Calgary’s Urban Sprawl: Facing Reality!
Every two years Calgary developers apply to Calgary’s City Council to get approval for the creation of new communities at the edge of the city based on the demand for new homes. And every two years this approval process creates a heated debate on why Calgary continues to grow out and not up.
Urban idealists love to blame the developers, but in reality, it is the home buyer who creates the demand for affordable family homes at the edge of the city. For the vast majority of Calgarians, (Canadians and North American for that matter), owning a single-family home is their dream and if they must live on the edge of the city so be it. The home ownership hierarchy for most people is single family first, then townhome and finally condo.
The dream of owning a single-family home is very strong and one most Calgarians aren’t going to give up easily.
Calgarians love their big new homes even in the inner-city, like these new single family infills.
New communities on the edge of the city are no longer a sea of single family homes with front drive garages, but rather a mix of singles, row houses and low rise multi-family buildings like this one in SETON.
Even these duplexes (side by sides) in the inner-city community of Montgomery cost $700,000+ which is unaffordable for the average Calgary family, making the suburbs the most attractive place to live.
While urban living is for some, it is not for everyone.
Ideal vs Real World
In an ideal world, Calgarians should be changing their dream from a large suburban home to living in infill homes in existing communities. They would be ditching one of their cars and moving into established neighbourhoods, with existing schools, emergency and transit services.
In the real world, most Calgarians love the privacy of a single-family home. They don’t want to share walls with neighbours or have people living above or below them. And they love the privacy, convenience and safety of their car, vs public transit which has always had a negative stigma attached to it, but even more so now with increased safety issues.
Calgary is unique in having a very high percentage of home ownership 72% compared to other cities – Toronto 67%, Vancouver 64%, Montreal 56% or say Houston at 46% or New York City at 35%. For most Calgarians home ownership means a house with a front and backyard, not an apartment. For families, it means a bedroom for each child, separate bathrooms for children and parents and a two-car garage not only for commuting to work, but to drive all over town to various activities. And all of this at a price they can afford, which for many Calgarians means a new suburb.
The reality is Calgarians who are buying homes in new communities, can’t afford to live in new infill homes in existing communities which start at $600,000+ for town homes and $800,000+ for duplexes. Twice the cost or more than a new suburban home with more space.
Westman Village in Mahogany is a good example of multi-family living in new walkable suburb at the edge of the city.
Many of the streets of the new community Livingston, look very similar to Calgary’s inner city streets with their new infill homes with their small front yards and attached row homes.
No New Communities Period
Urban idealists advocate the City of Calgary shouldn’t approve any new communities period, but instead accommodate all new growth by infilling existing communities and completing the build-out of already approved edge communities.
The urban realist points out this would mean more urban sprawl by encouraging development in edge cities like Airdrie, Cochrane, Chestermere and Okotoks. In fact, this is already happening. Cochrane was the 11thfastest growing municipality in Canada from 2016 to 2021 with 24% increase, with Airdrie not far behind at 20% for 25th spot. Calgary’s growth was 5.5% over the same period.
Given we live in a democracy, if Calgary were to restrict the building of middle-income affordable homes in new suburbs it would increase the flight to the edge cities increasing urban sprawl not reducing it.
Calgarians love their man-made lake communities. There are currently 10+ lake communities in or near Calgary.
Population Growth vs Housing Starts
Urban idealists point out the City of Calgary’s Municipal Development Plan (MDP) goal is to have 50% of all population growth from 2009 until 2069 in older established communities called the Developed Area. They love to point out that currently about 90% of the city’s current population growth is in new communities so if we are going to achieve the MDP goal, drastic measures are needed now.
However, it we look at where new homes in Calgary are being built, rather than population growth it tells a very different story.
In fact, in 2021 only 62% of new homes in Calgary were built in new communities, 18% of the 15,261 new homes built in Calgary were in established neighbourhoods and 20% in the inner-city including Greater downtown. Yes, a whopping 5,765 new homes were built in existing neighbourhoods in 2021 and 4,267 in 2020.
However, new homes in established communities don’t generate the same population growth as they do new communities:
Many of the new homes in the Greater Downtown and inner city are smaller homes for young professionals and empty nesters so the household sizes are smaller.
Existing homes in established communities are shrinking in household size due to young adults moving out and higher death rates than new communities.
New communities attract young parents who are having children which means the population increases even without any new homes being built.
So, using population growth to measure established community diversification and densification is misleading.
In fact, Calgary’s developers have been actively building entire new communities in established neighbourhoods for decades beginning in the late ‘90s with Garrison Woods, followed by The Bridges, Quarry Park, East Village, Currie, University District and West District and Shawnee Slopes golf course.
In addition, dozens of major residential infill projects have been recently completed or are under construction, especially in established communities like Altadore, Bridgeland, Dalhousie, Kensington, Montgomery and West Hillhurst. There are three residential construction sites on the corner of 14th St and 10th Ave SW alone.
University District on the western edge of the University of Calgary' campus is a master planned, walkable community with its own Main Street, grocery store, cinema complex and Central Park.
University District encompasses 184 acres with the Alberta Children’s Hospital in the middle. When completed it will have 40 acres of parks, ponds, gardens and public spaces, 12 km of pathways, 6,000+ multi-family homes (15,000+ people), 245,000 sf of retail, restaurants and professional services, a major hotel all located on a four block Main Street.
Last Word
Urban realists will point out one of Calgary’s key advantages to attract young professionals and entrepreneurs is that our housing is more affordable than most major cities. If Calgary wants to compete for talent, one of the best ways to do so, is to offer attractive and affordable housing in the inner city, established and new communities. This is exactly what Calgary’s home builders and the City are trying to do with everything from new edge communities that are designed to be more mixed-use and walkable, as well as by creating more diverse housing options in the Greater Downtown, inner city and established neighbourhoods.
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Calgary Urban Planning Successes: Unicity Advantage