Peter Calthorpe is in Markham, Ontario working on, in his words, 'the highest manifestation of transit-oriented development I have been involved in.'
"He's referring to Langstaff, a new-style urban community proposed for a 57-hectare site south of Highway 7 between Yonge St. and Bayview Ave.
The scheme, approved by Markham council last week, will be highrise, mixed-use and pedestrian-friendly. Organized around transit – new subway lines and expanded bus service – Langstaff represents the new face of suburbia, which is no suburbia at all.
In other words, it is urban.
'We've had a 50-year experiment with sprawl,' Calthorpe argues. "Now it's over. Everything's changing. There's a huge demographic shift happening. If you include externalities and eliminate subsidies, sprawl is not affordable. The key to unlocking the potential is transit.'"
Read the full story: Transit hubs to shape urban pocket in Markham
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Rutgers University, Edward J. Bloustein School of Planning and Public Policy
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University of Michigan School for Environment and Sustainability (SEAS)
Hunter College, City University of New York (CUNY)
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