Big developments going up soulless
It is now increasingly difficult not to notice the rapid building of housing complexes in the Duncan and Victoria area, indeed in all of southern Vancouver Island. The news that a new complex will be built on Beverly Street containing 570 units may make some people happy because they think that it will solve the housing crisis we face as a nation and a community. I am not one of them.
I lived for almost eight years in Tokyo and for some time in China. Based on that experience I can tell you that large scale apartment and condominium blocks are not the answer. In Japan they are called “Danchi” and often consist of a thousand units or more, one after the other in endlessly indistinguishable urban sprawl, uniform, soulless and repetitive. In all my years there I never met a single Japanese person who would not rather have had a detached home with a yard. They accepted their housing fate because they had to, not because they wanted to.
Canadians, new and established, deserve more than a repetition of the “Danchi” concept. The reason we are facing a real estate crisis in this country has more to do with poor federal and provincial housing policies, the difficulty in setting proper immigration levels and general neglect.
In the second largest country in the world, one with a population equivalent only to that of the state of California, we should easily be able to provide the minimum expectation of an adequate home, though not an ostentatious one, and the chance to raise a family in it.
Lastly, if people think that cities like ours will have any charm or personality left after the apartment block building spree is over, they should think again. My experience in Tokyo is testimony to the truth of that very sad fact. Victoria has already lost its charm at the hands of developers, and if better housing solutions are not forthcoming Duncan and other cities will surely follow suit. That would be tragic. “Danchi” land? No thanks.
Perry Foster
Duncan