Planning, Infrastructure

& Choice

Marshall McLuhan once remarked
that we look at the present through a
rear-view mirror
By Robert Lehman FCIP
INFRASTRUCTURE
! in!fra!struc!ture (nfr-strkchr)n.
! 1. An underlying base or foundation especially for an organization
or system.
! 2. The basic facilities, services, and installations needed for the
functioning of a community or society, such as transportation and
communications systems, water and power lines, and public
institutions including schools, post offices, and prisons.
TRANSPORTATION
INFRASTRUCTURE
! Transportation infrastructure minimizes the friction of distance.
! Transportation infrastructure
! allows communities to be created, human interaction requires mobility
! creates economic opportunities, wealth is created through
productivity which occurs primarily in groups of people, again requiring
travel
! provides choice which enhances the quality of life

Three Concepts
! Planning should provide choice as the first objective
! Cities are adaptive organisms
! Travel times are good metric for the transportation
infrastructure
CHOICE as a value
! We collectively and individually exercise our
choices throughout our lives
! Collective choices that limit individual choices
are are justified on the basis of the greater
common good.
! Planning decisions and policies are collective
choices, made through a democratic system.
CHOICE
! We have had an unprecedented degree of choice in North
America both as a society and as individuals for the last forty
years.
! The infrastructure built after WW2 and through the 60s
created most of our roads and transit systems
! It has created an economic engine fuelled by major
highways that moved goods to markets throughout the
continent and created wealth and more choice
! Employers could draw labour from large regions
! Families could have two wage earners with access to many
employment opportunities balancing housing choices with
job locations
Our urban form has
been shaped by our
geography, the
technology of
transportation and
basic human needs.
Today the urban form is
also a function of
societal values, a
reflection of our
affluence and degree
of choice.
In Toronto we
have
managed the
region now
for over 200
years and
created the
fabric of
infrastructure
that allows
the organism
to function

The city is an organism
! any complex, organized body or system analogous to
a living being, esp. one composed of mutually
interdependent parts functioning together
The city responds collectively
! Human settlements are organic - the form and nature
of our communities are the sum of the billions of
decisions made each day by individuals, companies
and institutions.
! Our government structures limit very few of these
decisions and only do so when the collective grants
the permission for the benefit of the greater common
good
! If the urban system does not meet the needs of its
users they will adapt to the stimuli
The Stimuli
! In the Toronto region the transportation
infrastructure no longer provides a level of service
that is considered by most communities around
the world to be acceptable.
! This condition will worsen before it improves
! The consequences will arise as the organism
adapts to the conditions
Our urban form has
been shaped by our
geography, the
technology of
transportation and
basic human needs.
Today the urban form is
also a function of
societal values, a
reflection of our
affluence and degree
of choice.
0%
5%
10%
15%
20%
25%
30%
P
E
R
C
E
N
T

2000
2021
2000 AVERAGE TIME = 23.7 min

2021 AVERAGE TIME = 36.2 min - projected
2011 AVERAGE TIME = 32.8 min

TORONTO

JOURNEY TO WORK

MEAN TRAVEL TIMES
Projected Travel Time in Toronto
What will happen
! Overall shift in quality of life less choice in all
aspects of business and social life, two income
households will decline, simply cannot get there
from here, not worth the trade-off of time versus
money
! Employers will leave the City or at best relocate
to surrounding region
! Will be a significant impact because of the delay
in the construction of infrastructure looking at
ten or more years for new roads or transit
! The housing and labour market will balkanize
shrink.
Surrounding
centres will
attract
population and
employment
growth, as
people and jobs
adjust to match
their travel time
expectations.
The Organism at Work
The road
network
should focus
on providing
access
among
centres,
outside the
congestion in
the GTA.
The Future
! The Toronto region arguably has the worst traffic
congestion in North America
! Solutions are at least a decade away
! Transit improvements will be successful if they
simply keep up with growth
! Modest, very modest changes in the modal split will
occur
! Growth will be distributed among the many medium-
sized cities surrounding Toronto
! This is not a bad thing