New urbanism developments in Canada: a survey

Abstract

In the summer of 2006, researchers surveyed Canadian “new urbanism” projects by reviewing literature and websites, examining municipal and government documentation, and contacting local authorities. The study found that many of the projects that began as “new urbanist” changed during development, eventually becoming more conventional in character. Only one development project reached build‐out as a complete new urbanism community by its targeted date. Although new urbanism principles are increasingly integrated into planning principles across Canada, full‐fledged new urbanism developments prove surprisingly rare in the market. The survey indicated that new urbanism projects cluster in particular parts of the country: generally the areas growing most quickly around Toronto, Vancouver, and Calgary. New urbanism communities have been successful in achieving a mix of housing types, high design standards, attractive open space systems, and a walkable environment. They have had less success in establishing viable commercial districts, increasing urban densities, providing affordable housing, or reducing reliance on automobiles. While new urbanism and smart growth principles are affecting planning ideology, development practice may prove resistant to transformation.

Keywords:

• new urbanism
• Canada
• inventory
• survey

Acknowledgement

The research for this project was funded by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada. The opinions offered are those of the authors. The authors wish to thank Susan Fisher at Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC) for help in providing the list of new urbanism projects that CMHC had compiled. Thanks to Blake Laven for the photograph of Surrey.

Notes

1. Appendix 1 includes a more extensive list of candidate new urbanism communities in which the 42 sampled belong.

2. For purposes of comparison, Canada had about 227,000 housing starts in 2006 and typically averages over 210,000.