Still Dispersed and Decentralized? Evaluating the Influence and Implementation of Smart Growth in Mid-Sized Canadian Cities

Since the late 1990s, the Smart Growth agenda has found broad acceptance within Canadian planning circles as a framework for sustainable development. Smart Growth emerged following decades of dispersed and decentralized growth that dominated urbanization across North America following WWII. Although Smart Growth and its policies for growth management have become the normative approach within the planning discipline, there is little evidence to suggest its actual impact on growth patterns in mid-sized Canadian cities. Through a series of spatial analysis methods, this research examines whether the emergence of Smart Growth has influenced growth patterns of four mid-sized Canadian Census Metropolitan Areas from 1990 to 2010. Findings indicate growth patterns as mixed and limited through the lens of Smart Growth, as growth does not mirror a complete shift consistent with the Smart Growth paradigm. While there is some indication of change, the findings of this research are not enough to overturn the profile of mid-sized Canadian cities as dispersed and decentralized. Subsequently, growth patterns were considered relative to inputs adopted at the respective regional and municipal levels to ascertain the extent to which planning has successfully achieved its objectives. This approach adopts an ex post facto conformance-based plan evaluation, whereby successful implementation is based on conformance between growth patterns and adopted inputs. The findings of this research indicate that while adopted inputs across each case mirror the language of Smart Growth, growth patterns indicate more limited conformance. These findings indicate further evidence of the challenges to disrupting entrenched patterns of urbanization and the disconnect between plans and outcomes.

Name thesis:degree_name

Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

Environmental Design

Grantor dc:publisher.institution

Environmental Design

Year dc:date.issued

2019

Author dc:creator

• Graham, Rylan Richard

Advisor dc:contributor.advisor

• Tsenkova, Sasha

Committee members dc:contributor.committeemember

• Han, Albert T.
• Miller, Byron A.

• Smart Growth
• Mid-sized Canadian cities
• Plan Evaluation
• Growth Management

Statement dc:rights

• University of Calgary graduate students retain copyright ownership and moral rights for their thesis. You may use this material in any way that is permitted by the Copyright Act or through licensing that has been assigned to the document. For uses that are not allowable under copyright legislation or licensing, you are required to seek permission.

Language dc:language.iso

eng

DOI

http://dx.doi.org/10.11575/PRISM/36658

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:ucalgary.scholaris.ca:1880/110527