Broken ground-Urban/Suburban

While the following pictures will mean very little to most of you, they represent a part of my future and a conscious choice. In approximately a years time, the now broken groundthat you see will be a 14 floor condominium in New Westminster B.C, and my(and my girlfriend's) home. We choice this spot because it offered a compact walkable community that wouldn't require a car for every little aspect of life. Buying here was a conscious choice on our behalf to move closer to the city and further from the suburbs.

There are countless studies and even more reports that state how people who live in urban centres are much healthier than their suburban counterparts. In most urban centres, residents have transportation choices other than cars, and are close to essentials such as food and recreation. The suburbs also compartmentalise everything. Residential is divided from commercial, which is in turn divided from light industrial and so on. Most commercial real estate is located along a few major streets which makes it mandatory to travel there for all shopping needs. In turn most residential areas are extremely low-density which makes public transportation a joke and difficult to sustain. All this, and we continue to build these suburbs.

Though New Westminster is by no means a booming urban centre, it is close to transit, has an active waterfront with shops and cafes close by, as well as food options within walking distance. It is increasing in density and in a few years will hopefully be a great little community that provides all the benefits of "urban living" without the prices of Vancouver. Check out from the Heart and Stroke foundation that talks about the health benefits of living in an urban centre.