Note of Support for the Core Zone Citizen Proposal

I won't be able to attend the committee meeting on this, so I wanted to provide a note of support for the consideration of the proposed ‘Core Zone’ approach to speed limits being put forth by citizens in City Council on Wednesday. My arguments here are not be based upon safety impacts as I suspect those are well addressed by City staff and by others. Instead, they focus on the importance of recognizing the need for contextualizing governance in Edmonton.

Edmonton has a history of acontextual governance, something that is pretty common in towns and small cities. However, as cities grow, they begin to develop differences, both in the design of areas as well as the preferences of those who live there. As a start, neighbourhood design has changed over time. Edmonton’s core is filled with grid based neighbourhoods, small schools, and traditional main streets (along former streetcar lines). Suburban areas are located near freeways with quick drives to big box power centres and strip malls, curvilinear roadways, and large schools with great distances between them.

As people ‘sort’ themselves in the city, based upon their financial means and competing location needs (such as work commutes), households factor in their preferences. Research demonstrates that factors such as “proximity to power centres” and “walkable community” are often divergent factors affecting where people prefer to live. Thus, the core tends to have a greater number of people who seek walkability and the suburban areas tend to attract people who value proximity to freeways and power centres.  Data shows that Edmonton’s core already has the greatest proportion of people who walk, bike or use transit to get to and from work. 

Good governance is accepting this and giving the people what they want. In this case, it means allowing for differentiation and focusing on improving active transportation within the core area. This improves the Edmonton market by emphasizing choice in the way we live and commute. It will reduce the vehicle kilometers traveled by Edmonton residents. Perhaps most importantly, it will provide a touchstone area for urban living that will begin to change the perceptions of Edmontonians regarding ways of living and commuting. Once that is established, more neighbourhoods will want to ‘buy in’ to urban living and start to demand a greater focus on active transportation for their neighbourhoods.  

It made sense to put Rogers Place and separated bike lanes in the core. Similarly, it makes sense to lower speeds to 30k/h in the core and implement simple infrastructure changes to promote active transportation and vibrant neighbourhood streets. I think the Core Zone concept is something City Council should take seriously. 

Bob Summers, Phd, RPP, MCIP