Urban Planning in Canada

Term Paper # 101735

Canadian Studies
Environmental Studies > Urban Issues

This document discusses the need for greater urban planning across Canada.

1,535 words () | 5 sources | APA | 2008 United States

Paper Summary:

The paper relates that if Canada wishes to maintain its advantage in sustainability and environmental leadership, it must continue to implement urban planning as a core strategy of sustainable development. The paper focuses on the greater Toronto area and discusses how urban planners have defined its geographic boundaries by the character of the surrounding geography itself. The paper shows, however, how its overall boundary making strategy may not be as clear as it could be. The paper concludes that without the technology to remap the region for various purposes, assigning requisite resources for specific purposes would be very difficult indeed for the city's urban planners. The paper includes two color maps of Toronto.

Outline:
Abstract
Introduction
Urban Boundaries in Planning
Determining Borders as Urban Planning
Urban Planning Characteristics
Conclusion

From the Paper:

"European settlers, across the breadth of Canada, have long utilized boundary setting and the definition of geographical boundaries for both cartographic and political purposes. This began with the earliest colonization of the Canadian provinces and continues, to one degree or another, today. Harris points out that the expansion of the suburbs following World War II created growing strain on Canada's cities and its natural environment that was quickly recognized as a threat vis-a-vis sustainability (2004). Yet, with the ever expanding population following the war, due both to natural population growth as well as to Canada's ever-more friendly immigration policies, urban planning became not only a benefit to sustainable development but a necessity."

Sample of Sources Used:

GeoSearch. (2007). Statistics Canada (online). Retrieved February 13, 2007 from:geodepot.statcan.ca/Diss/ GeoSearch/index.cfm?lang=E
Harris, C. (1997). The Resettlement of British Columbia: Essays on Colonialism and Geographical Change. Vancouver, B.C.: University of British Columbia Press.
Harris, R. (2004). Creeping Conformity: How Canada Became Suburban, 1900-1960 (Themes in Canadian History). University of Toronto Press; Toronto.
Siegel, D. & Fowler, E. (2001). Urban policy issues: Canadian Perspectives. Oxford University Press, New York.
Toronto's Geography. (2006). City of Toronto (online). Retrieved February 13, 2007 from:http://www.toronto.ca/ toronto_facts/geography.htm