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eco-density
DCHP-2 (Oct 2016)
Spelling variants:EcoDensity, Ecodensity, ecodensity
n. — proprietary, British Columbia, Housing
a plan to add more housing to existing urban neighbourhoods to reduce service costs.
Type: 1. Origin — In 2006, then-mayor Sam Sullivan introduced the concept of EcoDensity to Vancouver in response to the city's need to reduce urban sprawl and become more sustainable (see the 2006 quotation). In an unusual move, Sullivan registered the term to the Canadian Intellectual Property Office under his own name (see the 2007 quotations) but the trademark has since been transferred to the City of Vancouver (see CIPO reference). The EcoDensity initiative includes laneway houses and towers.
The term is used most in Canada (see Chart 1) and is found most frequently in British Columbia (see Chart 2).
See: laneway house
The term is protected as EcoDensity, yet the most frequent variant seems to be eco-density. Other variants exist as well, see the spellings above.
Quotations
2006
If Vancouver is to break its addiction to urban sprawl, its neighbourhoods may need to become more densely populated, the mayor said yesterday at an announcement for a new "EcoDensity" initiative.
The main goal of the proposed EcoDensity plan is to reduce Vancouver's "ecological footprint," a calculation of the resources a city consumes based on the planet's ability to sustain the population.
Mayor Sam Sullivan said that if everybody in the world lived the way Vancouverites do, it would take four planets to sustain the population.
"We know that high-density living is actually really good for the environment," he said. "I have a vision that I would like to see for the city . . . that would use less water, less energy, less materials."
The EcoDensity proposal was drawn up by the mayor and a group of prominent academics, environmentalists and community leaders.
2006
Vancouver Mayor Sam Sullivan said on Wednesday he is not at all surprised by the city's continued appeal and growth, and that he is already working on measures to deal with how to best accommodate the burgeoning numbers.
"We are living in a very unsustainable way," he said, taking the opportunity to promote his plan for what he calls municipal "eco density."
2007
Mayor Sam Sullivan's new catchphrase to describe high density housing can be used freely for now -- but if he gets his way he'll soon own the trademark to the word.
The mayor says he wants to protect the word "EcoDensity" so the city can continue to use it to describe his initiative to push for higher density residences throughout Vancouver, not just downtown. [...]
The paperwork to register the word was done even before Sullivan made the announcement in June 2006 that he was pushing for densification as the official city policy. [...] The word EcoDensity was thought up by the mayor's staff in a last-minute brainstorming session.
Even though the $250 fee sent to the trademark office in Quebec was paid with a City of Vancouver cheque, the trademark is in Sullivan's name.
2007
But in this case, Sullivan used the outside law firm of Boughton Law Corporation to apply personally for the trademark three days before he launched the EcoDensity initiative on June 16 last year.
The project's goal is to reduce urban sprawl and create greater density in a way that minimizes the impact on the environment and Vancouver's livability.
2008
Community activists came out in droves in 2008 to protest changes slated for their neighbourhoods.
They packed public hearings about the city's EcoDensity Charter, which, according to the city's director of planning, makes environmental sustainability a primary consideration for density, design and land use. Council passed the charter unanimously in June and in October approved a trial project for 100 laneway cottages across the city.
2008
Sam Sullivan’s Ecodensity Charter (patent pending) has sparked an uproar in communities that were comfortable with their community plans and committed to sustainability.
2010
Laneway houses, sometimes called coach houses, exist in many parts of the world. In Vancouver, they are the spawn of a development policy introduced by Mayor Sam Sullivan called EcoDensity.
As you may know, we all just love EcoDensity except when the "Eco" part drives up the cost of social housing as it did in the Olympic Village. Then we think it is too rich for poor people's housing and should be sold off for a profit. And we like the idea of more "density" except when it happens in our backyard, or in the case of this laneway housing out in Point Grey, in our neighbour's back yard.
2013
Vancouver has also seen a surge in homeowners developing laneway homes. The EcoDensity Initiative - to make the city more sustainable - allows homeowners to renovate their garages into rentals for income.
2014
Kostyniuk said Richmond is facing a momentous time in its history when it comes to saving the Fraser River and green space.
She praised the city's eco-density initiatives, which aims to curb development on agricultural land, but she noted a number of industrial projects that stand to harm the environment such as a planned jet fuel facility, a coal terminal in nearby Surrey, and a proposed expanded oil sands pipeline (Trans Mountain) crossing the river further upstream.
2016
Chinatown received a National Historic Site of Canada designation in 2011. It is the largest historic Chinatown in Canada and one of the largest in North America. Despite this significance, there have been a number of city planning initiatives from EcoDensity in 2007, the Heritage Area Height Review in 2008-9, the Downtown Eastside Local Area Plan of 2011-2014, and changes to the transfer of density policy that now allows bonus density to be landed in Chinatown.
References
- CIPO • "Canadian trade-mark data"
Images
Chart 1: Internet Domain Search, 8 Oct. 2013
