Biting the land that feeds us
Re “What If?” (April 16).
While shooting for a new and improved Toronto is to be applauded, we must also pay attention to what’s happening to the land that feeds it. Our precious farmlands are being destroyed at a shocking rate in order to accommodate sub-divisions, shopping malls, condominiums and office towers. Real estate developers assure us here’s no need to worry because Canada is so big we can afford to ape urban nightmares like New York and Los Angeles. What these developers never mention of course is that most of Canada consists of water and non-arable land, and as a result of our diminishing farmlands, we are paying more and more on imported fruits and vegetables that we could be growing ourselves. While we have a burgeoning population, and since people can’t live in trees, we must have houses, apartments, offices etc. But we can have these things, without destroying arable lands, by better utilizing the vacant land within Toronto’s borders. And it’s surprising how much empty space has been created by the flight of industry to the third world. Much of this space is currently being turned into huge power centers and Cineplexes that could well have been constructed underground. The popularity of Montreal’s Place Ville Marie and Toronto’s own subterranean city are proof that people are willing to work and shop underground. Projects that require massive acreage, such as airports and sports stadiums, could be located on scrub land miles away from built-up areas, and made accessible to the public by rapid-transit systems. In addition to building down, we should also build higher. If the business towers and hotels in places like Scarborough and Etobicoke were 70 stories plus, instead of 20 to 30, thousands of acres of good land would be saved for food production. However, the destruction of our farmlands will continue at an ever-increasing pace unless we wake up and force the politicians to write up new zoning laws that will put their protection ahead of urban sprawl. There are only three ways to go in expanding our cities: Up, down, and out. And while sprawling would be less expensive in the short run, going up and down would be better for all of us in the long run.
William Bedford
