What is planning?
The process of developing and designing areas to meet the community needs: it is not a new idea and has evolved over centuries
Planning involves…
everything: transportation, social, heritage, environmental, land development, etc
policy
an action a government wants to take: implemented through regulations
Land-use-by-law:
A set of regulations designed to complement policies. Divide municipality into zones
Zoning
municipal or local laws or regulations that govern how real property can and cannot be used in certain geographic areas
How do we decide policies and zoning:
Its complicated. Project idea and proposals (create)->implement->feedback-> amend ->repeat
Why does planning matter?
it can make complete communities- livability by prioritising
Access to essential services
Affordable and accessible housing
Planning HRM
1950S settlement pattern: compact metro area surrounded by rural landscape and seashore
1970/80/90s- increasing settlement along highways and in suburbs
2006- first regional plan to constrain growth/ recognize the serious financial and environmental implications of dispersed growth– Municipality created a plan to help the city
Planning framework:
Regional planning- big and strategic moves
Community planning- property by property
Planned growth-> important places
What are some milestones for the planning committee?
2017- Integrated mobility plan
2018- Green network plan
2020- HalifAct
Future 2030- low carbon pathway; building emissions and transportation, efficient
Some issues with planning in HRM?
Densely populated spaces-> over pay in taxes to offset the costs of travel to ikea
Municipality and provincial government don't have a good relationship now-
Some outcomes of this an urban developer can go over the municipalities head and go to provincial government to get approved
Its politically easier for a developer to build in rural areas instead of city where planning is key to success
Urban Renewal- Vancouver
1960s Vancouver Video- Economic and social issues are displayed: old, crowded and broken houses. Higher rates of TB-> immigrants → There plan was to build a apartment building and condos and allow people to move from houses into those and then they will demolish and build apartments block by block→ didn’t ask the people when interviewing how they could help, just straight to taking away there space and business for looks. Didn’t ask what they wanted.
Same thing happened to Halifax in the 50s and 60s
Africville and Cogswell: Demolished in early 60s
Service of sewer and water was stopped right before these communities
Cogswell-> all demolished for a highway and road network-> failed and now putting buildings around it
Example; Studentification
Waterloo, ON-> 2 universities right near each other
The problem: between the 80s and 2000s they had huge growth for the universities
There solutions was to change the single homes around these universities to big apartments buildings– but many students were cramming into these houses already
How; purpose built student rentals: sometimes furnished: mixed use: many bedrooms
Results: studentification: the distinct social, cultural, economic, physical transformations within university towns which are…
Social and cultural transformations: displacement of establish residents and transportation
There are lifestyles conflicts with these social groups
Students bring a lot of advantages: consumers, company recruits, night life
This example presents the difficulties of urban planning: some people were happy with this and others not. School year in the neighbourhoods would be crazy but summers dead-> not sustainable