Urban Sprawl

Hank C Cheyenne

Electoral Member
Sep 17, 2005
403
0
16
Calgary, Alberta.
The New Ontario: Corridor Of Power

IN THE 1800s aboriginals called it the Wolf ’s Track, and you’d have been hard-pressed to find anyone on it. Today the Edmonton-Calgary corridor is one of the fastest-growing regions in the world and boasts a population of nearly 2.5 million souls, more than Manitoba and Saskatchewan combined. Every day 50,000 vehicles use the four-lane divided thoroughfare known as Highway 2. Once flanked by vast prairie expanses that on a clear day still offer scenic glimpses of the Rocky Mountains, the corridor now sports jarring colonies of constant residential development and classic nowhere architecture.

Dubbed the “Western Tiger” by the TD Bank Financial Group, the corridor connects Edmonton, a sprawling metropolis serving the oil sands, to Calgary, a sprawling metropolis answering the continent’s insatiable appetite for natural gas. In between lie more growing concerns such as Red Deer, an agriculture and oilpatch centre dominated by evangelical churches that serves as a trading area for nearly two million people. A land of new subdivisions, sleek SUVs and cellphone-armed engineers and dealmakers, the region’s commercial heart — try $105 billion in related investments — furiously outpaces southern Ontario’s. Its standard of living is actually closer to that of the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg, the wealthiest nation on earth.

It has also developed growing pains. Manure from factory farms around Red Deer threatens local groundwater as well as the sanity of down-winders. Subdivisions are sprawling so quickly over the prairie that oil and gas drillers collide daily with municipal planners and housing developers. So many new cottages have been planned for Sylvan Lake, a poor man’s Muskoka, that the water body won’t be able to handle its projected flotilla of 400 boats. The oilpatch now plans to drill more than 50,000 coal bed methane wells on prime corridor farmland; the region could theoretically end up supporting 12 times that number. In Calgary, concentric rings of monster-sized homes continue to creep toward the foothills so determinedly that the scenic drive to Banff may soon be obliterated. A recent proposal to drill sour-gas wells on the edge of the city immediately placed 250,000 citizens in an “emergency planning zone,” a controversial designation usually found around nuclear power plants.


According to Calgary’s smiling Mayor Dave Bronconnier, whom everyone calls Bronco, “there is no such thing as urban sprawl in Calgary.” The numbers, however, show a city with a vastly expanding waistline. Since 1970 the population has more than doubled. A road network of 2,800 kilometres has become a clogged maze of 12,000. In terms of square kilometres, Calgary now has the same size footprint as New York — but with only one-tenth of the people. “Calgary is a centrifugal force spinning out,” says Bev Sandalack, a local urban designer. In this unrestrained spin, farmland and mountain vistas are disappearing. “It’s unsustainable and unethical” to Sandalack, but in this place, with no immediate natural constraints — such as a great lake — to force greater population density, the end of suburbia is nowhere in sight.
 

Reverend Blair

Council Member
Apr 3, 2004
1,238
1
38
Winnipeg
Sounds to me like the place is falling apart and doesn't even know it. Sour gas wells in populated areas, destruction of farmland and natural habitat, groundwater being threatened by manure (and they didn't even mention the water being made to disappear to keep the oil flowing)....Man, it's like the place is run by fools who can't see past next Tuesday.

The funniest thing is that we all know the bust will come. It always has, precisely because of the kind of poor planning we are seeing now. When it does, Alberta will blame the rest of Canada again.
 

Gonzo

Electoral Member
Dec 5, 2004
997
1
18
Was Victoria, now Ottawa
People in Calgary get into there gas guzzlers and commute from the suburbs into the city to work every day. And many don’t see the problem with that. They think "isn't our city great". David Suzuki did a talk in Calgary about that. In Calgary suburbs, people have a big house with a big back yard. This all takes up space and contributes to urban sprawl. It's happening in Ottawa too. I noticed out in Kanata they have giant homes built on the cheap that cost a fortune in energy to heat in the winter and cool in the summer. It's mostly small families who live there. Outside the house is an SUV. They drive there SUV's through rush hour traffic, chugging the gas, from Kanata to downtown Ottawa to work.
Did you know that GM conspired to have all electric train rail removed from cities like New York and L.A. so they could sell more cars and buses? This all happened in the 30's. I wonder what keeps cities from building more electric rail for public transit.
 

Reverend Blair

Council Member
Apr 3, 2004
1,238
1
38
Winnipeg
Did you know that GM conspired to have all electric train rail removed from cities like New York and L.A. so they could sell more cars and buses? This all happened in the 30's. I wonder what keeps cities from building more electric rail for public transit.

There was a story about that in either Canadian Geographic or the Walrus a while back. It wasn't just New York and LA, they did the same in Canadian cities as well.

People in Calgary get into there gas guzzlers and commute from the suburbs into the city to work every day. And many don’t see the problem with that. They think "isn't our city great". David Suzuki did a talk in Calgary about that. In Calgary suburbs, people have a big house with a big back yard. This all takes up space and contributes to urban sprawl. It's happening in Ottawa too. I noticed out in Kanata they have giant homes built on the cheap that cost a fortune in energy to heat in the winter and cool in the summer. It's mostly small families who live there. Outside the house is an SUV. They drive there SUV's through rush hour traffic, chugging the gas, from Kanata to downtown Ottawa to work.

We see the same thing in every city. We don't infill, we build huge houses that we don't need, and we dirve the wrong vehicles for the wrong reasons. That all has a huge cost. We pay for it with our environment, our health, and our quality of life. It costs money and it costs jobs, but when anybody suggests that we fix it we are told that it would be too expensive. If you ask who it would be expensive for, the answers they give don't stand up to scrutiny.
 

Gonzo

Electoral Member
Dec 5, 2004
997
1
18
Was Victoria, now Ottawa
I just saw on the news that Ford and GM have to cut health benefits for their employees because of loss of sales (I bet CEO salaries don’t take a hit). Maybe their sales are down because they favour big cars and trucks and SUV's. So, I think that if they took the time and money to develop fuel efficient cars or vehicles that run on alternative fuels that the long term payoff would be worth it. I believe that cities should build electric rail. With the population always going up we can’t continue to expand our roads and highways. We need a more efficient way to move people around the cities.
As for energy for homes, in Europe they are using wind power. Here in Canada? We are experimenting with it in Newfoundland but it's a long way off. It's not an experiment! It works! In Denmark they are powering entire towns with it. It works!
I saw on the news about this guy (he's the guy who flew with Canadian geese and helped them migrate to the States, Disney made a movie about it) and he built a home underground like a hobbit. It saves him a tone of money on energy. He built a fridge like a tube that’s under the kitchen counter. When you push a button the food comes up out of the tube and inside it stays cold. You never have to open it. Why do you have to open a fridge that’s shaped like a cube and let all the cool out, then when you close it the fridge has to waste all the energy to cool it down again? To build new fuel efficient things cost money at first, but saves in the long run.
 

Hank C Cheyenne

Electoral Member
Sep 17, 2005
403
0
16
Calgary, Alberta.
A recent proposal to drill sour-gas wells on the edge of the city immediately placed 250,000 citizens in an “emergency planning zone,” a controversial designation usually found around nuclear power plants.
....I heard about this before and I find it quite concerning.

Since 1970 the population has more than doubled. A road network of 2,800 kilometres has become a clogged maze of 12,000. In terms of square kilometres, Calgary now has the same size footprint as New York — but with only one-tenth of the people.
.....yea the city is spread quite well.....low density is the name of the game. I am reading lots about Calgary starting to attract more people downtown (similar to Vancouver) but this still won't stop the urban sprawl...

...although I do have to say that the sprawl in Toronto is much much worse...but then again Toronto is tiny compared to LA or Chicago...so it's all relative. Calgary is just surprising simply because it is no where the size of these other cities.....it looks much larger than a city of just 1 million though.......

..... I think it has to do with the endless space...I mean sure you have the mountains to the west (they are still a 45min drive away from Calgary)...but then the east,south,and north are vast open spaces still.....sure there are small towns but they will likely be swallowed up by the cities and become part of the suburbs. As was said the Edmonton-Calgary corridor is one of the fastest growing regions in the world.

...another reason I beleive that Calgary is soo spread out is because it causes real estate to be cheaper....you see Vancouver has run out of space...and when you combine that with high housing demand of a growing city.....the prices will go up...although I'm not saying Calgary is cheap.
 

Gonzo

Electoral Member
Dec 5, 2004
997
1
18
Was Victoria, now Ottawa
Toronto has sprawled out allot and now they have smog alerts in the winter. They do have a subway, train system and trolleys but it's still not enough. Calgary is a beautiful city, as is downtown Toronto and Vancouver. Cities just have to plan their growth better and consider energy costs and public transportation.
 

Hank C Cheyenne

Electoral Member
Sep 17, 2005
403
0
16
Calgary, Alberta.
Toronto has sprawled out allot and now they have smog alerts in the winter. They do have a subway, train system and trolleys but it's still not enough. Calgary is a beautiful city, as is downtown Toronto and Vancouver. Cities just have to plan their growth better and consider energy costs and public transportation.

Vancouver is a drivers nightmare though.....I mean no freeways jsut stop light after stop light.......at least Toronto and Calgary have freeways, even if they are packed and going 20mph.

...and also where I live in Calgary I can't access the train.....and I sur as hell do not want to ride a bus downtown every day .......... :wink: