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Toronto’s aging apartments lack proper insulation, and their exposed slab edges
(with their tell-tale “stripes”) make the buildings incredibly inefficient – 20
percent less efficient than a single-family home.
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One of the most effective ways to reduce energy consumption is thermal over-cladding;
it’s like a winter coat for a naked building. A new shell of insulation, rain screening
and exterior cladding, is applied over the existing building. The over-cladding can also
support high-speed internet cables, garbage separation chutes, or even clean energy
installations like photovoltaics.
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A typical 200 unit building is responsible for as much as 1,200 tonnes of greenhouse gases a year. Built in an era of cheap energy, where conservation was not a consideration, we must now make investments in these buildings to help in the fight against climate change.
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Aging concrete slab apartments are well-suited for green retrofits that will make significant carbon reductions and reduce operating costs. Clean energy installations, grey-water recycling, and “smart” metering are all options to be considered.
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Reducing greenhouse gas emissions isn’t the only concern. Rising energy prices make local and renewable energy solutions more important than ever before. Reducing our environmental impact not only helps the planet, it helps save money.
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Apartment Neighbourhoods – clusters of apartments close together – can be connected for district and renewable-energy installation, including geothermal heating and cooling or co-generation, turbine installations, solar hot-water heating, green roofs, storm water retention, and grey water recycling. At a district level, large installations could someday make it possible to take them off the city’s grid.
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Built for a young urban population during a period of incredible growth in the ’60s and ’70s, these buildings now house some of Toronto’s poorest communities. In many cases, large families are living in one- or two-bedroom apartments.
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Within the existing buildings, apartments could be combined both vertically and horizontally to create family-sized units, while open space presents the possibility for new housing. This would help reduce sprawl, and provide more options to allow residents to stay in their communities throughout their lives – from young families to seniors.
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Incentives from the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation called for up to 90 percent open space around high-density developments. Today, the hectares of land surrounding these towers typically features surface parking and unused open fields surrounded by chain-link fence. They are abandoned – hardly the lush green spaces that were originally imagined.
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A generation ago, the open space in these neighbourhoods was used for agriculture. Food production could be combined with local composting programs, youth training, seasonal markets, and community kitchens. These communities could become places of production to offset what they consume.
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Nowhere else in North America will you find dense apartment towers mixed with suburban homes in every part of the city. But many neighbourhoods don’t have convenient access to the services and amenities they need, like fresh food, parks and ravines, child care facilities, community centres, or shops.
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Improved access to natural areas, parks and public spaces, and enhanced public meeting places all contribute to stronger communities. The addition of a mix of uses – new shops, restaurants, or markets – will provide new services, build stronger communities, and reduce the need for car trips.
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Toronto’s apartment neighbourhoods are on some of the busiest public transit routes on the city, but as the city has grown, we have struggled to keep up with demand. We need new investment to build high-speed connections across the city.
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Toronto’s Transit City plan will build a series of high-speed light rail lines along Toronto’s busiest surface routes, creating a network that reaches every neighbourhood in the city. New high-speed transit will promote growth, and support the thousands of residents who live there today.
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