London is one of Canada’s fastest-growing cities. No, that is not just me making that up. It is a real stat. According to the most recent census data and the London Economic Development Corporation, London has been growing on average over 3 per cent per year, currently being Ontario’s fastest growing city. This is only set to increase as the region is set to see a population boom over the next 25 years, but are we ready for it?
When a city increases its population so rapidly, adaptation is urgent. More people means more housing, more cars, more infrastructure, and more services are needed. On a podcast episode of Almost 107, I talked to Ben Durham, a self-described urbanist, content creator of all things biking, transit and urban planning and a local activist, even taking issues all the way to city hall. We talked about London’s progress so far and how it can look to it’s past and around the world for inspiration for the future.
“London is actually on average, like the most average city in North America. I think London has so much potential. That’s why I’m always so stoked to talk about London,” said Durham.
Due to the rapid expansion, a lot of housing is being planned and built but rather than changing zoning and increasing density, many of London’s communities are expanding outward in a process called ‘urban sprawl’. This particular style of growth can lessen efforts of better city services since current tax dollars have to cover more resources and projects over a wider area. The more dense a city is, the more you can focus on specific points, which is what he hopes to see the city do.
Oxford at Highbury is currently under construction for the implementation of the BRT transit project. (XFM News/Will Bruce)
“London is only 20 like the urban growth boundary of London, Ontario, Canada is only like 20 km by 16 km, which is laughingly small. It’s very bikeable first of all. So that’s why we choose to do that. Um and then e-bikes makes it even better. But from a transit perspective and from a like why should we do this? When you have sprawl, you have less money to go around.”
Durham believes so far London has been doing a good job, but the fact that the city is growing at this fast rate gives even more incentive to test out new ideas and innovative projects, saying companies already do this here.
“We’re the guinea pigs, like when McDonald’s introduces something, they introduce it here first as a test market,” said Durham.
It can be a hard thing to balance though. London…(and really Canada as a whole) is facing a time of great uncertainty, especially when it comes to the economy and what to prioritize when it comes to city spending. It can be especially hard to advocate for things that will provide future benefits if the immediate result isn’t there.
“So, there’s two parts of the population and one is you’re going way too fast. London. What are you doing? You’re like adding bike lanes left, right, and center. You’re adding BRT left, right, and center, which is great because the second part of people are people like me saying, “Hey, actually you’re going a little bit too slow.” I think there is a middle ground because you want to balance the budget,” said Durham.
BRT Lanes along Queens Avenue. (XFM News/Will Bruce)
Durham explained that if these kind of scenarios are not addressed before they become issues, there will be more regret down the line.
“You want to balance safety and you want to make sure that London is future proof if we wait to add all this and we grow in population. If people think traffic is bad now, oh man. If we don’t make these changes now, you’re going to be stuck in traffic worse than Toronto.”
An argument brought up by some opposed to these transit projects is often that they themselves never use it, or a lack of ridership is present to warrant any type of expansion. This is somewhat self-defeating according to Durham.
“You need to have other viable, reliable and affordable options of getting around a city other than being in a vehicle.”
“If you want to drive, you should want as many other people to get out of vehicles so that you won’t have to sit in as much traffic because there is that balance of demand,” said Durham.
Durham is a big advocate for bike infrastructure too. He said that availability will always be what increases the use of alternatives.
“We need a connected grid and then at the end points, you also need the infrastructure to park your bike. When there’s literally zero, it’s sending a message like for bike parking. Zero bike parking means ‘hey, uh you shouldn’t bike here.’ Like why would you?”
Durham also made the point that tax dollars going towards transit is just the same as how drivers are subsidized by the government. Even if you don’t drive, your tax still goes towards road repairs, parking, road widening, and more. It’s all about offering more options.
A major intersecton in downtown London with new BRT lanes and transit signals added. (XFM News/Will Bruce)
“”It’s like, hey, it doesn’t have to be everyone, but there are so many people that if it worked out that their work or they’re schooling or whatever they’re doing in their life lines up along a transit corridor and they could be like, ‘Oh, I could not have a car.’ Oh my, they sell that, they gain…well, let’s say 10 grand on the sale of the car. Then they put that towards literally anything,” said Durham.
According to Durham, the city is moving in the right direction. Providing more alternatives may even change where people choose to live. Including areas like the downtown core that are currently being looked at for revitalization projects.
“That’s why I’m so really excited about London’s future because they are making those changes. They’re allowing that different development, but going back to let’s say living on the other side of the city and having to commute over, let’s say, to the other side. You some people will still still do that, but once you have the options available, people will actually change where they decide to live,” said Durham.
“I just I can’t stress that enough how important that is.”
