Over the last forty years societal and economic challenges have driven people away from core and mature neighbourhoods to settle on suburban fringes. This slow loss of people in central neighbourhoods has cost Canadian cities billions in new infrastructure and servicing. However, this shift in population has also inspired many municipalities, including Edmonton, to develop strategies to curb urban sprawl and nurture a more compact urban form.
In 2013, the City launched a project called Evolving Infill that engaged more than 3,000 Edmontonians. From this engagement, the City created its first Infill Roadmap: 23 actions that comprised the City’s work plan for advancing more infill development within close proximity to quality public transit, amenities and services.
This plan undertook significant regulatory and policy changes to help enable and encourage more affordable, diverse, and well-designed housing in Edmonton's older neighbourhoods. Today, most of that Roadmap has been completed, but there’s still more to do.
In July 2018, the City adopted
Infill Roadmap 2018
, which contains a set of 25 more actions to welcome more people and new homes into Edmonton’s older neighbourhoods. The Infill Roadmap 2018 takes a more strategic focus on the 'missing middle', multi-unit, medium-density housing such as row housing, courtyard housing and low-rise apartments.
The City Plan, which will be completed in 2020, will set out the choices that will help our city grow to a city of two million people, and reach the goal of creating vibrant urban communities. A big part of reaching this goal will involve increasing housing choices, particularly how we can integrate more housing in this ‘missing middle' range.