Geography Reference
In-Depth Information
developments on the city's fringe, while it is adjacent to a main arterial through
the city and has led to the revitalization and extension of Marda Loop, a neigh-
bouring older inner city shopping centre that was suffering from competition from
modern malls before the new development was created. The innovative develop-
ments in Garrison Woods include the relocation and refurbishment of many of the
former single and semi-detached military housing units, which provided residences
for lower income families, while some of the former military buildings have been
adapted to be community amenities. The area also contains three and four story
townhouses, some with shops below, in addition to condominium blocks and sin-
gle-family residences. In addition, the development included secondary suites (or
'mortgage helpers'), as small apartments above rear lane garages, thereby adding
both density and social mix and varied tenure. The modified street grid pattern of
the area enables integrated vehicle and pedestrian access between this new subdivi-
sion and the surrounding area. Indeed, most residents live within a 5 min walk of a
bus stop, a 2 min walk to a park, and have numerous commercial and retail outlets
within easy walking distance (CMHC
n.d.
). Although it is estimated to have cost
30 % more than a traditional subdivision, the end result was a pioneering mixed use
and mixed scale development with much higher densities than usual at 25 units per
hectare—which is higher than contemporary subdivision standards.
2.5.2
Smart Growth (SG)
Smart Growth (SG), which became a recognized term in the planning profession
in the late 1990s (Tregoning et al.
2002
; Knaap and Talen
2005
; Ye et al.
2005
)
embraces many of the principles of the other NU approaches, such as compactness,
sense of place, walkability, etc. But rather than dealing with the intricacies of de-
sign, vernacular architecture, or the minutiae of design codes and pattern language
of Neo-Traditional Designs, it focuses more on the macro-scale, and particularly the
interface between politics and economy in achieving a broader vision of sustainable
new urbanism in economic and social terms by emphasizing local employment,
community-stakeholder collaboration and directing development towards existing
communities (SG
2013
). The approach attempts to situate this growth within the
context of an urban and metropolitan system—not just individual neighbourhoods
or selective TND developments—and emphasizes the use of policies that induce
the free market to pursue urban growth strategies that complement one another to
develop more sustainable urban systems and metropolitan regions (Halligan
2000
).
According to the Smart Growth Network (smartgrowth.org), this type of sustain-
ability can be achieved by adopting the 10 Smart Growth principles (Tregoning
et al.
2002
), which are shown in Table
2.2
.
Portland, Oregon is often used as an exemplar of Smart Growth planning (Geller
2003
; Gibson and Abbott
2002
; Song
2005
). Portland has a long-standing history
of growth control dating back to the 1970s. This is long before the use of the term
Smart Growth and included a focus on development within the existing urban enve-
lope, the successful implementation of the Urban Growth Boundary (UGB), as well
