Project Details
The Dixie Mall project is a redesigned development of Dixie Mall in Mississauga, Ontario, Canada with a vision to revitalize the site from greyscape to a mixed-use community with new parks, retail and residential housing.
Together with Biomimicry Frontiers and Urban Equation, we were tasked to create an ‘Access to Nature’ story for the development that was presented to the Mississauga city council.
OUR APPROACH
bioSEA conducted an ecological performance study using a comparison of four scenarios – the existing development, the proposed design, Two Planet, and One Planet scenarios. The study shows the varying possibilities of addressing the impacts of climate change, enhancing mental and physical wellbeing and leveraging ecosystem services to reduce both explicit and implicit costs over time.
Study focus is on three specific aspects which are:
This is done through an assessment of a tailored set of ecological parameters to propose strategies, equipped with a methodology for application and construction. Through these tools, we proposed incremental change leading to a transformative outcome of a nature-centred development. The result not only shows that the One Planet scenario reduces the long-term costs of the project, but also provides positive benefits of sustainable, equitable and resilient development to key stakeholders and the community at Dixie Mall.