Perhaps you are a fan of the suburbs. You appreciate living close to nature with a large private backyard for your kids to play in and a huge patio for barbecues. And perhaps you realize that not many nations outside of Canada and the United States can offer so much living space for such an affordable cost. As many move to Canada to pursue such opportunities, not only are they realizing that the suburbs can be a lonely place, but that the lifestyle is neither environmentally nor economically sustainable as populations continue to soar and energy resources decline.
For many immigrant families who moved to Calgary in the new millennia, the burgeoning oil industry opened the door for Anuj Baxi and his family to settle in Canada. Baxi’s family emigrated from India to Oman and then from Oman to Calgary in 2001 to gain access to the better education and lifestyle opportunities that the West offers. He is now a student at the University of Calgary hoping to pursue a career in law. His family was drawn to Canada in search of the “American Dream” — the same vision that attracted millions of immigrants from the crowded streets of Europe to North America in the early 20th century.
“The major factor driving it is the lifestyle. We are all familiar watching TV shows even from the ’90s and ’80s where you have the typical suburban family with the big house, perhaps a couple of cars and a dog and a backyard. And that is a powerful image for a lot of people,” says Baxi.
For most people living in India, Europe or even the Middle East, living with such ample space is no longer feasible. They live in apartments and that continues to be the norm. The average North American house is 2,000 square feet, about 20 times the size of an average dwelling in India. Not surprisingly, this corresponds to Canadians using 14 times more energy per capita than Indians.
Many people often wish to leave the suffocating communities in developing megacities around the world, but suburban communities in Canada are not necessarily the most ideal alternative. At the opposite end of the spectrum, suburban living can be lonely and isolating. Suburban design can serve to break down community bonds and this has led scholars and policy makers to ask whether there can be such a thing as too much space and if suburban living is really what people want.
To read the full story by Salimah Kassamali in the Gauntlet, click here.