Urban Planning &Design

Urban Planning &Design: From Patrimonial Control to Democratic Steward?

Ideologically…Planning is… • Planning is intervention and deliberation • Planning is Imposition and negotiation • Planning is control and steward Official definitions in Canada describes planning as a type of CONSERVATION; It is aimed at the wise use and management of community resources, a critical one being land. The idea that land is both a private commodity and a community resource is controversial, but Canadian law has established that there is a legitimate community interest in the development of any land. Large amounts of public money have to be spent on such things as transport facilities, water treatment plants, schools and parks.

Canadian Historical Roots Grass root movements of citizens: City Planning Commissions & Civic Improvement Leagues, for ensuring healthy and productive populations Inspired by The British Planning Act 1909 and Garden City Movement Urgency for Canada Preservation of healthy environment The Commission of Conservation in the interest of public health

What to preserve; an urban planning approach to the development of Cities and Towns in Canada

First group of issues is a need to think ahead to accommodate the city's growth ‐ deciding which lands should be built on and when, and whether they should be used for residential development, for industry or for some more specialized function, such as a shopping centre or playing fields. Eventually, more detailed plans will also be required to determine the layout of every piece of land. The street network has to be designed; sites have to be reserved for schools and parks, shops, public buildings and religious institutions; provision has to be made for transit services and utilities; and development standards have to be set and design ideas have to be tested to ensure that the desired environmental quality is achieved. Source:http://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/urban‐and‐regional‐planning/

What to preserve; an urban planning approach to the development of Cities and Towns in Canada

• A second group of issues concerns those parts of the community that are already developed. Planners will distinguish between areas where change is not desired and those where change is either unavoidable or judged to be needed. In the former case, the concern is for maintaining the built environment at its existing quality, regardless of pressures for change. This applies particularly to inner‐city neighbourhoods which face pressures for apartment redevelopment or for streets to be widened to permit through traffic. In the latter case, the problem is to facilitate the changes that are considered most desirable. In one situation this may mean that a deteriorating area has to be upgraded; in another it may mean that buildings have to be demolished to allow their sites to be used in a new and different way. The problems of rapidly changing downtowns, of outdated industrial and warehousing districts, and of inner‐city neighbourhoods experiencing a complex mix of social and physical changes all have to be dealt with by planners and public authorities. Source:http://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/urban‐and‐regional‐planning/

Canada Land Inventory • Canada Land Inventory is a comprehensive federal‐provincial survey of LAND capability and use for regional resource and land‐use planning established under the Agricultural Rehabilitation and Development Act in 1961. • At the national scale, CLI data provides the basis for an assessment of the nature of land‐use and land‐use changes in Canada, particularly in terms of the encroachment of urban sprawl onto agricultural and other prime resource lands. Through CLI it has been established that only 10% of Canada's land, in practical terms, is suitable for agriculture. From this 10%, the nation obtains a variety of produce, including large quantities for export. Owing to the dependence of Canada on the produce from the land, it is essential to understand the limits of the land resource, the location of prime lands and the forces that may effect the capability of the location of prime lands.

Canada Land Inventory • Crown Land • Crown land is the term used to describe land owned by the federal or provincial governments. Authority for control of these public lands rests with the Crown, hence their name. Less than 11% of Canada's land is in private hands; 41% is federal crown land and 48% is provincial crown land. The YUKON, the NORTHWEST TERRITORIES and NUNAVUT are administered on behalf of Canada by ABORIGINAL AFFAIRS AND NORTHERN DEVELOPMENT through the Territorial Lands Act and Public Lands Grants Act. • About 4% (17 million ha) of federally administered land is found in the provinces, ranging from 10.6% in Alberta to only 0.2% in Québec. Provincial crown land ownership varies, too, from a high of 95% in Newfoundland to less than 2% in PEI. Surface and subsurface rights to the mineral, energy, forest and water resources may be leased to private enterprise ‐ a very important source of government income in Canada. National and provincial PARKS, Indian reserves, federal military bases and provincial forests are the largest and most visible allocations of crown land.

Federal‐Provincial Relations • Federal‐provincial relations are the complex and multifaceted networks of influence which have developed in the relationships between Canada's federal and provincial governments. These relationships have become a central element of Canadian government and policymaking, and a fundamental characteristic of Canadian federalism. They are a result of the pervasive interdependence existing between the 2 levels of government. Central and provincial government activities are intertwined in a pattern of shared and overlapping responsibilities, shared authority and shared funding in many if not most areas of public policy. • Many of the concerns of modern government cut across the loose jurisdictional boundaries found in the constitution. National purposes can often only be achieved with provincial co‐operation; provincial goals often require federal assistance. As government roles in social, economic and other policy areas grew, then the need for co‐operation and co‐ordination ‐ and the costs of failing to achieve it ‐ also expanded. Through federal‐provincial relations ‐ and the related tools of INTERGOVERNMENTAL FINANCE, shared cost programs and the like ‐ the federal government is deeply involved in fields largely within provincial jurisdiction; and provinces have increasingly sought to influence federal policies in areas such as foreign trade and transportation. Thus federal‐provincial relations have grown primarily in response to the changing roles of government within Canadian federalism.

We Plan Together • Urban and regional planning is but one of many approaches adopted by society for achieving the security, comfort and long‐term betterment of its members. This does not mean that all plans are prepared by governments, or that all planners are public servants, but it does mean that planning systems are usually designed to ensure that the needs of the entire community are properly considered. Plans come from many sources ‐ from individuals, private corporations and public agencies ‐ all of which have special ends or interests to pursue. In the "planned" community a higher level of forethought and public control is imposed, not to prevent these individual plans from being realized but to ensure that they harmonize with one another and with the overall needs of the community. Source:http://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/urban‐and‐regional‐planning/

Land and Sustainability • There are many ways of defining sustainability, but few have improved on the original definition provided by Gro Harlem Brundtland (1987), "ensuring that the needs of the present generation and the human activity arising from those needs do not compromise the ability of future generations to meet their own needs." The availability of land of adequate quality and quantity is an obvious critical consideration in the ongoing sustainability debate. Determining and implementing the optimal use of land in the present will do much to ensure that future generations' needs can be met. Included among these sustainable land use options are both enhancing the land cover and, in some cases, simply leaving the land cover undisturbed. • In the 1960s and 1970s, Canada was a leader in establishing public awareness of land use issues. The CANADA LAND INVENTORY program (1965‐75), which assessed and mapped the natural capability of approximately 25% of Canada's land area, contributed to a new sensitivity to land quality problems. The underlying concepts in this program were that land has a finite capability to sustain a given type of land use, that it has a finite capability to assimilate pollutants and that it is possible to define optimal uses for a given land unit. The Environmental Assessment and Review Process (EARP), 1973, introduced the twin principles of delaying or halting development proposals that were not respectful of the finite capability of the land, and requiring a regular audit of ways in which the land was disturbed by the development initiative . • Since the 1970s the terms of reference of the process have moved toward a more SOCIAL IMPACT ASSESSMENT and in the first decade of the 21st century, the integrity of the process is threatened by a perceived need to speed up the decision‐ making. The issue has become politically polarized between land developers and those who recognize the strong relation between the health of ECOSYSTEMS and human well‐being. The land, its use and its future potential are the main ingredients in the debate.

How Planning Works in Canada • More commonly, planning is a matter of trying to decide which of many competing interests is more deserving, while also trying to treat everyone in a fair and lawful manner. • Hence, the ultimate planning decisions are political decisions, since politics is society's way of settling the conflicts that arise within a community. • Planning, then, is a way by which communities determine how they would like their environment to be. What kinds of benefits can they then look forward to? Official definitions in Canada have generally responded to this question by describing planning as a type of CONSERVATION. It is aimed at the wise use and management of community resources, a critical one being land. The idea that land is both a private commodity and a community resource is controversial, but Canadian law has established that there is a legitimate community interest in the development of any land. Source:http://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/urban‐and‐regional‐planning/

The Objective of Planning • It is aimed at the wise use and management of community resources, a critical one being land. The idea that land is both a private commodity and a community resource is controversial, but Canadian law has established that there is a legitimate community interest in the development of any land. Large amounts of public money have to be spent on such things as transport facilities, water treatment plants, schools and parks

Source:http://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/urban‐and‐regional‐planning/

Planning Law and Administration • Planning law establishes rules and procedures by which communities can act on matters affecting their physical environments. He also believed that rural communities were as much in need of planning as urban ones. Not only did they have grave environmental and fiscal problems of their own, but town and country were so closely dependent on each other that they could not be separated for land‐ use planning purposes. This marked the beginning of regional planning in Canada.


Planning Acts • In 1914 only 3 provinces had planning statutes: Nova Scotia, New Brunswick and Alberta. By 1925 every province except Québec had a statute of some kind, although professional planners thought they were all inadequate. For one thing, the Acts did not make it mandatory that municipalities should prepare plans; for another, they did not provide for provincial governments to take an active part in planning. Municipal governments also tended to be critical, because they were mainly interested in having stronger powers to regulate construction and land development.


Planning Acts • The essential purposes of all provincial and territorial planning Acts are to secure the orderly, coherent growth and development of municipalities, based on sound forethought and considerations of public interest; to bring about and conserve physical environments, including buildings and other works, which are satisfying to human needs and community concerns; to regulate how private and public lands may be used; and to allow for public participation in planning decisions.


Planning Acts • The federal government performs planning functions for Canadian crown lands through many statutes and a number of Cabinet policies, such as the Federal Policy on Land Use and the Federal Environmental Assessment and Review Process. • Thus, in an overall sense, regional land use plans in Canada come about through the co‐ordinated administration of many laws within a province, through co‐ordination between provincial and federal laws, and by co‐ordinative policies among neighbouring jurisdictions. These and municipal planning activities are all supported by modern information systems, such as GEOGRAPHIC INFORMATION SYSTEMS and STATISTICS CANADA's census data on population, housing and business activity. Source:http://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/urban‐and‐regional‐planning/

Planning Acts Generally speaking, an Act provides for 5 basic measures. First the municipality is to prepare a "general plan," sometimes called the "official plan" or the "plan d'urbanisme." This plan sets down the policies that will govern where and when developments on land can take place. It usually includes statements on the community's social, economic and quality‐of‐life goals, and the fiscal requirements of the public works (eg, sewers, roads) that will be required. The plan describes by maps, drawings and written texts the various communities and land use districts, and the guidelines for building developments. A second set of plans, in more detail, may also be prepared for special areas, such as plans for heritage conservation or redevelopment of inner‐city neighbourhoods, or for industrial parks. The remaining 3 measures in a planning Act are legal and administrative instruments for implementing a general plan: • a "land use" or "zoning" bylaw, • subdivision controls, • a building permit process. Before a building permit is issued, the plot of land must first be part of an approved subdivision of land, while specified rules for the type and amount of building space allowed and the requirements of architectural features must be adhered to. Subdivision control governs the process of converting raw land into building plots of adequate size and shape, while zoning establishes the detailed range and limitations of use to which a plot can be put.


Planning Acts and Citizen Participation • Planning law in some provinces also allows municipalities or the provincial government to prevent the destruction of heritage properties and natural environments, or to force property owners to undertake measures that enhance the architectural, aesthetic, landscaping features, or convenience to users, of any buildings proposed for construction. The balance struck between freedom to use one's land and requirements imposed by public authority depends on the prevailing social values of the community of the day. Moreover, all planning Acts in Canada now require that citizens be heard before major land planning decisions are made, and there is always a right of appeal by the property owners affected.

Planning Acts in Rural Areas and Metropolitans • The province confers responsibility upon urban municipalities to carry out planning in their areas. Rural areas and towns are frequently organized for regional planning around a "regional district" created by decree of the provincial government. In some jurisdictions, the municipalities of selected metropolitan areas have been grouped together in order to create a special, "second tier" planning administration (for example, Québec City and Montréal, Toronto, Greater Vancouver, Winnipeg). In the latter cases, the metropolitan administration performs broad policy planning and the co‐ordination of major public services and works; detailed plans and development regulation are left to the constituent municipalities.

New Town Developments • New towns are a specialized aspect of planning. The term refers to the comprehensive planning, zoning and land subdivision of a community, executed before the arrival of any residents. Typically one‐industry resource‐development towns of small size (fewer than 5000 people), Canada's new towns are mainly located in remote areas (eg, KITIMAT, BC, Matagami, Qué, THOMPSON, Man, and TUMBLER RIDGE, BC).

Planning Acts and Education • Planning Profession and Education • With the growth of cities after 1945, the Canadian planning profession was revitalized and developed quickly. It is not just that planners were needed in greater numbers than before; the specialized tasks performed in modern planning agencies became far more diverse. In addition to the traditional principles of city layout, land subdivision and architectural arts, planners had to learn about urban sociology and human behaviour, management sciences, data analysis and forecasting, municipal and planning law, and environmental sciences. • Educational programs were established after 1947, for which the federal government and CMHC,‐Central Mortgage and Housing Corporation‐, provided invaluable assistance. In 1944, Marsh and others suggested to the deputy minister of finance, W.C. Clark, that provision be made in NHA to fund research, professional training and public education. Clark inserted a Part V into the Act, entitled "Housing Research and Community Planning."

Planning Education • Urban planning is taught as a major field of study at 15 different Canadian universities. Many Canadian urban planners ‐ 7000 professionals in the field at present ‐ are members of the Canadian Institute of Planners.

Now • What is planning? Good plan is no‐Plan…so what? Patrimonialism claims the right to plan in terms of control, in the spirit of hereditary patronage, tutelage and traditional authority for making decision and action. Today, such approach is obsolete. State and municipality are not the sole agent of planning system. The pillars of planning system consists of various representatives, such as: business associations, professional associations, interest groups/NGO, and universities.

Urban Design as Public Policy • In Canadian system, urban design is an integrated part of official plan, zoning by‐law, neighbourhood control, and building codes. • Each municipality is provided with design review panel for special district, environmental, historic and landmark conservation • Urban design in the form of improvements of streetscape and public realm within natural atmosphere built environment • Jane Jacobs’s The Death and Life of Great American Cities (1961), the most telling of these, emphasized the values of traditional urbanism, advocating mixed‐use, high‐density, easily surveyed streets, active ground‐floor front‐ages, short city blocks, and “gradual rather than dreadful investment

Port Credit, Mississauga Ontario

Port Credit • Old Port Credit Village was surveyed in 1834, in part by the Mississaugas, and construction of a harbour began almost immediately. In 1847, the Mississaugas, whose numbers had been severely reduced by disease, relocated to the New Credit Reserve near Brantford, Ontario. The departure of the Natives opened up the Credit River to commercial expansion and Port Credit went through a period of tremendous economic growth as a harbour. This prosperous period ended in the mid‐1850s as a result of both a great fire, which destroyed the west end of the harbour, and the construction of the Grand Trunk and Great Western Railways, which diverted commerce away from the village. • Towards the end of the century, the stonehooking trade kept the port alive, and Port Credit slowly began to recover. The arrival of the St. Lawrence Starch Company, in 1889, and other large industries, such as the Port Credit Brickyard, revitalized Port Credit’s economy. Port Credit soon became a shopping area for tourists and travellers. Port Credit became a police village in 1909 and was formally incorporated as a village in 1914. The Port Credit Fire Hall, a two‐storey red brick building, is the oldest fire hall remaining in Mississauga. The fire hall was officially opened on December 12, 1955. Built by local builders H. Lee & Sons, the building originally served as a combination fire hall and police hall for Port Credit. • Port Credit acquired Town status in 1961 and was amalgamated into the City of Mississauga in 1974. Source: http://www.heritagemississauga.com/page/Port‐Credit



Port Credit Historical Background • Port Credit Village is a major condominium project that includes 167 townhouses, 18 live/work residences and three waterfront condominium buildings. The new community is near the Port Credit River and its namesake Yacht Club built on land that was for over 100 years used by the “Starch Works”. • Back in the early days of Canada, The St Lawrence Starch Factory was the major employer in Port Credit (which is now part of Mississauga). Built in 1891 at what is now the foot of Hurontario St, the factory was a large sprawling brick complex where millions of bushels of Ontario corn was crushed and ground into starch and corn syrup. The massive brick factory was shut down in 1991, and all but the “Starch Work” office building on Lakeshore Road was demolished. • St Lawrence took the buildings down to ground level, leaving ‐‐ well almost ‐‐a 26acre clean slate of land for the family operated Fram Building Group to build a community on. “ When we started digging in 2000 we found they had left the foundations buried. When we were done the removal there was a pile of concrete as high and as big as our six‐ storey Regatta condominium,” explained Fram president Frank Giannone. “We took it out, crushed it and used as roadbed. We managed to recycle almost all the concrete we found above and below the ground.” Source: http://stephenweirarticles.blogspot.com/2010/04/toronto‐star‐turning‐starch‐into‐award.html

Port Credit Historical Background

.

Port Credit Urban Design Features

.


.


.


.



Planning is…

Suggested Reading • Alan F.J. Artibise and Gilbert A. Stelter, eds, The Usable Urban Past: Planning and Politics in the Modern Canadian City (1979), Shaping the Urban Landscape: Aspects of the Canadian City‐Building Process (1982), and The Canadian City: Essays in Urban and Social History (1984); Canada, Dept of Environment, Report of the Interdepartmental Task Force on Land Use Policy (1980); Humphrey Carver, Compassionate Landscape (1975); J. Barry Cullingworth, Urban and Regional Planning in Canada (1987); L.O. Gertler, Regional Planning in Canada (1972); Gertler, ed, Planning the Canadian Environment (1968); Stanley M. Makuch, Canadian Municipal and Planning Law (1983); William T. Perks, "Canada," in N. Patricios, ed, International Handbook of Land Use Planning (1985); Perks and Ira M. Robinson, eds, Urban and Regional Planning in a Federal State: The Canadian Experience (1979); Paul Rutherford, ed, Saving the Canadian City (1974); Robert Freestone, ed., Urban Planning in a Changing World: The Twentieth Century Experience (2000); Jill Grant, Planning the Good Community: New Urbanism in Theory and Practice (2006); Dennis Hardy, From New Towns To Green Politics: Campaigning For Town And Country Planning, 1946‐1990 [Electronic resource] (1991); Richard Harris, Creeping Conformity: How Canada Became Suburban, 1900‐1960 (2004); Gerald Hodge and Ira Robinson, Planning Canadian Regions (2002); Jill Mahoney, "Suburban myths demolished," The Globe and Mail, 31 Jul 2006; L.D. McCann and P.J. Smith, "Canada Becomes Urban: Cities and Urbanization in Historical Perspective," in Trudi Bunting and Pierre Filion, eds, Canadian Cities in Transition (1991); Leonie Sandercock, Towards Cosmopolis: Planning for Multicultural Cities (1998) and Cosmopolis 2: Mongrel Cities of the 21st Century (2003); Gilbert A. Stelter, Cities And Urbanization: Canadian Historical Perspectives (1990); Gilbert A. Stelter, "The City‐Building Process in Canada," in Gilbert Stelter and Alan Artibise, eds., Shaping the Urban Landscape: Aspects of the Canadian City‐Building Process (1982).