I didn't like the original copy, so I decided to re-write it last night. All night.
In other news... don't like the city you live in? Build another one!
New city rising
Highrise, pedestrian-friendly urban community planned for Strathcona County
Susan Ruttan, The Edmonton Journal
EDMONTON - A new city with highrise apartments and pedestrian-friendly streets is going to be built in Strathcona County.
The city will be built from scratch on farmland west of Highway 21 and north of the Yellowhead Highway. It could eventually grow to 200,000 people, said Cynthia Cvik, the county's long-range planning co-ordinator.
Interesting. I've often thought how good it would be to be able to "do it all over again". That is, remake Edmonton, Calgary, or other major cities knowing what we know now as far as urban planning. Couldn't do it... Prohibitively expensive and logistically impossible.
ReplyDeleteA new city would be a slice of that idea. Only downside (as I see it from the article) is that the city will be plunked own on prime agricultural land. I guess no one wants to build in a swamp... or a desert. Perhaps the topsoil could be transplanted to other areas. They do this with housing developments, why not the entire new city?
The plan itself may have some merits, but the distance from Edmonton is still a problem. A planned, urban commuter suburb is still a commuter suburb.
ReplyDeleteAs a person who lives in Sherwood Park, I'm a little frightened by this idea. This seems to me likely to exacerbate the regional problems, problems that have been made worse by municipal politicians in Sherwood Park who can't see that failing to contribute meaningfully to regional sustainability is the best guarantee that their municipality will be amalgamated against its will in the future.
ReplyDeleteI really wish we had a "highrise, pedestrian friendly urban community" in Edmonton itself. Seems silly to outsource it to the middle of nowhere (okay, it's somewhere: prime agricultural land).
ReplyDeleteI agree--it's time to get tough with the irresponsible suburbanite mentality.
ReplyDelete