KITCHENER — The way Ken Greenberg sees it, Waterloo Region is on the cusp of something major.

Change is happening at breakneck pace in the region. That change could lead to marvellous new spaces and vistas in our cities, or it could lead to soulless urban wastelands of towering condos jammed together, with few public spaces that invite people to pause and linger.

The key to getting it right, says Greenberg, is to plan ahead.

Greenberg, a former director of urban design and architecture for the City of Toronto, will be sharing his insights derived from four decades of work rejuvenating downtowns and neighbourhoods in Canada, the United States and Europe, in Kitchener on Feb. 7. He's presenting the latest in a series of Culture Talks put on by the Kitchener-Waterloo Art Gallery and Perimeter Development Corp. about culture, public spaces and the creation of great cities.

"A lot of people want to live in the heart of the city, where it might not have been seen as desirable a short time ago. It's important to get ahead of that curve, if you want a balanced living environment with accommodation for different types of people and not sequestration by income."

Now is the time for the city to act, while there is still time to shape the development along the light rail corridor, he said.

"You're in a unique position. You can look ahead and position yourself to leverage this change."

Cities can take advantage of planning tools, like inclusionary zoning, to require a minimum percentage of affordable housing in any new development.

Kitchener allows higher densities to developers that include some affordable housing in a project, but so far the policy has yielded just a handful of units. Eight of the 488 units in a development going in near the Kitchener Market will be affordable housing — amounting to 1.6 per cent. The only other market-rate project in Kitchener that includes affordable housing is at 270 Spadina Rd., where a developer plans to put in three or four affordable units in a 193-unit project.

Cities can insist that developments include significant percentages of affordable housing, attractive public space or other public amenities, Greenberg said.

"That's just the price of admission for developing here," he said. "It becomes part of what they have to do," in the same way that developers must provide curbs, gutters and sidewalks or parkland.

"If you think that having a community made up of different types of people — young people, artists, seniors, young families — if you want that mix in your downtown, the market will not do that. If that is the goal of the city, you have to do something about it."

If cities don't insist on developments including a mix of housing, they run a real risk of creating segregated cities. He points to recent research by the University of Toronto's David Hulchanski, who found that Toronto is strikingly segregated into rich, predominantly white neighbourhoods, and poor areas where most people are visible minorities.

Cities need to plan ahead to get inviting public spaces, a great trails and parks network, and streets designed for people rather than cars, Greenberg said. Cities should have urban designers embedded not just in the planning department, but in parks and recreation, so that new development creates communities, rather than simply being the disconnected construction of one condo project after another.

Greenberg's talk is at the Walper Hotel on Thursday, at 6:30 p.m., and tickets are $20 plus tax. You can register for the event on the art gallery website under events.

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