Complete Community

Abstract

Problem, research strategy, and findings

Despite the ubiquity of the concept of the complete community or neighborhood in Canadian planning practice and the recent spread of the idea in the United States, few scholars have examined the idea’s development and implications. Based on a content and thematic analysis of 102 plans and policies representing all Canadian provinces and territories, along with 205 planner interviews, I argue that the complete community represents an integrative, scalable, and flexible planning theory originating from practice. Borrowing principles from other theories (such as smart growth and sustainable development), practitioners built the complete community idea bottom-up, as a persuasive rhetorical vehicle for describing planning intentions and justifying higher densities in positive ways.

Takeaway for practice

Contemporary planning values increasing urban densities, mix, and walkability. Here I illustrate how planners adapted to community resistance to ideas generated by external experts—and to efforts to increase growth and densities—by articulating a socially and politically positive option for urban transformation. The complete community concept places a halo over density, promising vibrancy and livability.

Keywords:

• 15-minute city
• Canada
• complete community
• density
• planning practice

Acknowledgments

I thank the reviewers and editor for insightful comments on earlier drafts. I am grateful to the many planners who participated in my research programs over the years. I dedicate the article to the memory of Amanda Taylor, one of the talented graduate assistants who helped make the research possible.

Disclosure Statement

The author declares no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this article.

Notes

1 Any italics or bold text within quotations is as in the original text.

2 Contractions used in text for Canadian provinces are AB (Alberta), BC (British Columbia), MB (Manitoba), NB (New Brunswick), NL (Newfoundland and Labrador), NS (Nova Scotia), ON (Ontario), PE (Prince Edward Island), QC (Quebec).

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Jill L. Grant

JILL L. GRANT ([email protected]) is professor emeritus of planning at Dalhousie University in Halifax (Canada) and is the author or editor of six books and dozens of articles.