TORONTO, July 21, 2003 – Kyoto and Sprawl: Building Cities that Work, a conference at York University’s Glendon College July 25-27, will make recommendations to reduce urban sprawl and the resulting traffic gridlock in the GTA and other Ontario cities leading up to elections this fall.
Experts in planning, transportation, economic development, health and conservation will be joined by federal MPs David Collenette and Alan Tonks, national NDP leader Jack Layton, and environmental activists Elizabeth May (Sierra Club of Canada) and Glenn De Baeremaeker (Save the Rouge Valley System). Also attending are local politicians Joe Mihevc, Howard Moscoe, Brenda Hogg, Waterloo Mayor Lynne Woolstencroft, and MPPs Mike Colle and Michael Prue.
"Sprawling urban development is threatening us all and it’s time we woke up and confronted its implications," said conference Chair Edmund (Terry) Fowler, professor emeritus in local government and environmental policy at Glendon College. "This conference will stimulate public debate and political action in advance of provincial and municipal elections this fall to start meeting our commitments to the Kyoto Accord on global warming."
The conference will produce a report and announce the formation of a new coalition to stop urban sprawl. Participants will examine past lessons like the Stop Spadina campaign of the 1960's, and current issues, such as, development along the Oak Ridges Moraine watershed, and opposition to the plan to construct a Big Pipe sewer system in King City.
A unique feature of the conference is a series of cross-disciplinary, collaborative workshops, each led by an expert in the field and by a municipal advisor, local official or politician. The workshops will produce plans and strategies to curb sprawl and its associated problems, such as, the loss of prime agricultural land to residential and commercial development, commuter gridlock and smog. Michael W. Roschlau, president and CEO of the Canadian Urban Transit Association (CUTA), will lead a discussion on Liberation from the Car.
Reliance on the automobile is reinforced by urban sprawl as low density residential areas segregated from places of work, schools, shopping and recreation, leave few transportation choices. Public health, particularly the health of children, is increasingly affected by the automobile society in rising incidences of asthma and obesity and related diseases. Complete details of the conference are available at www.kyotoandsprawl.ca.
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For further information, please contact:
| Jo Davis | Ken Turriff |
| Conference Coordinator | Media Relations |
| 705-733-2736 | York University |
| Jodavis@golden.net | 416-736-2100, ext. 22086 |
| kturriff@yorku.ca | |
YU/071/03
