Sector:

Land Use [1]

Focus:

Community-wide [2]

Community type:

Large city [3]

Mid-sized city [4]

Resort community [5]

Rural/Electoral [6]

Small community [7]

Tabs

What

Planning Smart: Local Government’s Key to Cutting Emissions

Neighborhood Centre Plan View / HB Lanarc, 2008 Local government authority over land use can play a vital role in tackling climate change. Land use patterns and associated transportation networks are directly related to emission growth. In particular, transportation emissions are BC’s largest source of emissions, and they’re rapidly growing.

Of transportation emissions in BC, the largest percentage share is passenger vehicles. Moving to more fuel efficient vehicles and cleaner fuel sources are important steps in reducing GHG emissions, but local governments have limited jurisdiction in these areas. Local governments can, however, help people drive less by encouraging smart growth development. Compared to conventional, low-density single-use development, smart growth reduces the amount people drive by 20 to 40 %. This translates into an 18-36% reduction in GHGs emissions compared to a business-as-usual scenario. [1]

...given the real choice, we would much rather invest in well-located real estate than in gasoline.
Smart Growth America President and CEO Geoff Anderson and Reconnecting America President and CEO Shelly Poticha, co-chairs of Transportation for America Campaign

A smart growth approach to land use policy is not one-size-fits-all, and different communities will have different opportunities to encourage smart growth development and reduce GHG emissions. (See Smart Growth Strategies For Urban, Suburban, Small and Rural Communities below.) However, four common characteristics of smart growth land use especially effective in helping reduce GHG emissions. They are Compact, Centered, Complete and Connected, and these concepts are readily adaptable to most communities.

Common Characteristics of Smart Growth to Reduce GHG Emissions

This figure outlines several factors in urban form and how they impact travel modes that people choose. / Frank, Kavage and Litman for Smart Growth BC, 2006

Compact

Low density development is auto-dependent development. In particular, transit service is considered not viable without a residential density of at least 6-7 dwelling units per acre.
Increasing residential densities can be a political third rail. However, density comes in different forms. Infill and brownfield development can be good places to start.

Centered

The closer that people are to the places they want to go, the less they need to drive. Concentrated areas of employment, commercial and other activities and destinations (cafes, restaurants, corner stores, parks) make a commercial area busy and successful. This also makes active transportation possible and attractive, cutting down on GHG emissions and making people healthier.

Complete

Mixing land uses, including residential, commercial, institutional and light industrial makes communities more self-contained, increasing the opportunities for people to live, work and entertain themselves within a smaller geographic area
Fosters a more inclusive community by providing a variety of lifestyle, housing, economic and cultural opportunities

Connected

Fine-grained street network makes getting from Point A to B more efficient, helping cut driving time and distances
Streets are designed to support an integrated, multi-modal transportation system

Resources
Complete Streets is an organization providing guidance, resources, and a network of experts on complete streets policy and implementation. http://www.completestreets.org [8]

Smart Growth Strategies For Urban, Suburban, Small and Rural Communities

Community size and context influences the choice of low carbon land use strategies.

Urban context

Redevelop and infill existing neighbourhoods
Improve design features
Diversify transportation options, increasing accessibility for walking, cycling, transit [2]

Suburban context

Develop existing suburban neighbourhoods, and/or master-plan neighboring developments – apply medium density, mixed-use centres and sustainability corridors
Make communities more complete with more services and employment

Improve transportation choices: cycling, ridesharing, transit [2]

Small Town and Slow-Growth Context

Revitalize key areas such as downtown, and channel services into walkable centres
Ensure planning processes are proactive so that if a development proposal does come forward, it can be reviewed in the context of an overall community vision. This will build pride and identity, identify a range of actions including quick wins and help to ensure that the right development occurs in the right places.
Develop local government tools and policies to:
- provide certainty about where new growth will occur
- direct public investments such as institutions, parks, public realm improvements to existing centres
- build local economic development capacity and opportunities. The Centre for Community Enterprise [9] website is a good resource.
Improve transportation options: cycling, ridesharing

[Use the tabs above to learn WHY this sector is important in GHG management and HOW you can reduce emissions in land uses.]

[1] These figures are based on a meta analysis of numerous US studies. They may not precisely extrapolate to Canada. The underlying development patterns, nevertheless, are very similar. Source: Ewing, Bartholomew, Winkelman, Walters, and Chen, 2002. Growing Cooler: The Evidence on Urban Development and Climate Change, Smart Growth America. http://www.smartgrowthamerica.org/documents/growingcoolerCH1.pdf [10] (introduction and summary available online)

[2] Victoria Transportation Policy Institute, http://www.vtpi.org [11]

Other resources:

Campoli and MacLean, 2007. Visualizing Density, Lincoln Institute of Land Policy, http://www.lincolninst.edu [12]

Environmental Law Clinic, University of Victoria Faculty of Law, and Deborah Curran and Company, 2007. Green Bylaws Toolkit for Conserving Sensitive Ecosystems and Green Infrastructure, http://www.greenbylaws.ca [13]

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Why

Reducing GHGs makes Economic, Social and Ecological sense

Revelstoke, Ladysmith, Queen Charlotte City, many neighborhoods dotted across Metro Vancouver and the Capital Region - many BC communities have retained or revitalized vibrant, pedestrian friendly, residential/commercial centres that are intrinsically more sustainable. Smart growth approaches to land use can significantly reduce GHG emissions by reducing the amount people drive. But that’s not the only reason to adopt smart growth land use policies. There are considerable spin-off benefits associated with encouraging more compact, centered, complete and connected communities. Smart growth policies are an integrated way of meeting multiple community objectives and demands, including:

Despite the many benefits of adopting smart growth policies, making changes to traditional land use patterns will evoke opposition from segments of the community. See Understanding Smart Growth Opposition below for more information.

Community Affordability

Living and working in the same community is increasingly sought after, as a compact community is more likely to offer convenient services, transportation choices, and local employment. [7]
Suburban expansion, with larger homes on larger lots at the urban fringe increases "per unit" land costs. A suburban housing stock is dominated by single family homes, more affordable choices such as apartments and townhomes are noticeably absent. [1]
Refer to the West Coast Environmental Law Smart Bylaws Guide [15] for more on affordable housing and communities.

Healthy Residents

The health benefits of compact community lifestyles are well established.

Air pollution and ill health can be successfully mitigated with compact, mixed-use, transit-oriented development. [4]
Increased walking and biking, which improve human cardiovascular and respiratory health and reduce hypertension and obesity, is associated with mixed-use developments within walking distance of shops and services and connected streets [8] People living in such neighbourhoods can have a 35% lower risk of obesity. [5]
There is a consistent association between land use patterns and levels of physical activity; policy changes and public investment are being recommended to encourage the creation of more walkable communities. [8]

See Transportation Solutions [16] for more information on benefits of active transportation.

Socially Vibrant Communities

It is abundantly clear that sustainable land development is not a cost to business; it brings value to developers, life and community and is absolutely necessary to tackle the significant environmental issues we area facing.

Joe VanBelleghem, Developer of Award Winning Dockside Green, Victoria BC

"What attracts people most, it would appear, is other people," according to William Whyte, a legendary advocate for public spaces. People want to be part of a vibrant public realm where other people gather. See Project for Public Spaces [17] for more on public spaces and vibrancy.

When people meet one another on the street, they build a sense of community and trust that translates into higher social capital. Canadian community thinker Jane Jacobs noted in Death and Life of Great American Cities that defined, walkable neighborhoods with higher densities, mixed uses and a remarkable public realm bring people out on the streets and create a sense of community. [4]

Time spent driving alone in automobiles erodes the strength of our communities. Robert Putnam reveals in Bowling Alone: "each additional ten minutes spent in daily commuting time cuts involvement in community affairs by 10 percent". [4]

Accommodate Changing Demographics and Market Demand

Over the next 25 years the number senior citizens in BC will double. This means more households with fewer people, different housing requirements, and demand for close access to services. [1]
25 - 33% of American home buyers prefer infill, mixed-use, and transit-oriented neighborhoods. This demand is expected to grow as the population ages, with similar market demands and trends in Canada. [7]
Empty nesters and young singles, two rapidly growing demographic groups, are choosing multi-family housing over single-family housing. [2]
Demand exceeds supply of compact, mixed, multi-modal neighbourhoods and more active transportation environments. [6]

Investment in Compact Communities

Containing sprawl is not only local governments' greatest climate protection challenge; it is a critical economic imperative. The Conference Board of Canada's major treatise, Mission Possible: Sustainable Prosperity for Canada, underscores how Canada's overall competitiveness is undermined because of the inefficiency, congestion, and costly infrastructure associated with sprawl. [10]
Smart growth is a low-cost climate change strategy. It generally involves redirecting investments that will be made anyway. Identifying optimal places for new development will reduce greenhouse gases, strengthen the economic vitality of a community, and reduce maintenance costs for infrastructure and services. [7]
Adding population to an existing area creates an economy of scale with lower infrastructure installation costs for developers, and lower infrastructure operational costs for local governments. Low-density development leads to higher public and private development costs than compact, mixed-use development. [1] Property taxes and development fees are generally inadequate to finance a community's full life cycle costs to deliver infrastructure and services to low-density, residential development. West Coast Environmental Law's Smart Bylaws Guide [15], the Victoria Transportation Policy Institute [11] and CMHC [18] provide public investment and infrastructure cost studies.

Community Economic Development

The Conference Board of Canada predicts that the competitive advantage of cities and regions that are less dependent on oil and gas for transportation will continue to strengthen, given rising oil prices driven by declining conventional oil reserves and increasingly costly extraction. [9]
A high "quality of place" is a top factor for attracting high tech workers and firms associated with the knowledge economy, to communities and regions, according to leading urban analyst Richard Florida The quality of place and strength of social capital is a function of complete, compact communities. [3]
Concentration of land uses is a key factor for the success of eco-industrial networks, advocated for by the Conference Board of Canada as a promising economic development trend. [10]
Mixed-use, compact neighbourhoods and downtowns are hubs for the local economy.
Clustered and concentrated development allows protection of ecologically important lands for community needs like outdoor recreation, forestry, and agriculture.

Understanding Smart Growth Opposition

Despite a sound body of research and built examples behind smart growth, there is significant inertia and a whole web of policies an practices favouring conventional development. Much opposition is based on misunderstandings. Understanding opposition is instructive for advancing the agenda. For more information refer to Evaluating Criticism of Smart Growth [19].

[Use the tabs above to learn HOW you can reduce emissions in land use.]

[1], Deborah Curran, 2003. Smart Bylaws Guide Summary, West Coast Environmental Law

[2] Campoli and MacLean, 2007, Visualizing Density, Lincoln Institute of Land Policy

[3] Federation of Canadian Municipalities, 2002. Bridging the Innovation Gap: Count Cities, in Curran, Smart Bylaws Guide Summary, West Coast Environmental Law, http://www.wcel.org [20]

[4] Design, Community & Environment, Dr. Reid Ewing, Lawrence Frank and Company, Inc and Dr. Richard Kreutzer, 2007. Understanding the Relationship between Public Health and the Built Environment, A Report Prepared for the LEED-ND Core Committee,

[5] BC Healthy Living Alliance. Physical Activity Strategy. March 2007.

[6] Lawrence Frank, Sarah Kavage and Todd Litman prepared for Smart Growth BC, Promoting Public Health through Smart Growth,

[7] Ewing, Bartholomew, Winkelman, Walters, and Chen, 2002. Growing Cooler: The Evidence on Urban Development and Climate Change, Smart Growth America.

[8] J. Kerr, 2008. Designing for Active Living Among Adults, Spring 2008 Research Summary, Active Living Research, http://www.activelivingresearch.org [21]

[9] Golden and Brendner, 2007, Sustainable Urban Transportation: A Winning Strategy for Canada, Conference Board of Canada,

[10] Conference Board of Canada, 2008, Mission Possible: Sustainable Prosperity for Canada

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How

Promoting Smart Land Use

Local governments have the authority to create, adopt, and implement Plans, Policies, Projects, and Processes that shape community layout and form. These planning and policy tools can advance an agenda for smart land use and climate protection.

Getting Started: Three Considerations

Lead with key policies and plans. Local governments generally have key policies and plans that are the blueprints for the community's future development: Regional Growth Strategy, Official Community Plan, Zoning Bylaw, Subdivision and Development Control Bylaw. Local governments can update these key plans and policies to exemplify the principles of a smart growth land use framework and climate change action, in a form that best fits their community.
Make smart growth and climate change practical and rewarding. Opportunities include: developing guidelines for the desired form of buildings and performance standards (e.g. Development Permit Area Guidelines); encouraging new development to provide needed community amenities with density bonusing. And; providing fiscal incentives like variable development cost charges and tax exemptions.
Engage the community. People become invested in plans and policies that they help to create. Meaningfully engaging community stakeholders (residents, landowners, developers, interest groups) is a key opportunity to harness collective wisdom to create better plans and policies. At the end of the day, community support and investment is essential in order to adopt and implement plans and policies.

Plans

Regional Growth Strategy [23]

The purpose is "to promote human settlement that is socially, economically and environmentally healthy and that makes efficient use of public facilities and services" (Local Government Act (http://www.bclaws.ca/civix/document/id/consol5/consol5/96323_25 [24] (1)) in ways that: concentrate development; avoid sprawl; enhance future resilience; minimize the use of automobiles and encourage alternative modes; and plan for alternate energy sources and efficiency (Sec 849 (2) paraphrase).

Official Community Plan [25] (including growth management), neighbourhood plans

The purpose of the Official Community Plan is to plan the location and type of land uses to meet future needs. A key component is growth management - to determine where growth will be accommodated, with an opportunity to concentrate development in existing and contiguous areas. The OCP is required to include targets and policies for GHG reduction. The OCP identifies key policy areas that will be developed to implement the Plan, and ratifies areas of local government leadership like energy planning. Neighbourhood plans are an opportunity to develop policies at a more specific level of detail.

Financial Plan

Long term capital and operating planning are an opportunity to advance smart land use and climate change action, as well as improve local government fiscal performance.

Transportation Plans [26]

Integrated transportation and land use planning processes establish smart land use patterns that support sustainable transportation modes.

Community Energy Plan

Sustainable energy goals can be included in the OCP. Energy objectives can be further articulated in a single energy plan, and then integrated into other local government bylaws and policies, including: zoning, development permit guidelines, development cost charges, development checklists, density bonusing.

Policies

Development Permit Area Guidelines [27]

The Local Government Act currently provides that an official community plan may designate areas for ecological protection, revitalization, form and character, energy and water conservation, and greenhouse gas reduction. This is the main tool for articulating how development and design shall meet expectations for smart land use and climate change action at a site or neighbourhood level. Development permit area guidelines may aim to achieve interaction among uses, creation of vibrant, people-friendly streets, and energy efficient site and building design.

Zoning Bylaw [28]

Key regulation for creating mixed uses, and for designating the concentration of development. A key tool for implementing the land use framework in the Official Community Plan. Controls lot size and shape, lot coverage, siting, parking requirements, which are factors in creating compact and efficient development. Include regulations for secondary suites, which are a valuable infill / intensification solution in lower density neighbourhoods without negative impact on character. Also consider allowing freehold row housing which provides unique addresses, street entry, and private yards similar to single family houses but at higher densities.

Subdivision and Development Control Bylaw (including street design standards)

Opportunity to require efficient street design (including roads, sidewalks, boulevards, parking, bike lanes) that is attractive and suited to multiple modes of transportation. Also an opportunity to save costs and increase resilience to climate change by combining infrastructure functions, like roads and stormwater management through features like swales.

Density Bonusing [29]

The rezoning application process, which creates a lift in property value with more valuable permitted uses, is an opportunity to leverage community amenities in exchange for greater development density. This can include energy efficiency.

Development Cost Charges [30]

Charges can also be set to reflect the lower cost to local governments of buildings and developments that are more efficient or built in areas with existing infrastructure. For example, lower charges for development located in existing neighbourhoods and downtown commercial areas, smaller residential units, and new buildings that use water efficient techniques.

Fast Tracking of Development Applications [31]

A speed incentive for development applications with site location and design that meets determined objectives of smart growth land use and climate change action (e.g. site in existing area, green building design, desired uses like employment).

Sustainability Checklists [32]

A user-friendly means by which a local government can assess a potential development’s contribution to sustainability goals. The tool can be used to educate and to encourage development that meets a local government’s goals for smart land use and climate change action.

Projects

Sustainability Block [33]

Instructive illustration of how climate change strategies and smart land use can actually take place at a micro-scale, and an opportunity for developing an effective partnership amongst a developer/landowner, a tenant and a local government.

Smart Neighbourhoods [34]

The process is an opportunity to develop capacity for smart land use policies; lessons can be extended across the community. The product, a neighbourhood plan, is a useful tool for implementing smart land use and climate action at a tangible neighbourhood scale.

Greenways

These linear zones can meet multiple objectives such as recreational space, stormwater management, ecosystem protection, active transportation.

Downtown Revitalization

A significant undertaking that espouses the principles of smart growth land use by concentrating development in existing areas, mixing land uses, and developing a vibrant community.

Linking Land Use and Transportation

Sustainable land use and transportation policies and projects are integral to each other's success. Also see Transportation Solutions [16]

Processes

Community Engagement

Meaningful community engagement is an important process for creating land use plans that meet a community’s specific needs and character. Engaging the community can also raise individuals’ awareness and commitment to sustainability, through understanding how individual behaviours and lifestyle contribute to community goals and targets for sustainability.

Life Cycle Costing [35]

Local government leadership is required in order to incorporate true long term costs into decision-making regarding development and service delivery. Such decisions have lasting impacts on the form of the community as well as its financial responsibilities.

Triple Bottom Line Evaluation

A shift away from the financial bottom line, toward an integrated social, economic and environmental bottom line can more fully inform decisions related to sustainable land use, GHG reduction and community well being.

print [36]

Actions for Land Use