Jill Grant

Mixed Use in Theory and Practice: Canadian Experience with Implementing a Planning Principle

Abstract This article explores the theory and practice of mixed use, from its origins in the critiques of Jane Jacobs to the recent prescriptions of New Urbanism. Drawing on experiences in Canada, where mixed use has become firmly established as a key planning principle, we identify some of the problems and barriers encountered in seeking mix in several cities. We find that mixed use promises economic vitality, social equity, and environmental quality, but it cannot readily deliver such benefits in a context where cultural and economic forces promote separation of land uses.

Types of gated communities

In the last decade the planning literature has reflected growing interest in the topic of gated communities. To date, this relatively new field of research has generated limited theoretical development. Although recent literature has begun to elucidate the social and economic contexts that make gated enclaves a global phenomenon, few works offer an overview of the physical features of gated communities. The key source articulating a framework for understanding gated communities is Blakely and Snyders, Fortress America. Although Blakely and Snyder provide detailed findings on the form of gated projects in the US context, they say little about gating elsewhere. This paper draws on a range of literature on gated enclaves to examine and augment the typology created by Blakely and Snyder. Building theory to explain the form and character of gated communities requires the consideration of a range of historical experiences and international differences in practice. Although classification alone does not constitute theory, it provides an important foundation for those seeking to generate premises and principles for further theoretical development. It also offers useful tools for case studies of practice.

A framework for planning sustainable residential landscapes

Abstract The authors present a normative vision and planning framework for protecting landscapes and ecosystems. They suggest that good planning of residential environments requires that planners re-examine priorities and regulations from the point of view of sustaining landscape processes and functions. The health and prosperity of communities over the long term depends upon natural processes and landscape function. Without a healthy environment, human communities face uncertain futures. Planning to sustain landscapes implies not only a new philosophy but also different land-use practices within communities.

Planning Responses to Gated Communities in Canada

This paper describes the distribution of gated developments and the municipal planning response to them in Canada. Although gating is not as common as in the US, the number of gated subdivisions is increasing, especially in western Canada. Gating has not yet generated significant social debate regarding the social, economic or political implications of this residential form. While planners in some communities have developed tools to regulate gating, for the most part planning documents do not include policies to respond effectively to the challenges that gating may create. Moreover, planners find themselves conflicted between achieving the planning principles of compact urban form versus equally compelling arguments for connectivity and social integration.

The dark side of the grid: power and urban design

In contemporary discussions of preferred urban form, many planners and designers advocate a return to the grid. Proponents of the grid see it as legible, accessible, efficient, traditional and, perhaps, even egalitarian. This paper examines the grid in the context of social traditions which have used it as a dominant form in city building. A brief historical review shows that the grid emerges in some societies seeking to diffuse authority among citizens, but appears most commonly in societies which are centralizing or globalizing power. The extraordinary symbolism of the grid as a rational built form imposed on landscapes can convey a range of meanings, both positive and negative.

Armed Compounds and Broken Arms: The Cultural Production of Gated Communities

In recent geographic and urban discourse, neoliberalism increasingly appears as an explanatory framework for a range of spatial phenomena, including gated communities. This article compares the form and function of gated communities in Israel and Canada to illustrate how locally and historically contingent development processes and cultural understandings intersect and interact with globalizing practices and regional manifestations of neoliberal policies. In so doing, it explores the way that global and local processes collectively produce gated communities with varying regional expressions.

Calculating ecological footprints at the municipal level: what is a reasonable approach for Canada?

No clear ecological footprint calculation strategy is available for small- and mid-sized communities within Canada. By adjusting provincial or national footprint findings using data sets available in the public domain, we develop and test a calculation strategy to estimate municipal ecological footprints. Because the calculation approach is consistent with the Global Footprint Network standardised methodology, it permits meaningful comparisons between communities and with global and national footprint estimates. It offers planners, policy-makers, and community leaders an accessible, straight forward, and cost effective strategy for estimating the ecological footprint at the community and municipal level. The suggested approach is best suited for using the ecological footprint as an awareness and education tool. The large number of limitations associated with calculating the municipal approach and limitations associated with calculating ecological footprints in general at the local level make it an unsuitable tool to inform community planning and policy development.

Two sides of a coin? New urbanism and gated communities

Abstract Contemporary residential building trends reflect concerns about privacy, traffic, and managing difference. Despite the radically different premises behind New Urbanism and gated communities, I find on closer inspection that they both respond to similar perceived crises in our cities. New Urbanism answers urban challenges with bold efforts to recapture the strengths of older communities and to supplant unwanted suburban patterns with those believed to have greater resilience and public purpose. Gated communities reveal popular skepticism about the potential for improving urban conditions and a consequent desire to retreat to protected compounds. In both cases, the new suburbs generally provide housing primarily for the most affluent among us and represent the ascendance of private over public interests. By examining the Canadian urban context, this article explores some ways in which New Urbanism and gated communities differ, while also highlighting the characteristics and dilemmas they share.

Planning and designing industrial landscapes for eco-efficiency

Abstract Efforts to apply industrial ecology and to achieve greater eco-efficiencies begin with process re-engineering but may go much further. By applying ecosystem principles to all of their activities, businesses may also realize significant savings through site and building design, landscape planning, and site management policies. This article briefly considers some of the significant landscape issues relevant to planning and designing eco-industrial parks.

Where Is the Café? The Challenge of Making Retail Uses Viable in Mixed-use Suburban Developments

Contemporary planners see mixing residential, retail and other compatible uses as an essential planning principle. This paper explores the challenges that planners, developers and municipal councillors encounter in trying to implement retail uses as part of the mix in suburban areas in three Canadian cities. The study finds that planners employ evolutionary theories of urban development to naturalise their normative visions of walkable and sociable communities. By contrast, developers point to consumer behaviour to explain why planners’ ideas on mix do not work. In a society where people shop at big-box outlets, making the local café or pub commercially viable proves increasingly challenging.