{"id":8069,"date":"2011-03-15T08:29:46","date_gmt":"2011-03-15T11:29:46","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/spacingatlantic.ca\/?p=8069"},"modified":"2013-01-21T04:56:42","modified_gmt":"2013-01-21T08:56:42","slug":"a-greenbelt-for-halifax","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/atlantic\/2011\/03\/15\/a-greenbelt-for-halifax\/","title":{"rendered":"A Greenbelt for Halifax?"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

HALIFAX<\/strong> – \u201cWhat kind of community do you want to live in? What do you want Halifax to look like?\u201d<\/p>\n

Jen Powley<\/a> asked these questions to a packed auditorium in the Ralph M. Medjuck Building located at the Dalhousie University School of Planning campus on March 11th, 2011.\u00a0Despite the diversity of her audience\u2014students and seniors, the able-bodied and the handicapped, Nova Scotia natives and recently transplanted residents\u2014Powley guessed their answers may be more similar than different. She\u2019s also confident an HRM Greenbelt would solidify a common ground.<\/p>\n

On the second day of the Dalhousie School of Planning\u2019s Imagine conference<\/a>, Powley proposed the implementation of an HRM Greenbelt to strengthen the components of the Regional Municipal Planning Strategy<\/a>. \u00a0The conferences intent was to assess long-term planning in general and to review specifically, the Regional Municipal Plan: the 25-year strategy plan is under review this year and is seeking consultation from the public.\u00a0The HRM Regional Municipal Plan was ratified in 2006 and lays out a strategy for sustainable growth in the HRM that simultaneously preserves the environment and fosters a strong economy. It touches upon what Powley refers to as the three key pillars of future planning: society, economics and the environment. It also addresses them in urban, rural and suburban contexts.<\/p>\n

While Powley agrees with this approach, she describes the Plan as \u201c130 pages of dense, dense document. I use the image of oatmeal,\u201d she says. \u201cReally, it\u2019s kind of bland.\u201d Powley\u2019s joke isn\u2019t far off-base. According to a recent survey, 53 per cent of polled HRM residents rated the success of the Plan as five or lower, on a one to ten scale.\u00a0\u201cIt\u2019s a good plan,\u201d says Powley. \u201cThere\u2019s lots of good stuff in it, but it hasn\u2019t attracted the imagination of the population.\u201d<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Not in the way that a Greenbelt could.\u00a0A Greenbelt is an area of undeveloped or agricultural land surrounding an urban centre. Vancouver, Quebec, Ottawa and Toronto already tout their own. According to Powley, 86 per cent of HRM residents support the creation of a Greenbelt.<\/p>\n

Powley argues this type of land-use looks ahead 100\u2014not 25\u2014years and supports the three pillars of the Plan. Most importantly, it engages the public in a collective vision. \u00a0The strength and sustainability of the Greenbelt vision is grounded in its acknowledgment of the diversity of the Nova Scotian population, especially in the HRM. \u201cDemographics are going to be our biggest challenge in future years,\u201d says Powley, highlighting the HRM\u2019s need to attract and retain young people and immigrants, as well as service an aging population.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe need to look at social needs. We need to look at our community not only as we are, but as children and as seniors,\u201d argues Powley.<\/p>\n

Seeing as the HRM constitutes 40 per cent of the province\u2019s population, the social, economic and environmental well-being of this urban centre is essential to that of the entire province.<\/p>\n

But in incorporating a Greenbelt into the Plan, the HRM cannot be analyzed merely as a single urban centre. Instead, Powley suggests a polycentric view of the HRM comprising of Greenbelts surrounding Halifax in addition to several smaller, established communities outside the core. This perspective would help marry rural and urban views, adds Powley.<\/p>\n

Jen Powley joined the Ecology Action Centre<\/a> in 2008 as the Sustainable Transportation Coordinator, and is currently completing her Masters in Land-Use Planning at Dalhousie University. She has since encouraged the Centre to be more actively engaged in municipal affairs. \u00a0According to Powley, many social and environmental groups, like Ecology Action Centre, feel the Plan has not made enough significant progress in the five years it has been in place. Recently, the Centre has reached out to individuals and businesses to gain their input on the Plan\u2019s shortcomings.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat we really need is for the public to demand more,\u201d says Powley.<\/p>\n

The Centre has also drafted its own 15-page suggestion for changes to the Plan. Among the suggestions are \u201cwalkable communities\u201d supported by extensive transportation systems; a focus on green spaces, \u201cgreen building\u201d and eco-friendly water practices – and incentives for development to pay for itself.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe need to bring the idea of community back to our community,\u201d adds Powley of the proposition to improve existing\u2014and create new\u2014community centres in urban, suburban and rural areas.<\/p>\n

The Centre’s document is largely inspired by the Greenbelt movement, and seeks to establish practices that would lead to the creation of an HRM Greenbelt in the near future.\u00a0But it also demands immediate change: in reviewing the HRM Regional Municipal Plan, the Ecology Action Centre proposes that Council adopts the same multi-layered vision that fuels their interpretation of an HRM Greenbelt.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe need something to sustain us for 100 years: something that will grasp the attention of the public.\u201d<\/p>\n

Photo from HRM Regional Municipal Planning Strategy, 2006<\/a>.<\/em>
\n<\/em><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

HALIFAX – \u201cWhat kind of community do you want to live in? What do you want Halifax to look like?\u201d Jen Powley asked these questions to a packed auditorium in the Ralph M. Medjuck Building located at the Dalhousie University School of Planning campus on March 11th, 2011.\u00a0Despite the diversity of her audience\u2014students and seniors,Continue reading “A Greenbelt for Halifax?”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8076,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[5866,344,341],"tags":[2168,1087,3833,352,347,927,340,3834,351,1322,415,358,395,422,3835,1149,3836,2305,381,3837,385,383],"class_list":["post-8069","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-green-space","category-politics","category-urban-design","tag-dalhousie-school-of-planning","tag-dalhousie-university","tag-dalhousie-university-school-of-planning","tag-dartmouth","tag-development","tag-ecology-action-centre","tag-environment","tag-greenbelt","tag-halifax","tag-jen-powley","tag-municipal-plan","tag-nova-scotia","tag-other-cities","tag-ottawa","tag-planning-campus","tag-quebec","tag-ralph-m-medjuck-building","tag-sustainable-transportation-coordinator","tag-toronto","tag-transportation-systems","tag-urban-green","tag-vancouver"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nA Greenbelt for Halifax? - Spacing Atlantic<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/atlantic\/2011\/03\/15\/a-greenbelt-for-halifax\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"A Greenbelt for Halifax? - Spacing Atlantic\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"HALIFAX – \u201cWhat kind of community do you want to live in? 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