Goodbye Coal Plant, Hello Sustainable Neighborhood

A project aimed at reimagining a former coal power plant located along the shores of Lac Ontario, in Canada, into a sustainable, progressive and eco-friendly 15-minute city has been greenlighted – with residents set to move in by 2025!

“We’ve managed to create a place that is not just a bedroom community,” says Brian Sutherland, vice president of development at Argo Development Corporation, the company leading the redevelopment of the Lakeview Village. Indeed, the 15-minute city is the idea that people should live within a 15-minute walk or bike ride from most of their daily errands.

When the government shut down the Lakeview Generating Station power plant in 2005 to reduce emissions, it first intended to replace the plant with a less-polluting gas-fired one, but the community of the Toronto suburb of Mississauga wanted more of a change. The redesigned neighborhood will have a metro station within walking distance, and a bike trail along the lake leading to Toronto. Also, some 9,000 local jobs will be created so the people living in the 8,000 housing units will have the possibility to go to work on foot. Local shopping will be included, and a stream will be uncovered – and will run through a park – bringing back a fish habitat. Waste disposal will be cleaner and more efficient, and heat and cool air will run on the waste heat from a neighboring wastewater treatment plant.