Dan McDermott says urban expansion needs “to grow up not out” if Canadians wish to protect green space in urban centres.

McDermott, the director of the Ontario chapter of the Sierra Club of Canada, says Toronto and other Canadian cities are in danger of losing green space if more planning isn’t put into place to protect parks and forests from urban expansion.

The best way to do this, McDermott says, is to start putting more high-rise apartments and condominiums in major cities.

“We need intensification,” McDermott says. He notes that Canadians “need to get over our aversion to skyscrapers.”

With about 80 per cent of Canadians living in urban areas, Canada is one of the most urbanized countries on the planet. What makes Canada so urbanized, McDermott says, is its open immigration policy, its large geographic size and its low population.

“Everywhere in the world people go to areas to where they will have a better life,” he notes.

Greenbelts are one possibility to curb outward urban expansion for a large city like Toronto. Greenbelts are areas around cities designed to protect undeveloped areas from urban expansion.

While McDermott credits the McGuinty government for initiating a greenbelt policy in Ontario’s cities, he says there needs to be more thought put into the matter.

“The McGuinty government’s greenbelt initiative is positive, but it’s still a work in progress,” he says. “You have greenbelt expansion and highway expansion at the same time. Highways to sprawl are what they end up being.”

Planning is paramount to stifling the effects of urban expansion on green space, McDermott says.

“If you don’t do it in a manner where you’re mindful of green space … then what you end up with is chaos.”

As individuals, McDermott says we need to pay attention to urban expansion in order to ease it. We can also push for policies to protect urban green space, he points out.

“We can be mindful that it is occurring,” he says. “We’ve got to (expand) in a planned manner while maintaining quality of life.