Optimism for the Urban Environment

From the Tyee
Idea #7: Make 'Affordable' the New 'Livable' How creative, green, or great is a city if no one can afford to live there? Seventh in a series.

Generally speaking, it's not really in a journalist's nature to be positive about the way the "conversation" is "going these days." But this year I'm going to go out on a limb, and say with a rare note of optimism that when it comes to cities, and the future of urban development, the conversation is actually really moving in the right direction.Well, almost.In most major cities in the western world, we've now entered an era where the pursuit of vibrancy, resilience, sustainability, walkability, bikeability, and about every other "ility" you can think of is coming to be the expected norm on the urban political agenda. It is no small feat that, in the course of just a few decades, we've shifted from a time where political will lay in the hands of power brokers greedily dicing cities apart with elevated freeways, to one where mayors are all but expected to ride their bicycles, not their BMWs, to work -- where "livability" is turning into a genuine political urban currency.

http://thetyee.ca/Opinion/2012/12/27/Affordable-the-New-Livable/