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Geography

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Apr 3, 2024

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Wilfrid Laurier University Department of Geography and Environmental Studies GG102 Lab #4 – Explaining Northdale: Past, Present, and Future (January 31 st – February 3 rd ) Lab Section #: 10 Group #: 5 Group Member Names (list only those in attendance): Tijana, Maya, Quinn, Andrew, Yashaswi REMINDER : Your responses should be typed, single-spaced, 12 pt. font, Times New Roman with appropriate paragraphs and the questions numbered. If you use external sources in this assignment you are expected to cite this material using APA referencing style with in-text citations and a reference list at the end. 1. Something that we like about the Northdale neighborhood is the diverse food selection in the surrounding areas. Having a diverse food selection is an enhancement to the neighbourhood as it creates a stronger community, being that there is a variety of food from all different cultures available, and easy to access. It is also beneficial for student living because students often eat out and the diverse food selection accommodates many students. Another thing that we like about the Northdale neighborhood is “The ION” light rail transit. This railroad plan will provide transportation along Waterloo, Kitchener, and Cambridge (Region of Waterloo, 2022). Stage 1 is made up of a light rail transit (LRT) and bus rapid transit (BRT), with a total of 22 stops (Region of Waterloo, 2022). The LRT goes between Contegosta Mall and Fairview Mall and the BRT goes between Fairview Mall and Ainslie St Terminal (Region of Waterloo, 2022). This transportation is great as it is a huge step in the re-urbanizing of Northdale; it will attract a lot of new people in the area and it is convenient for the residents to get around the area. One of the things that we dislike about the Northdale neighborhood is the lack of parks, playgrounds and other green space. This is discouraging to families in the area as they may feel like they are unwanted and that the neighborhood only accommodates university students. Adding a park or play area would make the neighborhood seem more appealing and open to families and serve as a public area that local children could play. By adding a playground or another form of family greenspace, the neighborhood could build more of a family reputation, as opposed to just a community that was overtaken by university students for housing. In addition, another one of our dislikes is that the Northdale neighborhood contains a large variety of student housing, such as King Street Towers and the Preston House, but fails to sufficiently accommodate non-student/family housing. The rooms that they offer are catered to only students, such as King Street Towers, which solemnly offers units with three or more bedrooms, disregarding individuals who may not be university students (King Street Towers, n.d). Implementing housing that promotes a safe, quiet environment would better suit the residents and aid individuals who feel shadowed by the large student community. 2. The Northdale neighbourhood seems to cater to students, as it lacks amenities that a newly developed neighbourhood usually includes; such as the community center added in a new Toronto neighbourhood (Canadian Urban Institute, 2016). The Northdale neighborhood offers
students with university-funded gyms, libraries, and other similar resources. No such resource is available for professional residents in the Northdale plans. The neighborhood should offer similar services, such as a public library, or a community center, available for public use. These community spaces will give young professionals similar amenities that students benefit from, via their university, thus, allowing further integration of both students and young professionals. The Northdale neighbourhood also displays a lack of public parks and space, geared towards young professionals that often come with young children. The proposed parks in the Northdale plans (EngageWR, n.d.) display a basketball court and benches, both of which are not child friendly, and may increase the number of university students utilizing the parks, and thus discouraging those with young children from using the parks. Adding a child friendly playground allows for the integration of public greenspace, with safe areas for those with children; something that the original Northdale plans do not currently offer. Therefore, a greenspace that offers safe spaces for children and adults alike, will allow for young professionals, students, and families to use greenspaces together while maintaining safety. 3. The most significant obstacle we identified was the lack of space available for additional infrastructure and urbanization. Looking at the current layout of Northdale, a lot of the area is already utilized for housing, university campus or restaurants. Expanding to create more amenities, such as community centres or added greenspace, seems unfeasible within the area. Our first argument is that a lot of Northdale consists of single family homes surrounding the university. In order to gain more space, it may be necessary to tear down some of these houses. While this would help maximize the space, it would not be well received by current residents. Outside of the university, there are many families who would not want to move or change their lifestyle in order to accommodate student life. With 73 houses taken down just in 2014, it is clear that some people are flexible, but not to the level where all the non-student residents will move away or be agreeable (Severin, 2017). This is especially true since there is an elementary school nearby. Therefore, the land taken up by these neighbourhoods hinders the extent to which Northdale can urbanize. The second argument that supports our point of view is the lack of greenspace and open plots available to develop on. As stated previously, Northdale is already using most of their land, so it would be difficult for a city planner to make impactful and drastic changes within the given space. The lack of greenspace means that Northdale may have trouble adding too many amenities outside of the buildings that already exist. It is important to preserve some greenspace too, which adds to this obstacle. Northdale has tree protection zones where construction is not permitted (IBI Group, 2016). This means that even if there seems to be space, it may not be available to develop buildings on. Overall, the lack of space available in Northdale provides challenges to creating a more diverse and urban area.
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