We need to draw a line around the city and say “No” to urban development beyond it.
We can’t afford any more sprawling, auto-dependent suburbs. We used to grow food in Cranston, Tuscany, Taradale and Coventry Hills. Rural sprawl is out, too. No more developments like Springbank, Heritage Pointe or Bearspaw, where cattle once pastured or wildlife teemed. And certainly no more environmentally disastrous developments like CrossIron Mills, where an authentic rural community once prospered.
It’s called an urban growth boundary — or UGB — and many places have one. Vancouver has its “green zone” and Toronto a “green belt.” Ottawa has had a protected zone circling the city since the 1950s (thanks to the federal government).
UGBs protect agricultural and natural lands from development by strictly limiting the permissible land uses outside it. There, development such as residential suburbs, commercial and shopping districts and industrial parks are forbidden.
To read EVDS Professor Noel Keough's full article in FFWD magazine, click here.