Geography Reference
In-Depth Information
neighbourhoods including more infill development patterns of development. Since
SG initiatives are inherently political, the third recommendation in the Calgary re-
port is to reform the planning process to mandate public involvement in the plan-
ning of new communities. The fourth principle is to provide incentives that encour-
age developers to implement Smart Growth initiatives—incentives that could range
from expedited approvals of SG developments or relief from development levies. A
fifth recommendation is to change municipal policies to mandate sustainable urban
development initiatives such as SG. This could require amendments to higher-level
legislation such as the provincial Municipal Government Act, but policies should
direct city officials to ensure all regulatory frameworks are consistent with SG poli-
cies. They should also remove levy systems that may subsidize sprawl, remove
barriers to SG such as inappropriate risk assessment, and mandate high energy and
environmental standards for civic building, such as LEED standards (see Chap. 6)
and encourage local utilities to develop and implement alternate energy sources
(e.g. solar, district heating, geothermal). There is also a recommendation to develop
greenbelts and Transfer of Development Rights (TDR) to maintain agricultural and
wildlife habitat. The report also recognizes that regional planning is integral to the
success of SG, despite the fact that the provincial government in 1995 essentially
disbanded regional planning authorities throughout the province. So a sixth recom-
mendation called for a comprehensive review of provincial legislation that affects
the growth of municipalities in Alberta. However, SG approaches are not strictly
macro or regional in scale. Like TOD approaches, SG also recognizes that New
Urban communities need to have sensible neighbourhood initiatives. In the Calgary
case, a seventh recommendation calls for the planning of sustainable communities,
which include schools, transit nodes, employment centres, and a mix of housing op-
tions. Quite in keeping with the other approaches to NU, an eighth recommendation
is to mandate the provision of affordable housing as an integral part of every new
development. Finally, in keeping with the principles of the SG network that iden-
tify fairness and citizen input, a ninth recommendation calls for the creation of a
citizens' panel to review and recommend reforms to the municipal electoral system.
The final recommendation is to make monitoring and reporting of sustainability
indicators an integral part of the planning process.
Unfortunately, many of these recommendations have been forgotten, as the city
of Calgary continues to allow low density residential communities on its suburban
periphery, so few of these suggestions have been implemented. However, a Cal-
gary Regional Plan (CRP) has been developed in co-operation with surrounding
municipalities, but like many other new regionalism initiatives discussed in a later
section has only advisory powers. But this has not been as successful as expected,
in large part because the adjacent rural entities fear being outvoted by Calgary and
being subject to its requirements, not their own. This led to changes in the original
plan advocating growth nodes in the region. Indeed, judging from new 2012 plan,
sprawl in the area outside the boundary of the city now seems to be policy, rather
than the type of focused growth nodes usually favoured by SG ideas. For example,
the area between Calgary and the satellite town of Airdrie seems to be planned to
be major growth zone, which does not seem much different to previous outward
