It’s time to get smart about getting dense. So says Gordon Harris, the B.C. planner who, unlike most members of his profession, has been given a rare opportunity to preach what he practices.

In his role as president and CEO of Simon Fraser University Trust, Harris is overseeing the creation of Canada’s greenest community. Called UniverCity, it is the very model of modern mixed-use, transit-oriented development; some of its buildings are so energy efficient, they generate more power than they use.

Located just outside Arthur Erickson’s striking mountaintop campus in Burnaby, this is a subdivision that by any other name would be just as urban as a city. Though you’d never know it, the densities here are similar to those of Vancouver — 15,000 people per square kilometre. That means a different level of intensity than the sprawling suburbs the Canadian development industry churns out by the hectare. And as Harris makes clear, the task goes beyond green technology. It means changing rules, regulations and, most of all, attitudes.

“The suburbs are becoming places that don’t work anymore,” he argues. “Places like Detroit — they don’t work because they’re not dense enough.”

But as any planner will tell you, the one thing people hate more than sprawl is density.

“People are afraid of the word density,” Harris admits. “Planners must think of better ways of describing what are really aspects of density — livability, affordability and sustainability. In the suburbs, rising energy costs mean diminishing prospects for personal affluence.

“We grew up believing we had unlimited choices, but now we’re going to have to do with a lot less. We’re the generation that squandered the equity built up by the Depression generation. Just look at the U.S., which is in deep trouble.

“My kids can’t afford to live in Vancouver so they move out to the suburbs. But the only reason that’s affordable is because we subsidize the suburbs. If you had full cost accounting, they couldn’t afford to live there either.”

For the time being, he argues, the answer can be found at UniverCity. There, developers are permitted extra density when they exceed the minimum energy-use requirements, already 30 per cent more than those mandated by law. It’s up to the developer to figure out how to reach this goal.

Most cleverly, the price UniverCity residents pay for the green features is treated as a separate item equal to the amount paid for utilities. Once the start-up costs are discharged, energy costs will decrease 80 per cent.

“Not only is there not a premium for building green,” Harris insists, “It actually costs less. You can do all this stuff and still make a normal developer’s profit.”

He points out that UniverCity has so far returned $26 million to Simon Fraser University coffers, which will increase to $170 million over the next 12 to 15 years as the construction continues.

By contrast, the suburban housing built at York University some years ago fails miserably. Unlike York, which sold the land, Simon Fraser University retained ownership — and control — of the site.

What about the suburbs that already exist?

“They can be successfully urbanized,” Harris says. “But not without significant investment in transit. People who commute don’t see transit as an alternative. You don’t need to move out of the city when you have kids and move back when they leave home. The suburbs are no place to grow old. In fact, you become a prisoner in them. But people are afraid. They sense they’re going to run out of money before they run out of time. We need to optimize, not maximize.”

Christopher Hume can be reached at chume@thestar.ca