Suburban Development and Sprawl

[TAS]

Does anybody know why the city moved away from the grid pattern of neighbourhood design? And when that started to happen?

 

[kcantor]

when it started to happen probably goes back to the 60's and 70's (mill woods, blue quill etc.) although you can see it in older subdivisions to a lesser degree (duggan, holyrood). some will say it coincides with the city delegating planning to the development community but that means overlooking mill woods and other city owned projects.

as for the why, some will say it was driven by a desire to create closed communities, others that it was driven by more efficient land use, others that it was driven by more efficient utility infrastructure, others that it focused too much on initial capital costs and not enough on operating costs while still others that it was driven by residential building codes and insufficient architectural input.

 

[TAS]

when it started to happen probably goes back to the 60's and 70's (mill woods, blue quill etc.) although you can see it in older subdivisions to a lesser degree (duggan, holyrood). some will say it coincides with the city delegating planning to the development community but that means overlooking mill woods and other city owned projects.

as for the why, some will say it was driven by a desire to create closed communities, others that it was driven by more efficient land use, others that it was driven by more efficient utility infrastructure, others that it focused too much on initial capital costs and not enough on operating costs while still others that it was driven by residential building codes and insufficient architectural input.

Thanks very much!

I lived for a short period of time in Griesbach but other than that I've always lived in a grid pattern neighbourhood including currently.

For the 15 minute city concept, I wonder if one has an advantage over the other. I definitely prefer grid pattern but that's what I'm most used to as well.

 

[trevorhayden]

Developers always falsely claim the City is making Edmonton less affordable (obviously a lie, what they really mean is it eats into their gargantuan profits). What are some good ideas to make Edmonton "less affordable"?

I will start the discussion:
- Solar panels required on all low density housing
- row housing shall be the primary housing form
- roads will primarily be for walking and biking and developers will need to pay for them
- mass transit and parks will be built before the houses

 

[thommyjo]

Developers always falsely claim the City is making Edmonton less affordable (obviously a lie, what they really mean is it eats into their gargantuan profits). What are some good ideas to make Edmonton "less affordable"?

I will start the discussion:
- Solar panels required on all low density housing
- row housing shall be the primary housing form
- roads will primarily be for walking and biking and developers will need to pay for them
- mass transit and parks will be built before the houses

Yeah, I don’t get why new suburbs don’t have MUPs and protected bike intersections as the default at this point. Make the developers cover these costs if they’re going to keep adding to our tax burden…

 

[Oilers99]

Developers always falsely claim the City is making Edmonton less affordable (obviously a lie, what they really mean is it eats into their gargantuan profits). What are some good ideas to make Edmonton "less affordable"?

I will start the discussion:
- Solar panels required on all low density housing
- row housing shall be the primary housing form
- roads will primarily be for walking and biking and developers will need to pay for them
- mass transit and parks will be built before the houses

you don't really know what you are talking about - 'gargantuan profits' are not in the greenfield development industry

 

[trevorhayden]

Sorry, I forgot those profits are already spent on reimbursing for corporate yachts and Mexican vacations before the money hits the balance sheets.

 

[jason403]

Sorry, I forgot those profits are already spent on reimbursing for corporate yachts and Mexican vacations before the money hits the balance sheets.

Simply not accurate.

 

[Oilers99]

Sorry, I forgot those profits are already spent on reimbursing for corporate yachts and Mexican vacations before the money hits the balance sheets.

you seem to have a bone to pick here. greenfield profits are not what you think they are and with the city layering on more and more requirements, it will be less so going forward further eroding affordability.

 

[thommyjo]

you seem to have a bone to pick here. greenfield profits are not what you think they are and with the city layering on more and more requirements, it will be less so going forward further eroding affordability.

Affordability? Or delaying/offloading true costs of utilities, infrastructure, and quality to other taxpayers?