Affordable housing
housing where individuals, couples and families on modest and fixed incomes are not required to pay more than 30% of income on suitable and adequate housing. |
Amenities
|
Arterial roads
roads that carry a large volume of traffic across the city, or from neigbourhood to neighbourhood |
Bicycle stations
|
Bonus Floorspace
the ability to build extra floor space above the density allowed by zoning; awarded to a developer who provides a public amenity such as park space, childcare facilities or heritage preservation |
Boreal forests
Canada's largest biome or environmental community. It occupies 35% of the total Canadian land area and 77% of Canada's total forest land, stretching between northern tundra and southern grassland and mixed hardwood trees |
CityPlan
Vancouver’s city-wide plan adopted in 1995 that provides a framework for decisions on City funding, programs, and actions for twenty years; CityPlan contributed to establishing Vancouver’s land use directions, and includes directions on a range of topics, from transportation to arts, housing to community services |
Climate change
any long-term significant change in the weather patterns of an area; the slow variations of the world’s climate |
Co-operative housing
An apartment building or a group of dwellings where residents are members of a cooperative; members elect, from among themselves, a board of directors to manage the business of the co-op and there is no outside landlord. |
Co-operatively owned vehicles
|
Community incubator kitchens
|
Community Visions
Council-approved policy outlining a community’s visions for the future, based on CityPlan directions and community needs and aspirations; developed over two-year periods in close consultation between communities and City staff |
Compact communities
communities designed in a way which permits more open space to preserved, and where buildings are constructed in ways that make more efficient use of land and resources |
Curb bulge
a localized widening of the sidewalk; includes bus bulges, which allow buses to stop in the travel lane, rather than moving into the curb lane and then back into traffic, and pedestrian bulges, which improve pedestrian crossing conditions by providing a shorter, easier and safer crossing |
Deep ocean water cooling
|
Density
the number of people, dwellings, or the like, per unit area |
Developed nations
nations that enjoy a relatively high standard of living through a strong high-technology diversified economy |
Developing world
poor or middle-income countries, based upon the average income per person |
Distance-based car insurance
|
Domestic output
|
EcoDensity
green development that reduces our environmental impact on land, energy, waste, and natural resources; high quality densification that can make Vancouver more ecologically sustainable while maintaining livability and improving affordability |
Ecological Footprint
the amount of land and water needed to sustain a person’s consumption and waste patterns; usually described in the number of planets needed if the entire world was to follow those patterns.
|
Economies of scale
a decrease in cost as supply increases |
EcoStructure
environmentally responsible infrastructure that supports greener development and encourages higher density living, whether it be related to energy, water, transportation, food, waste management, or community amenities such as parks, daycares, community centres, etc.; EcoStructure supports EcoDensity. |
Ecosystem
A collection of living things and the environment in which they live. |
Edible landscaping
the use of plants that produce food in place of more commonly used ornamental plants |
Efficiency mortgages
|
Energy sharing
|
Energy utilities
|
Environmentally friendly housing
|
Geothermal heat
|
Greater Vancouver
a partnership of 21 municipalities and one electoral area that make up the metropolitan area of Greater Vancouver |
Green roofs
Ecological roof gardens that involve large planted areas, specialized soil substitutes, and little or no reengineering on the existing roof. Green roofs improve the building’s thermal insulation, absorb less heat, produce oxygen, absorb carbon dioxide, filter air pollution, provide wildlife habitat, and absorb up to 75 percent of rain falling from it, thus slowing stormwater runoff. |
Green Systems
|
Greenhouse gases
Gases in the atmosphere that trap the sun's energy and thereby contribute to rising surface temperatures; include carbon dioxide (byproduct of burning fossil fuels), methane (from agricultural sources) and nitrous oxide (from industrial sources). |
Greenways
linear public corridors for pedestrians and cyclists that connect parks, nature reserves, cultural features, historic sites, neighbourhoods and retail areas |
Housing Diversity
a variety of housing types to provide shelter for people at different stages of the life cycle, and for people with different income levels |
Infill
an additional unit built on a site already containing an existing building, some or all of which are retained |
Infrastructure
The basic facilities and services needed for the functioning of a community or society, such as transportation and communications systems and water and power lines |
LEED
|
Living walls
a biofilter; a vertical wall covered in vegetation used for filtering air |
Low density development
exemplified by detached single family residential development, or the low-rise commercial or industrial development densities usually found in auto-oriented industrial parks or along highway-commercial strips |
Mixed use
Development that combines two or more of the types of development: residential, commercial, office, industrial or institutional |
Mixed use communities
communities with a combination of housing, employment, shopping and recreation |
Multiple family units
e.g. apartments, townhouses, triplexes |
Multiple-unit residences
e.g. apartments, townhouses, triplexes |
Non-market housing
housing provided mainly for those who cannot afford to pay market rents; housing owned by government, a non-profit or co-operative society. |
Physical infrastructure
|
Rail transit
transit service provided by rail: light rail (e.g. streetcars, Evergreen Line), light rail not mixed in traffic (e.g. SkyTrain, Canada Line), or heavy rail (e.g. West Coast Express, subways) |
Rain gardens
|
Rainwater collection
collection of raindrops which can be used for small scale irrigation (of vegetable gardens etc.), clothes washing, bathing and after treatment also for drinking and food preparation |
Rainwater harvesting
an above or below ground storage system that collects, stores and distributes run-off of rain or snow from roofs |
Reduce and reuse
reducing the amount and/or toxicity of wastes when the product is being disposed of; using items again in their original form or for another use |
Rental housing stock
the amount of housing that is available for rent |
Resale covenants
|
Secondary suite
an accessory dwelling located within the structure of a principal single-family detached dwelling, townhouse or strata titled apartment |
Shared Ownership
|
Suites within suites
|
Sustainable neighbourhood
an area which emphasizes decreasing the consumption of energy and resources and the producing of wastes; mixed communities where housing and jobs are located close to each other and accessible to transit, and where residents can walk or cycle to shops and services. |
Urban agriculture
farming in the city |
Water metering
|
Zones of land use
a type of land use that zone has its own unique requirements for development e.g. residential, commercial, industrial |
Glossary of ecodensity
