build_a_town/pdlc_cover_2.jpg" /> <img +src="/assets/build_a_town/pdlc_cover_3.jpg" /> <img +src="/assets/build_a_town/pdlc_cover_4.jpg" /> <img +src="/assets/build_a_town/pdlc_cover_6.jpg" /> <img +src="/assets/build_a_town/pdlc_cover_7.jpg" /></p> +<p><img src="/assets/build_a_town/pdlc_cover_5.jpg" /></p> +</div> +<p>This got me thinking, if PDLC is so small and walkable, couldn’t we +just do the same thing in Canada? Why do I have to move to big city to +have a walkable community where I can easily access anything I need. Not +to mention everyone in Canada moving to the big cities is contributing +to the housing crisis in those cities and helping make them less +affordable to everyone. I think the biggest problem with this approach +is NIMBYs, but what if we said screw that and just made our own town or +neighbourhood?</p> +<p><img src="https://i.imgflip.com/9q6j8h.jpg" /></p> +<p>I sort of lied before about PDLC being 8.73 km². I meant that’s the +actual area of the city, but I hardly go anywhere in the city that is up +hill from the center. If I go to google maps and measure out the area of +the city I’m going to regularly its actually slightly smaller than 0.5 +km². Looking at more detailed population breakdown from the 2024 census, +this area also only has a population of 8000-10,000 people. In that +space I can go to multiple grocery stores, my doctor, the bus station, a +couple electronic stores, a couple co-working spaces, multiple +pharmacies, a couple hardware store, and countless cafés and +restaurants. If we had kids right now, in that same area there would be +the elementary school and high school, and they would likely be able to +walk to them on their own as there are pedestrian paths to both schools. +There is also a small shopping mall with some chain clothing stores. +Looking these numbers up really surprised. The area by the ocean I’m +talking about here also has two smaller waste water treatment plants. +Basically in an area of less than a kilometer by a kilometer you can +access everything you need, and fit enough people to have the area be +economically viable to sustain the people living there, and have +utilities to ensure that people can actually live there.</p> +<p>Now what do people in PDLC do for work? Well they either work in +town, in one of the surrounding towns or commute to the bigger cities of +La Laguna or Santa Cruz to work. Fortunately for PDLC there is a decent +tourism sector given the natural beauty of the area and the nice weather +year round, thankfully for me and the residents its not a big as the +tourism in the south of the island. For people who commute there is a +bus available every ~1 hour or so to get to La Laguna or Santa Cruz. +People in PDLC do own cars but from the people I know most don’t need to +use their cars on a regularly basis. Everything here is not “super +cramped” either, you don’t need to live in a shoe box. We’re able to +rent a ~1200 sqft 3 bedroom apartment that’s all of one floor in a low +rise building of 4 apartments for less than what we payed in Canada to +rent an ~800 sqft 1 bedroom condo in uptown Waterloo.</p> +Just for laughs, here is the area of PDLC overlaid on the experimental +farm in Ottawa. 0.5km² is tiny! Its about the size of a neighbourhood in +Ottawa. +<div class="gallery"> +<p><img src="/assets/build_a_town/area_of_pdlc.png" /> <img +src="/assets/build_a_town/pdlc_over_ottawa.png" /></p> +</div> +<p>With the thought of having to move from PDLC, I’ve been dreading the +idea of moving back to somewhere in Canada where I need to drive to do +most of my daily errands. In Canada its normal to hear about people +wanting to break free from the “grind”. Saving up money, buying an acre +or two of land in the country and living the rural life. This got me +thinking, what if someone wanted to get away from the commute and the +traffic, get an acre or two and build a walkable neighbourhood? What +would that cost, what would it look like? Unable to get this thought out +of my head I decided to try and answer these questions.</p> +<p>Depending on where you’re looking you can find a number of different +prices, but I found a nice 3/4 acre lot in Ottawa and got to work. I +tried to find a housing design that would be more space efficient but +pleasant to live in, and I found this <a +href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0378778811005883?via%3Dihub">paper</a> +that has the below town house design. This design would give you around +~1200 sqft per town house would be a very livable amount of space and +would give small families enough space to live there as well. I made +little model to see what things would look like and I think you could +realistically fit around ~18 of these town houses on the footprint of +the plot. Of course with a space this small I think you’d still need +room for parking, because let’s not kid ourselves, this lot is in the +middle of nowhere and I have serious doubts you could sustain a doctors +office, grocery store, and other amenities in a neighbourhood of only 18 +people. Also fitting the lot with 18 houses doesn’t leave a lot of room +for there to be businesses, meaning that this would also just be a car +dependent development. Anyone living there would realistically have to +commute for work, the grocery store, the doctors office, etc. Honestly +modeling this made me feel a little defeated. Trying to beat the “grind” +on a 3/4 acre lot isn’t going to cut it.</p> +<div class="gallery"> +<p><img src="/assets/build_a_town/dutch_house_footprint.png" /> <img +src="/assets/build_a_town/townhouse_lot.png" /></p> +</div> +<p>So I decided to go back to the drawing board and think a little +bigger. After all this is just for fun. Lets see if we could bring PDLC +to Canada (without the palm trees of course). Could you buy 0.5 sqkm² in +Ontario? How much would it cost? Would it be close to anything or in the +middle of nowhere in northern Ontario? Well I took a look, and its a bit +harder to find stuff online when you’re looking at land this big but I +did find an old listing for 130 acres (close to 0.5 sqkm²) near <a +href="https://www.moffatdunlap.com/ontario-real-estate/All-Real-Estate-Listings/130-Acres-King/1053/0">King, +Ontario that sold for ~$4.5 million</a>. This sounds like a ton of +money, and it would be if it was single person buying it, but I want to +think bigger. What if we had a whole town of people buy it, what we it +cost then? Using PDLC as my reference, lets say that we wanted to build +a town of 5000 people. What would it cost then?</p> +<figure> +<img src="/assets/build_a_town/king_ontario.jpg" +alt="King, ON 130 acre lot" /> +<figcaption aria-hidden="true">King, ON 130 acre lot</figcaption> +</figure> +<p>Well some quick math shows that each person would need to pay $900 to +contribute to the land purchase. Wait only $900? That’s wild! For less +than the price of an iphone 16 you could be the proud owner of 1/5000th +of a town that’s just 1 hour north of Toronto. But wait that’s just the +land, a town would need water, waste treatment, electricity, and a bunch +of other stuff. What would that cost? I’ll try to look at waste water +treatment because I think that might be the most expensive of all the +utilities that would need to be sorted out. <a +href="https://www.statcan.gc.ca/o1/en/plus/5814-world-water-day-eh">Stats +Canada says</a> that on average a person consumes 223 litres of water a +day. So with a population of 5000 we could expected somewhere around 1 +million litres of waste waster to be produced every day. I’m sure if I +was more versed in the subject it would be easier to figure out how much +this costs but I see a wide variety of numbers for how much this could +cost, with numbers from $600k to $10 million. But whatever lets be +conservative and say it costs $10 million to build a waste water +treatment plant, that would only be $2000 per person to fund the +development of waste water plant! Lets say other utilities like fresh +water, electricity hookup, main road hook up are similar expense. In +that case you’re looking at ~10k per person in a town of 5000 people. +This is still within the realm of mere mortals!</p> +<p>Now lets start talking about the elephant in the room, actually +building the damn houses. How expensive would that be? Again I think +this would be easier if I was more well versed in the topic but online +you find numbers all over the place from $200 per sqft all the way up to +$500 sqft. For purposes here I’m going to assume its on the lower end of +the spectrum for a few reasons. First things are being built densely and +close together so there is some economies of scale. Second I imagine to +be more economical only a couple of designs could be reused all over +meaning their could be bulk purchases of materials and labour could more +easily be shared. I’m not a builder or a developer though so I have no +idea if that’s accurate at all. But assume the price is somewhere around +$250 per sqft. If we’re building a bunch of ~1200sqft 2,3 bedroom +apartments that’s around ~$300k per apartment. Now we’re getting into +the big numbers of the per person investment. But if we try to compare +this to <a +href="https://www.realtor.ca/real-estate/28065045/313-32-church-street-king-schomberg-schomberg">similar +listings</a> in King, Ontario we find that for ~1200 sqft of space the +price is double or more! And those homes aren’t even in walkable +neighbourhoods! Now likely we would build some bigger units for bigger +families and smaller units for individuals or young professionals, but +lets stick to the $300k on average.</p> +<p>Putting these numbers down feels wild to me. If we add the +infrastructure cost and some buffer we’re looking at $350k per home. +This is half the average sale price of a home in Ontario! Now I know +what you’re thinking. This is great and all but what will these people +do? No sense in building a community if no one can afford to live there. +Well of course there would be some jobs in town. We’d want a grocery +store or two, a couple doctors, dentists, hardware store. Basically +anything that you might need on a regular basis. These would employ a +few people in the community but I imagine this would be the range of +~100s of jobs, nowhere near our community size of 5000. So what will the +other ~4900 do? Well King, Ontario is close to Toronto and Barrie, could +they work there? Now we start to get to a big problem. How will we have +a walkable, affordable community if ~4900 people need to commute outside +of town for work? If we stick to the tried and true method in Canada we +would just end up building a modern car dependent suburb.</p> +<p>Well let’s not give up yet! I recall watching an <a +href="https://www.reddit.com/r/ottawa/comments/elskgp/a_bus_for_us_nfb_short_film_1972_frustrated_by_a/">old +documentary of a suburb in Ottawa in the 70s starting their own private +bus line</a> since they got fed up with the state of transit in the +capital. Maybe we could do something like that? Run our own commuter +buses from the town to Toronto, Barrie, and other nearby communities +where the majority of the population have jobs. This isn’t a perfect +solution as we’d need a lot of buses to transit ~4900 people. A train +would be more ideal, but even in my imagination I can’t picture that +happening. Perhaps the community could tailor itself to the “modern +digital worker” who can work from home? That feels like it would be +unsustainable. A real town needs some kind of realistic economy to +support it. I think the only realistic option would be people commuting +to Toronto, Barrier, and other nearby communities either by their own +car or by a town run transpiration system. If cars can be kept in under +ground garages or dedicated parking structures they shouldn’t effect the +walkability too much. This would of course be more expensive to build. +If we try to keep PDLC as a model, there is some on street parking here, +but its perhaps one of the things I like least about the city. Because +where it exists the cars go right to the curb and affect the visibility +of pedestrians trying to cross the street. Perhaps we can follow modern +“daylighting” recommendations and build curbs so cars that park on the +street don’t block the line of sight of pedestrians and vehicles. I +think it would be impossible to have a totally car free community (and +I’m not 100% I’d even want one). But if we can keep car ownership down +to just those that actually need a car, I think it would help with +keeping the community dense, affordable and most importantly walkable. +I’m not sure what the car ownership statistics look like for PDLC, but +Spain as whole only has <a +href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_and_territories_by_motor_vehicles_per_capita">642 +cars per 1000 people</a>, so maybe we can strive for having ~3000 cars +or less in town.</p> +Examples of car ownership in PDLC +<div class="gallery"> +<p><img src="/assets/build_a_town/pdlc_cars_parked.jpg" /> <img +src="/assets/build_a_town/pdlc_cars_parked_2.jpg" /> <img +src="/assets/build_a_town/pdlc_cars_parked_3.jpg" /></p> +</div> +<p>What would this town look like? I imagine like a lot of the old +downtowns of other Ontario towns. PDLC doesn’t really have huge condo +towers with 100s of units. Most buildings are small 3-5 story buildings +with typically one whole unit per floor. There are a few towers, but +were talking about 10s of towers among a couple thousand low rise +buildings. You’ll also see that most businesses are in the same +buildings just occupying the street level part. There are a few +commercial only buildings, but the vast majority of buildings are both +residential and commercial. I think if we could replicate these design +throughout the whole town without building low density “suburbs” with +detached single family homes we could keep the whole town walkable and +fit it in the 0.5 sqkm². After all if they could do it in Spain why +can’t we do it here in Canada?</p> +<p>At the end of the day this is all fantasy, but it feels more +realistic that I thought possible. Sadly I don’t even have 5000 friends +on facebook, let alone how to become a developer, how to build roads, +water treatment, infrastructure and housing. But it was interesting to +think about. I suspect if you found the right land, and enough people we +could be building affordable housing in Canada in the range of ~$350k +per house by just building a dense town. Maybe people would even want to +live there?</p> +<p>P.S. If you know of a walkable town or neighbourhood somewhere in +this area, please tell me about it! You can reach me by <a +href="mailto:lucas.fryzek@fryzekconcepts.com">e-mail</a> or <a +href="https://mastodon.social/@hazematman">mastodon</a>. Bonus points +if:</p> +<ul> +<li>It’s not Toronto</li> +<li>I can easily walk to a grocery store even if its small</li> +<li>It would be a good place for raising a family</li> +<li>Price of housing is closer to Ottawa or KW</li> +</ul> +<p><img src="/assets/build_a_town/where_to_live.jpg" /></p> + </div> +</div> </main> +</body> +</html> |