Experts predict Calgary to become urban sprawl capital of Canada

CALGARY (CP) - With a geographical footprint the same size as New York City but only about 10 per cent of the population, it's no wonder some experts worry that the booming metropolis of Calgary may become the worst offender in Canada when it comes to urban sprawl. Land - lots of it - has allowed the city to avoid the more controlled, efficient development some cities are forced into by their locale.

"Calgary will for the foreseeable future continue to grow out," says Karen Wilkie, a senior policy analyst with the Canada West Foundation. "The issue really is growing outward with no limits."

"When you think about the rate of Calgary's growth, the only limit is the city's inability to continue to annex more land."

The rapid expansion, mostly southward, has created a number of far-flung communities, increased reliance on automobiles and gobbled up some prime agricultural land.

There are environmental concerns as well, with the brown haze of pollution from heavy traffic areas sometimes visible 40 kilometres away.

"We're creating a car culture and longer commute times back and forth, and car trips create air quality issues," said Wilkie.

"The city of Calgary is starting to have air quality days that are similar to the city of Toronto, and that certainly takes away that small Prairie town and puts Calgary in a more realistic modern day sense," she said.

Brian Pincott of the Sierra Club in Calgary is also concerned about the apparently limitless sprawl.

"Right now we're probably equivalent to some of the worst cities in Canada, but because of our booming economy we really have the potential to become way worse," he warns.

"There's only one city in Canada that is at our standard, and that is North York outside of Toronto. If you look at the sprawling burbs of Toronto, that is essentially what we are doing."

It's now a full 25 kilometres from the city centre to the new southern outskirts of Calgary. Rolling green hills are dotted with the large rural spreads known as acreages, palatial homes and private riding arenas. Complaints abound about insufficient transit, roads and schools.

"We're still building all this sprawling crap, so the crunch is happening right now where we are going to tip over and become way worse than any other Canadian city," Pincott said.

But Calgary's mayor takes exception to the criticism.

"We don't have sprawl today," says Dave Bronconnier. "What you're seeing is sprawl that's occurred primarily from rapid growth in the 1960s, '70s and '80s."

"The public policies are working. They're reversing a trend and seeing it in the form of more multi-family homes, significantly higher densities, more mixed-use projects and more high-rise towers."

Another characteristic of urban sprawl - defined as the expansive, rapid, and sometimes reckless growth of a greater metropolitan area - is new neighbourhoods of single-family residences with low population density.

But Bronconnier points to the redevelopment of some sectors in the inner city as a sign that Calgary's policies are working and he scoffs at suggestions there's no end in sight to the city's expansion plans.

"Those are people living in a dream world - the same people that came out with a stat that said we'd go from here to Kananaskis (90 kilometres to the west) based on their own formulas."

Bronconnier also notes that his city has one of the highest percentages of urban park space in Canada.

Pincott concedes Calgary has made some positive moves in its redevelopment, but he's still looking for a strategy to deal with future expansion.

"It doesn't appear that there's any end in sight and the city is certainly in conversation in annexing more land," he said.

"As long as the city views annexation as the solution, we are just going to continue doing exactly the same thing."

© The Canadian Press, 2006