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Suburban Development and Sprawl

Canadian 001 said:
I know this may sound like a fever dream but
Windermere Should be an independent City
and Maybe Also Heritage Valley area
In 20/30 Years Edmonton May Break up into smaller Cities
Just an interesting Thing ;)
Click to expand...
I just see absolutely no benefit to Edmonton, but ok...
 
The city's 15 minute concept will help create a bunch of new nodes around the city, so you might get some of that independent feel in different areas.
 
occidentalcapital said:
The city's 15 minute concept will help create a bunch of new nodes around the city, so you might get some of that independent feel in different areas.
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Windemere is designated as a neighbourhood node, Heritage as a Major node.
city_plan_map.jpeg
 
Conceptually I think that metro areas that consist of many smaller cities that are closer in population leads to a more interesting and diverse cityscape, with different cities having different priorities, goals, and development patterns. Each city wants to foster its own central area, and it results in a naturally more decentralized metro area. Or at least my experience with Vancouver makes me really appreciate the many local governments in the metro area, and all the interesting and unique spaces and nodes it creates.

I am looking forward to the nodes and corridors plan Edmonton has, and I hope that it pans out as intended and results in more local vibrancy, certainly will be a step up if nothing else.
 
Edmonton is the only city, between Calgary, Toronto, and Vancouver, to have less than half of its area zoned exclusively for single detached homes. It also has the most land zoned for mixed use developments. This is a project by the University of Toronto's School of Cities.

schoolofcities.github.io

The Yellowbelt in Canadian Cities 2022

Mapping exclusionary residential zoning in four Canadian cities (2022)
schoolofcities.github.io schoolofcities.github.io
 
archited said:
As @Avenuer had stated previously, Edmonton has the most progressive zoning regs bar (almost) none.
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That's one reason why I wanted to stay at the UAlberta for my Master's in Policy Studies, even though the Political Science Department doesn't have any profs who specialize in municipal politics. Edmonton's zoning bylaw is pretty decent now, but it'll be — in my opinion — one of the most progressive, if not the most progressive in North America once the renewal is complete.

Combine that with developments around the region, like Fort Saskatchewan's land use bylaw renewal, and the progress of the regional transit service, and this is a truly exciting place to be in terms of shifting away from harmful development practices that dominate N.A. And that's great for my studies, since I hope to focus research on exactly that (but since I just started, it's TBD if I'll be able to do so).
 
CplKlinger said:
Edmonton is the only city, between Calgary, Toronto, and Vancouver, to have less than half of its area zoned exclusively for single detached homes. It also has the most land zoned for mixed use developments. This is a project by the University of Toronto's School of Cities.

schoolofcities.github.io

The Yellowbelt in Canadian Cities 2022

Mapping exclusionary residential zoning in four Canadian cities (2022)
schoolofcities.github.io schoolofcities.github.io
Click to expand...

I brought this up in another thread, but this is a bit misleading. I don't know about other cities, but for vancouver if they were to use the same measure as they did for edmonton here, it would also be less than half yellow.

The "single family" zone that's in most of the yellow area in Vancouver is comparable to Edmontons, with up to two secondary units allowed on a lot. It's still not enough, but if the mature areas of Edmonton don't count as single family zoning, neither does Vancouvers.

Now, edmonton has made some great strides, and does have some things I wish they would implement in Vancouver (like row houses on corner lots), but we should make sure we're comparing apples to apples
 
EtoV said:
I brought this up in another thread, but this is a bit misleading. I don't know about other cities, but for vancouver if they were to use the same measure as they did for edmonton here, it would also be less than half yellow.

The "single family" zone that's in most of the yellow area in Vancouver is comparable to Edmontons, with up to two secondary units allowed on a lot. It's still not enough, but if the mature areas of Edmonton don't count as single family zoning, neither does Vancouvers.

Now, edmonton has made some great strides, and does have some things I wish they would implement in Vancouver (like row houses on corner lots), but we should make sure we're comparing apples to apples
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Thanks for the clarification, I'll reach out to them and ask why Edmonton and Vancouver were scored differently.
 
Welcome back everyone, hopefully I wasn't the only one going through withdrawals while the website was down lol

He responded:

"My understanding is that Vancouver only allows duplexes, but Edmonton additionally allows denser semi-detached housing (Toronto also has a smaller area in the inner-suburbs that is similar to Edmonton's, i.e. can build semi-detached). So this is where I (albeit a bit arbitrarily) drew the line between the yellow and green categories."

I also asked him if he'd be willing to revisit Edmonton's results once the zoning bylaw renewal is complete, and he said:

"I would like to update the maps sometime maybe around a year from now. Looks like a lot of places are re-thinking zoning. When I remake these maps, I'll probably include a fourth category (maybe orange?), pertaining to areas where the zoning is still pretty restrictive, but not single-detached single-family only."
 
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Vancouver allows for duplexes, or for a home with 2 secondary units for a total of 3 units, so their understanding would be incorrect. I wouldn't exactly call 3 units per lot super dense of anything, but it does make the maps misleading
 
EtoV said:
Vancouver allows for duplexes, or for a home with 2 secondary units for a total of 3 units, so their understanding would be incorrect. I wouldn't exactly call 3 units per lot super dense of anything, but it does make the maps misleading
Click to expand...
Yeah, I noted that in my email to him but he didn't acknowledge it in his response. I'm not familiar with Vancouver's zoning, so I'll ask you: Does this mean that Edmonton's RF1 zone and Vancouver's equivalent zone are functionally the same? RF1 doesn't allow for anything "more" than duplexes or secondary units just like Vancouver's, right?
 
Here's the relevant section from the uses of the RS-1 zone, which is present in multiple residential zones in Vancouver:
1662568448952.png

or;
1662568548843.png

(technically this is up to 4 units on a lot, but the lot size required, means its on about the same footprint as what would be allowed to have 6 units (2 homes with 4 secondary suites))

I looked at the RF1 zone and this section of the Edmonton zoning, and it appears that the RF1 allows for both a garden suite, and a secondary suite on one lot, so the zoning in both Edmonton and Vancouvers main single family zoning appears to be functionally the same to me in terms of unit density, maybe I'm missing something though:
https://webdocs.edmonton.ca/infrapl...w/Part1/Special_Land/86__Secondary_Suites.htm
 
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