Low carbon living: an alternative (sub)urban housing framework for a rapidly growing city

Abstract

Post-war immigration, along with the Baby Boom dramatically increased metropolitan populations generating a demand for new housing where suburbanization was the solution. It is in part responsible for the contemporary cities that we live in today, and that are now at the root of the climate crisis. Suburban developments imposed challenges of disconnections between neighbourhoods, services, and amenities within cities that were solved with the implementation of vehicles. This thesis project explores new housing strategies that emphasize how low carbon architecture and lifestyles can be implemented into growing cities to minimize the impacts on climate change and avoid the rampant disconnections of the urban fabric. A sustainable urban development framework has been developed to create a denser and more liveable neighbourhood in the context of Barrie, Ontario, a rapidly growing bedroom community outside of Toronto.