Grade by Grade
E. Liveable Communities · Liveable Communities: Land Use and Sustainability in Canada

Liveable Communities: Land Use and Sustainability in Canada: Unit Review

A1.1 A1.2 A1.3 A1.4 A1.5 A1.6 A2.1 A2.2 A2.3 A2.4 E1.1 E1.2 E1.3 E1.4 E2.1 E2.2 E2.3 E2.4 E2.5About 40 minutes
Learning goals
  • I can explain the characteristics, patterns and impacts of land use in Canadian communities and the forces that shape them.
  • I can assess urban sprawl, compact growth and strategies to manage growth.
  • I can analyse the sustainability of food, transportation and energy systems and of communities, and strategies to improve them.
  • I can use the geographic inquiry process and the concepts of geographic thinking.

Words to know

land use
What people use land for: residential, commercial, industrial, institutional, transportation and utilities, open space, agricultural.
residential density
Dwellings per hectare.
floodplain
Flat land beside a river that floods.
official plan
A municipality's long-term land-use plan.
zoning bylaw
Detailed rules for each lot.
urban sprawl
Low-density, car-dependent growth at a city's edge.
intensification
Adding homes and jobs inside built-up areas.
food security
Reliable access to enough safe, nutritious food.
sustainability
Meeting today's needs without harming future generations' ability to meet theirs: environmental, social and economic.
co-design
Community members designing together with professionals.

Let's review!

In this unit you studied land use in Canadian communities: its types and patterns, how the natural environment and climate change shape it, the economic, social, cultural and political forces behind it, how planning works in Ontario, and the debate over urban sprawl and compact growth. Then you analysed the sustainability of Canada's food system, transportation, energy, and communities as a whole, and explored culturally informed design. Throughout, you used the geographic inquiry process.

This review has a few questions from every lesson. Try each one, then press Show answer. If a part feels tricky, go back to that lesson.

Liveable Communities: the big pictureLIVEABLE COMMUNITIESE1 Land use in communitiesE2 Sustainability of human systems• types and patterns of land use• natural hazards and climate change• economic, social, cultural, political forces• planning in Ontario• sprawl, compact growth, strategies• food system• transportation• energy• housing, water, waste, infrastructure• culturally informed designInquiry skills (strand A) run through everything: questions, sources, GIS, analysis, communication
The unit has two big parts. E1 is about how and why land is used as it is; E2 is about keeping communities' systems sustainable. Geographic inquiry skills connect them.

How to use this review

Work through one or two sets at a time. Write your answer before you open the answer. For calculations, show every step and check units (ha, m², mm, kWh, $ per month). For judgement questions, a strong answer states a position, gives at least two pieces of evidence and mentions another perspective. Mark any set where you got two or more wrong, and revisit that lesson.

Lakeview (a made-up town): land use in hectaresResidential180 haCommercial40 haIndustrial50 haInstitutional30 haParks and open space60 haTransportation40 haTotal: 400 ha
Use this graph for the first review set. All values are in hectares; the town's total area is 400 ha.

Reading the Land: Types of Land Use in Canadian Communities

1

Using the Lakeview graph, what percentage of the town is residential?

2

In Lakeview, what percentage is parks and open space?

3

Classify: a hospital, a warehouse, a hydro corridor.

4

Name three things every geographer's graph should include.

Where Things Go: Land-Use Patterns and Their Effects on Communities

1

Calculate the density of 1 500 homes on 50 ha.

2

Describe the usual trend in building height from the CBD to the rural–urban fringe.

3

What is a food desert, and how is it connected to land-use patterns?

Building With Nature: How Landforms and Physical Processes Shape Land Use

1

Why are floodplains usually kept as parks?

2

What role do conservation authorities play in Ontario?

3

Why are Arctic buildings often raised on piles?

Planning for a Changing Climate

1

Runoff from a 2 ha parking lot (coefficient 0.9) in a 20 mm storm?

2

Give one example each of climate adaptation and mitigation in land-use planning.

3

Why are downtowns warmer than nearby rural areas?

Money, People, Culture and Power: Forces That Shape Communities

1

Classify each force: (a) a factory closure, (b) a heritage district, (c) a provincial housing law, (d) an aging population.

2

Explain the bid-rent model in one or two sentences.

3

What is the duty to consult?

Who Decides? How Land-Use Planning Works in Ontario

1

Order from broadest to most detailed: official plan, zoning bylaw, Planning Act, Provincial Planning Statement.

2

Which body hears many appeals of planning decisions in Ontario?

3

Rate the credibility of an anonymous social-media post claiming a project will "ruin everything". What should you do?

Spreading Out or Building Up? Urban Sprawl and Compact Growth

1

How much land do 9 000 homes need at 15 homes/ha and at 45 homes/ha?

2

Give two natural-environment impacts of sprawl.

3

Give one benefit and one challenge of intensification.

Containing the City: Strategies to Control Sprawl and Reduce Its Effects

1

What is an urban growth boundary?

2

When was Ontario's Greenbelt created?

3

Name one strategy that reduces the effects of roads on wildlife.

4

In a decision matrix, why might two people reach different conclusions with the same scores?

From Field to Fork: Sustainability of Canada's Food System

1

List the stages of the food system.

2

A family wastes $25 of food a week. How much per year?

3

Why is food in many northern communities expensive, and what is one strategy to help?

Getting Around: Sustainable Transportation, From Your Street to the World

1

How many cars carry 84 people at 1.2 people per car?

2

Give one example of transportation at the national scale and one at the international scale.

3

Why is transit a social sustainability issue?

Powering Communities: Energy Decisions and Sustainability

1

A 1 200 W heater runs 5 hours a day for 30 days. How many kWh?

2

Give one government, one corporate and one individual energy decision.

3

Why is connecting remote First Nations to the grid important for sustainability?

Building Sustainable Communities: Issues and Strategies

1

Income $6 500 a month; rent $2 275. What percentage? Affordable?

2

Name the three sides of sustainability.

3

Give one government and one community-based strategy for housing.

Designing With Culture: Innovative Community Planning in Canada and the World

1

What is co-design?

2

Describe one Canadian example of culturally informed or Indigenous-led design.

3

What is a woonerf?

Is My Community Liveable? A Geographic Inquiry and Careers in Geography

1

Write one factual and one evaluative question about parks in your community.

2

Is a photo you took during your own field survey a primary or a secondary source? Why?

3

Name a skilled trade that helps build sustainable communities and explain how.

Just for fun

Unit review riddle: I have yellow homes, green parks and blue rivers, but no one lives on me, plays on me or swims in me. What am I?

A land-use map!

Check your understanding

Quiz

1.

A town has 600 homes on 20 ha. Its residential density is:

2.

Which land use is most appropriate in a river floodplain?

3.

Which is a climate ADAPTATION strategy?

4.

In Ontario, a zoning bylaw must conform to:

5.

12 000 homes at 40 homes/ha need:

6.

Ontario's Greenbelt was created in:

7.

Which statement about food miles is most accurate?

8.

A 2 000 W appliance used 2 hours a day for 30 days uses:

9.

Housing is considered affordable under the CMHC guideline when it costs less than:

10.

Which approach BEST shows culturally informed design?

For parents and teachers

Use this review to find which lessons need another look. Mistakes on land-use percentages or graphs: revisit Reading the Land. Density or neighbourhood-pattern questions: Where Things Go. Floodplains, permafrost and hazards: Building With Nature. Runoff, heat islands, adaptation vs mitigation: Planning for a Changing Climate. Sorting forces or bid-rent: Money, People, Culture and Power. Planning documents, appeals and source credibility: Who Decides?. Land-needed calculations and sprawl impacts: Spreading Out or Building Up?. Greenbelts, growth boundaries and decision matrices: Containing the City. Food system and food-waste maths: From Field to Fork. Transportation scales and cost or car-count maths: Getting Around. kWh calculations and energy decisions: Powering Communities. Affordability percentages and community strategies: Building Sustainable Communities. Co-design and examples: Designing With Culture. Question types, sources and weighted scores: Is My Community Liveable?. Praise clear reasoning and correct units as much as correct final answers.