EXECUTIVE SUMMARY Sub(urban) growth, or “sprawl” as it is often described, elicits various emotions among elected officials, policy-makers, planners, land developers, and residents. The phenomenon is either well supported or categorically rejected, although for some people a comfortable middle ground emerges. Despite the fast pace of growth in Alberta, however, misconceptions, questions, and assumptions remain regarding the impact of sprawl on the urban form. This research had several goals: • to systematically explore the concerns about suburban development within the existing literature • to examine them within an Alberta context—specifically the sub(urban) forms in the major cities of Calgary and Edmonton • to identify factors responsible for various settlement forms, through empirical analyses; and • to make policy recommendations This report will help inform policy decisions at the local and provincial levels in Alberta. We also hope the findings will contribute more broadly to the current national, province-wide, and local debate on urban form. The report makes the following broad assertions: 1. The provincial government should consider using water as a tool to manage regional growth across the province and integrate it with the “efficient use of land” strategy in the Land Use Framework. 2. Strategy 5 (efficient use of land) in the Land Use Framework should be made a legally binding regulatory component of the regional plans. 3. Alberta cities will have to design their model of development charges and/or any other form of levies to ensure that the cost of new developments can be fully covered. The Municipal Government Act should allow municipalities to charge developers for other forms of infrastructure such as community facilities for recreation, library, police stations and others. 4. For metropolitan areas such as Calgary, Red Deer, Lethbridge, and Medicine Hat, the provincial government should consider creating mandatory growth management boards, like Edmonton’s Capital Region Board. 5. The provincial government should establish regional governance structures to manage each region as identified in the Province’s Land Use Framework. 6. The provincial government should allow these regional bodies to not only devise policy framework with respect to land use, transportation, and housing, but also provide services such as transit, police, fire, water, and others as per individual municipal needs, along the lines of British Columbia’s regional districts. 7. The provincial government should work with the municipal governments—both urban and rural—to encourage and facilitate various components of the Transfer of Development Credits (such as sending area, receiving area, and the credit transfer system), enabled by the Alberta Land Stewardship Act. The full report can be downloaded from Alberta Land Institute: |
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