Christopher Leo

BEING REALISTIC ABOUT URBAN GROWTH

ABSTRACT: This paper distinguishes between cities experiencing high rates of growth and those growing more slowly and argues that it is critically important to take rates of growth into consideration in policy making. Using the examples of Vancouver and Winnipeg, we explore the economic, physical, and political differences associated with their different rates of growth and consider the policy implications of these differences. We critically compare policies pursued by the two cities in five areas: economic development, infrastructure and services, land use, planning for growth, and housing. We argue that both slow and rapid growth have advantages and disadvantages but that policy, especially in slow-growth centers, is often dictated not by a sober assessment of opportunities and constraints but by an unreasoning pursuit of growth at all costs. This pursuit has engendered a way of thinking about urban policy that has affected both city governance and academic urban studies literature.

Slow Growth and Urban Development Policy

This article distinguishes between cities experiencing high rates of growth and those growing more slowly and argues that 1) widely held North American assumptions to the contrary, slow growth is not a pathology; and 2) because we do tend to view it as a pathology, we fail to plan for it and instead follow policies more appropriate to rapidly growing centers. Using Winnipeg as the primary example of a slowly growing city, but drawing on a wide range of data, the article considers the following policy areas: housing, management of infrastructure, economic development, and immigration. In each of these areas the argument is that policies that may be defensible in rapidly growing centers are inappropriately followed in slowly growing cities where different lines of policy would be more beneficial. Appropriate policies for slowly growing cities are suggested and their merits evaluated.