To expand the economy in ways that will enhance labour productivity, investing in cities is essential to attract companies offering high-paying, quality jobs.Getty Images
From greenhouse gas emissions to labour productivity and economic growth, many of Canada’s most pressing problems could be addressed through infrastructure already in place, stakeholders say.
What’s missing, said panelists at a recent summit in Ottawa, held by the Canadian Urban Institute (CUI), is the collaboration between stakeholders and all levels of government required to make it happen.
“Unless we start with action on the ground, right now, we’re going to miss all the targets we’ve pledged towards sustainability and climate change,” said Ursula Eicker, professor of building, civil and environmental engineering at Concordia University and holder of the Canada Excellence Research Chair in Smart, Sustainable and Resilient Communities and Cities.
Prof. Eicker was also among numerous contributors to CUI’s first State of Canada’s Cities report, in which she wrote: “The vast majority of the buildings we will need by 2050 are already built. The challenge is that they need to be converted to efficient, zero-emission standards while maintaining the comfort and safety of people facing emerging climate change disasters like flooding, fire, sea-level rise, drought and heat waves.
“We need an approach to construction that transforms low-performing buildings into low-carbon buildings without disrupting their use.”
Along with developers and financiers, architects, engineers, academic researchers, city officials and policy makers all hold an integral role in changing business models and adopting a new way forward. Prof. Eicker pointed out that the structural features of real estate have not significantly innovated in almost half a century, while current regulations and incentives do not support transformative retrofits.
Meanwhile, skyrocketing interest rates paired with higher construction costs are affecting affordability and putting new projects at risk.
We need an approach to construction that transforms low-performing buildings into low-carbon buildings without disrupting their use.
— Ursula Eicker, professor of building, civil and environmental engineering, Concordia University
“Land is complicated. Building on it is complicated, and so is getting approval,” said panelist Stéphan Déry, president and chief executive officer of Canada Lands Company. “It takes anywhere from four to seven years to dispose of a federal asset. Then you have to get a concept plan approved by the city that could take up to six years, and then you need time for rezoning and permitting.”
Mr. Déry said they currently hold more than 1,000 acres of development land across the country, in addition to now-empty downtown office buildings as tenants have shifted to remote and hybrid work. “So how can we work with governments to ease the conversion of some of these buildings? That’s where I think the collaboration is so important, not just in ways of thinking, but also the desire to move fast, especially in the middle of the crisis that we live in,” he said.
“Because we’ll never get over it if we don’t move faster right now.”
In addition to the affordable housing crisis, Canada is currently facing “huge” economic challenges, said Scott Stirrett, founder and CEO of Venture for Canada. “Our labour productivity has declined in 12 out of the last 13 quarters, while OECD (Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development) is predicting Canada will be the lowest-performing advanced economy in the next four decades,” he said.
To expand the economy in ways that will enhance labour productivity, Mr. Stirrett said investing in cities is essential to attract companies offering high-paying, quality jobs. “This will ultimately enhance all our prosperity. If we have cities that folks do not want to live in, that are unaffordable, with declining quality of life and crumbling transportation systems, this impedes our ability to develop the kind of knowledge economy that will sustain Canada’s future,” he said.
The future is also dependent on the capacity of towns and cities to adapt constantly to citizens’ ever-changing needs, said Charles-Albert Ramsay, economics instructor at Dawson College and Kiuna Institution, a First Nations college in Odanak, Que.
He urged city stakeholders to identify, catalogue and publicize their stock of old, underused and adaptive buildings. “Ensure that community groups, businesses or government agencies that need space and could act as an anchor tenant are engaged as a means of financing the renovations needed to get the space going,” he wrote in State of Canada’s Cities.
Mr. Ramsay also called for the conversion of legacy industrial buildings to affordable maker spaces, where small and medium-sized businesses can supply goods and services at manageable prices – from making furniture for homes to welding fences for local schools.
Reusing old buildings for new business is not a new idea, Mr. Ramsay pointed out. “The old Nortel building in Montreal, now called Nordelec, is home to hundreds of small businesses, including a television production company, an advertising firm and an engineering consultancy.
“Policies and legal changes that support these approaches will ensure that as our cities age, they will continue to actively contribute to our collective well-being,” he added.
Creativity will also play a vital role in problem-solving in the real estate sector, said panelist Ana Bailão, head of affordable housing and public affairs for development company and major Canadian office landlord Dream Unlimited Corp.
Dream is the first real estate company in Canada to receive funds from the Canada Infrastructure Bank (CIB) as part of the Commercial Building Retrofits Initiative.
The CIB’s $136.6-million investment will fund Dream’s decarbonization initiative in 19 building retrofits across Ontario and Saskatchewan, with a long-term net-zero goal by 2035.
“We need to look at how we can leverage each other’s participation in this ecosystem,” Ms. Bailão said. “These are the innovative solutions we need to tackle the challenges of the day, the climate changes and the affordability issues we’re all dealing with.”