Introduction: Building Resilience in Planning
Resilience theory lends itself to many disciplines, and few are better suited to the approach than land use planning. Ecological resilience is often described as the ability of an adaptive system to undergo change and reorganization while maintaining its fundamental functions, processes and structures. The same language could provide a definition of successful land use planning; it should allow for change and reorganization while maintaining a region’s fundamental functions, processes and structures. Where land use planning regimes often seem to fall down, however, is in recognizing the importance of ecological functions, processes and structures. As outlined in Reforming Land Use Planning, this criticism has certainly been levelled at Ontario’s land use planning regime by numerous EBR applicants over the last decade.
Lake Simcoe: The Province Steps In reviews how the province intends to deal with a region of special concern: the Lake Simcoe watershed. Lake Simcoe presents a classic case of a lake that has (almost) been loved to death, and a lake ecosystem that has lost much of its resilience. Excessive phosphorus loadings caused the lake’s cold water fisheries to collapse decades ago, and they now are largely dependent on hatchery stocking programs. The ECO outlines MOE’s new approaches to protect and restore this watershed. Wisely, the ministry is not focusing exclusively on phosphorus controls, and instead plans to tackle a host of threats to the lake’s health.
This section also uses urban case studies to illustrate the challenges of varying scales – a concept of particular interest in resilience theory. In one instance (No Bike Lanes on Bloor: The Bloor Street Transformation Project), planners focused at a very local scale on beautifying an important shopping avenue of downtown Toronto. Cycling advocates argued that planners should think on a broader scale as well, and that the local beautification plan should also enhance the capacity of Bloor Street to function as a main cycling artery through the city. In another instance (Too Close for Comfort: Separation Distances between Industrial Facilities and Residences), odours from a Collingwood ethanol plant caused discomfort for nearby residents. In this case, it seems that while the planning system was able to encourage a laudable goal at a regional scale – urban intensification – it was not able to prevent conflicts at a very local scale, which arose partly because of intensification.
Ontario’s new Green Energy and Green Economy Act, 2009 is very briefly outlined in Bill 150, Ontario’s Green Energy and Green Economy Act - Preview, and is an example of planning on a truly grand scale. This legislation has the potential to enhance the resilience of Ontario’s energy system by reducing our dependence on fossil fuels, by encouraging the proliferation of small, independent energy generators using renewable energy sources, and by creating new incentives and mechanisms for energy conservation.
- Reforming Land Use Planning
- Lake Simcoe: The Province Steps In
- The Swiss Cheese Syndrome: Pits and Quarries Come in Clusters
- Bill 150, Ontario’s Green Energy and Green Economy Act - Preview
- Too Close for Comfort: Separation Distances between Industrial Facilities and Residences
- No Bike Lanes on Bloor: The Bloor Street Transformation Project
| This is an article from the 2008/09 Annual Report to the Legislature from the Environmental Commissioner of Ontario. |
Citing This Article:
Environmental Commissioner of Ontario. 2009. "Introduction: Building Resilience in Planning." Building Resilience, ECO Annual Report, 2008-09. Toronto, ON : Environmental Commissioner of Ontario. 17.
