| Urban sprawl is contributing to climate change, increasing air pollution, destroying wildlife habitat and agricultural land, making Calgarians more unhealthy, decreasing the sense of community in the city and creating huge infrastructure costs, argues a new report by Sustainable Calgary.
The non-profit citizens’ group, which promotes environmental, economic and social sustainability, is calling on the city to take action to slow down the pace of sprawl and encourage more Smart Growth in order to improve quality of life in the city.
Smart Growth principles include promoting mixed land uses, compact building design, a range of housing options, walkable communities, creation of distinctive, attractive communities with a strong sense of place, preservation of open space, farmland and natural areas, a variety of transport choices and community and stakeholder involvement in development decisions.
"I would say that in large part we’re sort of trapped in a way of doing things that made sense 50 or 60 years ago, but don’t really make sense today," says Byron Miller, one of the authors of the report.
He says the city should be encouraging more mixed-use residential areas that have businesses, apartments, condos and single family dwellings in one area, closely connected to public transit. If you increase density around public transit hubs, then public transit will start to pay for itself and it will be easier to provide convenient, efficient service, he argues. He adds that instead of building vast park-and-ride lots around C-train stations, the city should start developing high-density neighbourhoods on the parking lots.
"There’s absolutely no reason you can’t have transit-oriented development in the suburbs, and so far we have been unsuccessful."
The report also calls for the creation of a citizens’ panel to recommend changes to regulations governing municipal elections. Noel Keough, executive director of Sustainable Calgary and one of the authors of the report, says campaign financing is of particular concern – currently there’s no cap on how much individuals or businesses can donate to an alderman or mayoral candidate.
"It’s obvious the developers have a large role in that game because of the amount of funding they give to campaigns, and whether or not that skews the process, that’s certainly the perception out there that developers are skewing decisions and campaign financing is having a detrimental effect."
Incorporating affordable housing into every new development is another recommendation.
"We build houses at the fringes of the city where costs are low and that results in lower housing costs. We need to think of a more efficient and long-term sustainable approach to providing affordable housing in the city," he says.
Miller says Calgary isn’t doing too badly on urban sprawl when you compare it to other cities that came of age in the "automobile era" in North America. However, he says North America lags well behind the rest of the world when it comes to tackling the problem.
"There’s this myth that people don’t want density, but I think it’s largely a myth. I think when people see how attractive it is when it’s done right they will support it," he says, pointing to successful projects such as Garrison Woods and The Bridges.
However, Miller says developers who want to build innovative, environmentally friendly, sustainable communities currently end up facing more regulatory hurdles than developers who want to build a standard suburb.
"The longer it takes for the development to get approval, the more it’s going to cost," he says. "To the extent the city can streamline that approval process, particularly for Smart Growth development, it will make a tremendous difference in the kind of developments we get."
The Sustainable Calgary report is calling on the city to create a campaign to educate Calgarians about Smart Growth principles and to include the public when planning new communities.
Keough says the public is consulted when redevelopment occurs in established communities, and public input should be included when new communities are developed as well.
Sustainable Calgary is planning to hold a public forum on the findings of the report, but no date has been set. The report will be distributed to council and is available on Sustainable Calgary’s website, www.sustainablecalgary.ca
"We’re hoping it will stir up some discussion and bring about some changes," says Keough. "It will require some aggressive public policy to make a shift. Just relying on the market is just not going to cut it." |
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