Designing New Neighbourhoods

Guidelines for Edmonton’s Future Communities

Edmonton is vibrant, young and growing! We are planning ahead to ensure we become a leading sustainable city in the future. The City has prepared design guidelines for new neighbourhoods to help us continue to build strong communities.

These guidelines will inform the physical structure and layout of future neighbourhoods in our Urban Growth Areas. They will be used to guide the preparation of new neighbourhood structure plans. 

The guidelines establish a collective vision for our new communities and will encourage them to develop in ways that are unique, innovative and sustainable. In doing so they will help Edmonton to fulfill the vision of its Municipal Development Plan (MDP), The Way We Grow.

Presentation to City Council for Approval

The Guidelines for Edmonton’s Future Residential Communities and an accompanying policy were presented to Council's Executive Committee May 13, 2013. 

Committee has advanced the guidelines and policy to City Council. The presentation of these items is scheduled for May 22, 2013. 

The Complete Streets Guidelines and an accompanying policy were also presented to Executive Committee May 13, 2013, and will also be presented to City Council May 22, 2013. 

A report about these projects is available online. Instructions on how to register to speak to Council about either of these projects are also available online.

How the Guidelines Were Prepared

The design guidelines have been created collaboratively, based on input from the public, key stakeholders and the project’s multi-disciplinary Design Team.

Ideas from Edmontonians and stakeholders about important features of great new neighbourhoods led the development of the guidelines and are reflected in the final document.

Thank you to everyone who participated in this project!

Background

The Municipal Development Plan – The Way We Grow commits the City to developing design guidelines for new neighbourhoods (Policy 4.1.1) and includes details on the key elements that will be included in the guidelines.

Design guidelines for new neighbourhoods will ensure that we continue to invest wisely, act competitively, and that new neighbourhoods advance our collective goals.

It is a key opportunity for developers and builders, new homebuyers, the City, and all future residents to build a better community as Edmonton continues to grow and thrive over the coming years and decades.

The guidelines will be applied to the Urban Growth Areas in the rural northeast, southeast and southwest areas of Edmonton. These areas have been designated for future development in the Municipal Development Plan.

Before neighbourhoods can be planned and built in these areas, approved Area Structure Plans (ASPs) must be in place.

By preparing the design guidelines for new neighbourhoods now, the City will be able to foster the development of unique, creative and innovative new neighbourhoods for these areas when the time comes to develop them.

For more information:

Kalen Anderson

Lisa Larson