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Sorry to say @Platinum107 you can't stop suburban sprawl unless the City you are referring to has geographic restrictions (e.g. Vancouver or San Francisco). If you establish a green belt in a City like Edmonton. suburbs will simply leapfrog the barrier and start anew on the other side. Growth in cities like Leduc, Spruce Grove, and Sherwood Park are examples of growth beyond boundaries. In short, you can't mandate peoples living preferences.
Yes, this is a dilemma, particularly if those suburban communities are close enough and large enough to attract commuters.

Another problem is affordability, which Vancouver, San Francisco and some other places that try restrict development more, are not known for.
 
Have you read the book Nudge? Its a great illustration of the role of city politics i think.

We can't just show, we also can't coerce, but we can nudge. The premise of the book is that most of us actually can't make the best decisions for ourselves and are best aided by experts creating systems that nudge us towards more ideal outcomes. They give examples in health care, investing and saving, food and diet, etc. I think urban planning is similar. I actually don't believe most people want a detached house, yard and 2 car garage. So designing a better city, paired with nudging then towards better choices is key.

An example, redo property taxes to factor in size, not just value. Incentivize non car modes. Give first time buyer credits to mature and infill homes. Free or cheap transit for TOD. Mileage taxes. Better education to teens and uni students on housing types and urban planning. Etc.
Maybe the city departments also need to talk to each other and not work at cross purposes. For instance, we now seem to have on street parking bans for weeks and weeks on end for snow clearing, so anyone who didn't already have a two car garage probably really wants one now.
 
@thommyjo if "showing by example", "following trends", and "building possibilities" aren't "nudges" then I need a new dictionary. Zoning for years now has been misguided and wrong-headed -- so "Planning" is good now but wasn't in the past? Planners historically have been as trend-seeking as fashion designers in the clothing industry -- I could give a very long list of examples.
Maybe not a new dictionary, but im sure a reading of the book would be interesting! Those are very gentle nudges. You can inspire someone to eat healthy by showing commercials of fit and attractive people....or, you can create laws about displaying calories on menus and ensuring health requirements in school cafeterias. Those are stronger nudges vs inspiration.
 
Maybe I just have a different perspective and am a bit cynical. Nudges sound nice, but I think government has often has to take a stronger or clearer approach to deal with serious problems.

Also, I wouldn't underestimate the importance of financial incentives to people. Say, if you want to increase transit ridership, for goodness sake then don't increase fares. Sometimes government isn't effective because it works at cross purposes with itself.

Another example relevant to planning - Vancouver is trying to increase housing by encouraging lane way housing. Good idea. However, the costs and time for individual home owners to get through all the planning details can be excruciating. So, this can be a huge disincentive. The biggest nudge can be making what you want to happen cheaper and easier for people to do.
 
AMENDING AGREEMENTS FOR THE MSI

Feb 16
2022
Last week, municipalities received an email from Municipal Affairs Minister Ric McIver about the extension of the Municipal Sustainability Initiative (MSI) and the need to amend your existing funding agreement. Since then, we have received a few questions from members asking what this means and wishing to clarify that the amendments were expected, based on announcements the Government of Alberta made in February and October 2021.

In February 2021, the province announced that MSI funding would be extended for an additional two years in 2022-23 and 2023-24 before the Local Government Fiscal Framework (LGFF) replaces it in 2024-25. Alberta’s 2021 Budget also communicated a three-year plan for MSI Capital funding with a significant portion of that funding front-loaded in 2021 ($1.196 billion) and then the 2022 and 2023 amounts will be reduced to $485 million annually.

Due to the significant reduction in funding in 2022 and 2023 and the related complexities of the allocation formulas, the province announced in October 2021 that the 2022 and 2023 funding will no longer be calculated using MSI allocation formulas. Instead, each municipality’s 2022 and 2023 MSI allocations are expected to be 40.6% of the 2021 MSI allocation so that all municipalities experience an equal reduction in funding. We reported this change in November 2021.

As a result, your agreement with the Government of Alberta is being amended to reflect these changes so you can continue to receive MSI in 2022 and 2023. The 2022 funding allocations will be confirmed when the province releases its 2022 Budget on February 24. In the meantime, you can view the future MSI allocation estimates on the Government of Alberta’s website.

Note: All references to MSI Capital in this article are in reference to the combination of funding from the MSI Capital component and the Basic Municipal Transportation Grant component.

 
I don't think compensation should be offered UNLESS there are additional or unexpected delays.
 
I don't think compensation should be offered UNLESS there are additional or unexpected delays.

Maybe the city should just coordinate it's projects better to minimize the amount of disruption caused in the first place
 
Fort Saskatchewan is getting a street redone downtown, and it'll include a pretty significant sidewalk expansion.

Right now, 103rd street has narrow sidewalks, with some sections missing entirely.
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The new design, which will be constructed this year, widens the sidewalks by 3m (on the east half) and 1.5/1.7m (on the west half, nearest to the green apartment building). On top of that, they're also putting in rows of trees that separate pedestrians and vehicle traffic, like we already see along 100 Ave downtown.

Neighbourhood6.PNG
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So, the sidewalk should look something like this (but not as fancy, and a bit narrower in parts).
20211026_172557.jpg
 
Fort Saskatchewan is getting a street redone downtown, and it'll include a pretty significant sidewalk expansion.

Right now, 103rd street has narrow sidewalks, with some sections missing entirely.
View attachment 392360View attachment 392361View attachment 392362

The new design, which will be constructed this year, widens the sidewalks by 3m (on the east half) and 1.5/1.7m (on the west half, nearest to the green apartment building). On top of that, they're also putting in rows of trees that separate pedestrians and vehicle traffic, like we already see along 100 Ave downtown.

View attachment 392366View attachment 392367

So, the sidewalk should look something like this (but not as fancy, and a bit narrower in parts).
View attachment 392370
Here are some better 'before' photos that I took today.
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