This is The City to Beat on Housing Reform

“Neighbours over NIMBYs” - that’s a sticker we saw on the back of a sign in Edmonton, Alberta, and it gives a hint as to some of the attitudes that make this maybe the most forward-thinking city for housing reform in North America.
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References:
Two homes to 16-unit townhouse complex: www.cbc.ca/new... (also: engaged.edmont...)
Church development: rightathomehou...
Skinny homes legalized in 2013: www.cbc.ca/new...
Skinny homes approvals: www.edmonton.c...
Edmonton eliminated parking mandates: www.cbc.ca/new...
Canadian Home Builders’ Association municipal rankings: www.chba.ca/mu...
Report on housing from Canada’s federal housing authority: assets.cmhc-sc...
Edmonton mayor on homelessness support: / edmonton-city-council-...
California mountain lion city: www.theguardia...
Mayor of Windsor, Ontario: / 1752843859661295872
Mayor named to housing team: windsorstar.co...

[@OhTheUrbanity]

Edmonton is in the running for the Strongest Town contest. If you'd like to consider the options and vote, round 1 is open until Thursday, March 7th: strongesttown.com

[@roivosemraiva]

How can we modify, reform the system?? Presently It's an awful model for the future...

[@tyroneemail]

Edmonton is terrible. City is bankrupt from these silly policies, and the administration and politicians are fleeing because of their theft and mismanagement.. The destruction of the parking mandate destroyed the city, just developers bribing councilors to not supply parking. City streets are now packed with parked cars of tenants that cannot park near their houses. Council is made up of a bunch of people from a bike group that decided to run for office and they started putting 500lbs concrete planter pots on parking spots to prevent people from parking there and spending millions to put chairs and bike racks on parking spots. We now see 200 square foot penthouse suites for families. Try putting a planter pot or bench on city councilors parking spots and see how that goes.

[@randyyyyyyy6977]

Local here. This city kicks ass. You didn’t even mention the huge investment into bike infrastructure that’s under way right now - at some point in the future I anticipate being able to do most of my commute with my bike. I truly appreciate how open minded and aggressive our council is when it comes to reforming building codes.

[@OntarioTrafficMan]

To clarify, the City committed $100 Million over 4 years, which works out to $25 per citizen per year. For reference, the Netherlands has spent about $48 per citizen on cycling infrastructure every year for decades. Source: Factsheet Upgrade fietsinfrastructuur - Dutch Ministry of Infrastructure

[@OntarioTrafficMan]

To clarify my clarification: Edmonton has made some incredibly powerful changes in policy within a short time, and it's now important that they hold this new direction. So for example after 4 years, they need to invest another $100 Million.

[@airdaddy1706]

@@OntarioTrafficMan Edmonton ain't getting fancy underground bicycle parking anytime soon, I don't get your point? sure netherlands is the best country in the world blah blah blah

[@kulls13]

My wife and I lived in Edmonton for a few years. Moved back home to be closer to family which really helps with raising our young ones. However, we take about Edmonton a lot and miss it. Maybe we'll move back one day. We have talked about doing so just so our kids might live in an area they can actually afford a home.

[@SHDW-nf2ki]

Northsider here, its great if you live in the mostly white neighborhoods on the progressive southside or rich places like Highlands but poorer mostly black communities like Beverley still go ignored. Take a walk along 113 or 118 some day. See how "friendly and walkable" the communities were people who can't afford a car live. Can't even ride your pedal bike down the road for all the cracks.

[@Vaporwave_kdh]

“This housing development helps no one… especially not the 3 extra families who can be housed on this plot of land rather than just the 1.” - NIMBY

[@Cdot4585]

Nimbys also seem to think that their house was built by fairies and unicorns and definitely not a *whispers* developer. 😮

[@ElectrifiedBacon]

"this development isn't needed, _I_ already have a home!"

[@matthewboyd8689]

It's not that, It's literally a monopoly. Why have enough supply when you can artificially choke supply so that you can have higher demand and higher prices. The definition of a monopoly You should not be allowed to control someone else's land. You have land rights but you shouldn't have the right to control everyone else's.

[@krombopulos_michael]

NIMBY's often pair this with paternalistic concern trolling about how the new higher density houses are so bad that the people who choose freely to move into them will be suffering just as much as everyone else, and that nobody should have to have the indignity of living in anything less than a fully detached single family home with parking for 2 cars.

[@coolsteven2]

​​@@krombopulos_michaelLiterally happened here a few weeks ago. An 100% affordable housing building finally broke ground and is quickly being built in a transit rich area of my city. There's no parking in the unit and people were commenting that it's going to clog up the parking in the area and how can people who need cars live there... as if people are being forced to live there... They rather lose dozens of units for parking which is so ridiculous given how desperately we need the housing here.

[@botks894]

As an edmontonian this had made me proud for the last year, i just hope we can dig ourselves out of the realy big hole we dug, outer edmonton is all stroads and car dependent suburbia and i have no idea how they will rehabilitate that

[@pex3]

I general I think desuburbification starts with permitting mixed use zoning, allowing businesses to open in neighbourhoods and shit

[@FullLengthInterstates]

large, underutilized roads are the easiest to convert to multimodal infrastructure, both in terms of construction and politically. Wide arterials with large sidewalks and bike lanes are a regular feature of new high density suburbs around the world.

[@OhTheUrbanity]

@@FullLengthInterstates The process is slow but Edmonton has some pretty great plans, too: www.cbc.ca/news/canada/edmonton/here-s-why-edmonton-s-132nd-avenue-renewal-project-is-garnering-attention-1.6990066

[@MatthewBoonstra]

@@OhTheUrbanity The nearby bedroom city of Fort Saskatchewan is also at the tail end of developing a new Land Use Bylaw. It won't be as ambitious as Edmonton's, but they're talking a lot about diverse housing types, mixed-use areas, walkability, and moving away from Euclidean zoning (that last one is from an RFP they put out for a consultant on this). I'm really hoping that it and other regional communities will follow Edmonton's lead!

[@edwardmiessner6502]

Large shopping centers, strip malls and big box businesses with huge parking lots are quite easily convertible to vibrant main streets with shops, public markets, and mixed uses.

[@munkyz234]

I’m seriously blown away by how many people have the attitude that building denser housing is somehow only beneficial for the developer

[@chrisorr8601]

Exactly!! So many people have the mindset that condos or townhouses = luxury always. Whereas usually every unit in that complex will be cheaper than the single family home they replace!

[@swedneck]

i think a big problem is that co-ops aren't normal, here in sweden what is effectively co-op apartments (though not called such) are extremely common and thus when people hear about new apartment buildings being constructed that's just more opportunity to own an apartment!

[@elimarshall1497]

Imagine if that attitude existed before these cities even existed. There would be no human civilization

[@The2wanderers]

I'm not really convinced this is a true belief. When I listen to NIMBYs present, I often think they're trying to tailor their arguments to reach outside their bubble. And "but rich people profit" is a way of reaching left-leaning politicians, the mirror image of how I use market-based language to argue against parking minimums. (I truly believe there shouldn't be parking minimums, I just don't think "the market knows best" is the reason why.) It's not like they somehow have a different opinion when it's non-profit supportive housing.

[@OhTheUrbanity]

@@swedneck The terminology might be different but it's quite common to own apartments in Canada too, but they're called condos (condominiums).

[@Jonago.]

50 cars for 42 people is insane. I'm glad they stop requiring parking minimums

[@michah321]

Where would your guests park? Everyone I know does have their own vehicle

[@Jonago.]

@@michah321 not having a parking minimum doesn't mean there is no parking at all. It just means the people developing the site can choose how much parking they think is required for its use. This means funds and space can be used much more efficiently.

[@michah321]

@@Jonago. That means investors can put up buildings cheaper and leave the mess for the community to clean up.

[@Jonago.]

@@michah321 not having parking minimums also doesn't mean there are no rules on parking. Local governments still have rules on it, just in a different shape than parking minimums

[@michah321]

@@Jonago. Yeah the local governments have parking minimums.

[@michaelchristopher8266]

What isn’t mentioned in this is the massive transit expansions that have been happening, and the huge investment in bike infrastructure. Proud of my city.

[@HerrenGamingNews]

The problem is our transit is garbage, the new LRT is dangerous they didn't put crossing arms in intersections and the LRT/transit is dangerous in general.

[@jiffyb333]

Having positive examples is so vital to avoid doomerism. Thank you for this!

[@AnDOnlineify]

I think the research and examples were always there. It's dealing with people that always bring the nihilism.

[@sor3999]

Not just avoiding doomerism, but informs young people of a viable ALTERNATIVE to these high priced cities like Vancouver. If you have no good reason to be in Vancouver, the best negotiating tactic is to walk away (literally).

[@RealityGutPunch]

All of these "positive examples" look like every other high density crapshack I've ever lived in. Put a tiny deck on it and pretend like someone will use it. No lawns for kids. Block the sun. No one actually knows the neighbors. You have access to transit but your chance of depression goes up 1000%. My advice is to leave the city, not hope that making more ugly buildings for even more people will improve things. If I'm wrong - name at least 10 of your neighbors.... right.

[@user-gu9yq5sj7c]

@@RealityGutPunch Many people don't know their neighbors, even in suburbs. If cities are so terrible why is NY expensive and 1000s of people spend a fortune to vacation in places like Europe? Cities are where there's a lot of different jobs, shops, and recreation. If apartments were terrible why are the top floors more expensive? Some people would rather have a affordable apartment home then be homeless. Long commutes are stressful. Some people like walkable places with short commutes. I'm not saying cities can't improve. Like more lawns and greenery. Some people don't want big lawns and think it's a waste of space. Kids also need walkable places so they can get out and go places and to third places on their own without being too dependent on parents to ferry them. Many parents can't do that. There were comments on About Here who said they were devastated their parents shamed them to quit their extracurricular activities cause their parents couldn't ferry them. Also, how can kids make a better future for themselves if they can't do their activities? Letting people do their activities keeps them out of trouble too. There's kids who are able to take the train alone in Japan. There was a comment from a European on Not Just Bikes who said he/she felt safer in crowds, like in Europe, then the empty streets in America. The people and walkable centric design, versus car centric design, is what invites crowds. There was a comment on Not Just Bikes of a teen girl who said she was stuck in the suburbs. Her single mom is blind and they're poor. They can't afford a car, uber, or driving lessons. There isn't really transit, walkability, or bike lanes. She said she couldn't travel to get a job even if she wanted to. People have to remember that when you force people to depend on needless and expensive things like a car, gas, car maintenance, and car insurance then that will exclude many people like poor people or people unable to drive. Then some people just dictate at homeless people when people made it needlessly hard for poor people. Watch Not Just Bikes and Yet Another Urbanist.

[@LoneHowler]

In Calgary there's a bunch of NIMBYs upset about a condo tower that's affordable housing for blind people. The reason it's going to "block the view from a dog park" the park is one that few people know exists, the view the tall building will interfere with? Downtown. So a tall building will interfere with the view of tall buildings, and people think that's more important than affordable housing for the blind

[@planefan082]

Ironic to protest a building for the blind saying it'll block their *view* Selfish assholes lmao

[@mitchellm3536]

THATS their complaint? Yeah, so sorry you cant SEE downtown

[@juliansmith4295]

I've been hovering over my keyboard, at a complete loss for words, for five minutes. If I had a dog, I'd be too busy paying attention to my dog while at a dog park than worrying about my view of tall buildings being blocked by another tall building. Some people shouldn't be allowed to have pets.

[@baddriversofcolga]

The irony...people complaining about a view of a dog park when it's housing for the blind...

[@LoneHowler]

@@baddriversofcolga no it's the view from the dog park, the park itself is just a tiny plot of land on a steep hill that's really hard to get to. Though it's really close to a train stop, it's unsuitable to build a house on let alone a tower. The complaint is that a plot of land between that dog park and downtown is getting a tower, oh no the view from a hard to access park that only a handful use is going to change

[@GeorgeP-uj8xc]

Your point in the video about Edmonton succeeding because it's a progressive city in a conservative province mirrors Austin's situation in the US. I don't think it's a coincidence that Austin has approved twice as many building permits per capita as the next best major city in the United States, and we're already seeing rents comes down as a result.

[@jwil4286]

So, a city that wants to approve more housing but isn’t stifled by state/provincial regulations?

[@stickynorth]

Edmonton and Austin are definitely twins of each other in terms of the geopolitical spaces they occupy and their role as the province/state capital and college town.... Even their tallest buildings are twins of each other... Stantec Tower and 6th & Guadalupe are almost mirror-glass twins of each other...

[@tomreingold4024]

Glad to hear that about Austin!

[@KevinSmith-qi5yn]

Austin has had some of the worst rent and housing prices in Texas. Probably not the best example.

[@GonzoT38]

Austin is an unaffordable mess. Rents are coming down as a result of macroeconomic factors hitting the nation in 2024, not their housing policies. Bad example.@@stickynorth

[@StardustMonkey]

I live in the SF Bay Area in California and develop real estate. Listening to this was so refreshing and enraging at the same time… I spent 7 years of one infill project trying to split a lot. 7 years and waiting for the meetings with old people next door trying to stop my lot from becoming the density of all the surrounding ones… 7 years of holding costs amounting to $80,000… 7 years and $50,000 fee to draw a line down the middle of my lot

[@mindstalk]

A couple months ago a Berkeley doctor passed around flyers objecting to a 5 story building on Solano... in _Albany_. Insane.

[@themanyouwanttobe]

If Edmonton, where -30°C days in winter is not unheard of, can encourage people to get out of their cars, there is absolutely no excuse for any other municipality to not go in the same direction. "There's no bad weather, just bad preparation."

[@AileTheAlien]

Even Saskatoon is getting some (for us) rapid transit. More buses for the average worker, instead of just broke students. 😅

[@Bismvth]

@@Niko-iv4ch This is a really good mention for both Edmonton and Calgary - our traffic congestion is some of the best in the world. We have very overbuild road systems with space that could be very easily taken by bus priority, cycle tracks, or even pedestrian plazas without making driving any more difficult. I hope that stroad conversion is put on the agenda in Alberta soon. We have enough roads to move people long distances, it's time to take the streets back for the people.

[@pithyt5369]

All of you are both, I lived in e town all my life, yall obviously don't take ETS or work outside, pure delusion

[@michah321]

Some people don't want to go anywhere without a vehicle. I'm one of them

[@dan7eiscool]

@@michah321explain why

[@darklink2475]

I do think that videos on cities that are doing it well are better than videos on cities that are doing things wrong. It gives us a lot more hope that we can make some changes and what we should aim for.

[@rlwelch]

100% - there’s a lot more to learn

[@Ryan-093]

i am currently in Calgary and can't wait to get back to Edmonton. Edmonton is a hidden gem 💎 and will really shine over the next 5 to 15 years ✨️

[@mhawang8204]

I moved from Edmonton to Calgary years ago. Oh boy do I wish Calgarians are more open to this type of change. The endless urban sprawl into farmland and all the resistance to rezoning is maddening.

[@MultiCappie]

@@mhawang8204 It's probably no surprise to you then that the Edmonton CMA passed Calgary CMA in GDP/capita in 2015, and has been leading in population growth almost every year since 2012.

[@SirManfly]

@@MultiCappie Also Edmonton will likely see between 2,000,000 and 2,500,000 in the metro area by 2050 !! A staggering amount of potential growth !

[@earlwashburn1002]

When I went to Edmonton a couple of years ago, my big takeaway was how much sprawl there was, and the relative lack of density. I'm glad to hear they're trying to change that.

[@Ryan-093]

thankfully Edmonton is a very progressive city despite being in the most conservative province. the big zoning law revamp that came into effect on Jan 1st 2024 is a game changer. along with the removal of parking minimums in 2020. the future is bright for Edmonton, as long as we can keep the provincial government out of the city's business.

[@emmapeel8163]

yeah, who wants greenery? trees, lawns, flowers are a waste of space.

[@mhawang8204]

@@emmapeel8163 Lawns are bad for the environment. We're in yet another drought year. If the city can make public transit and biking work for more residents, some people don't even need cars. Reduce parking lots and build more community gardens.

[@addieburkam2204]

So nice to see videos like this on Canadian cities, not just American! As a Halifax NS resident, I'm excited to see how the new zoning laws which just passed here will play out, the city just approved denser housing to encourage more "missing-middle" housing. I think the city will see a lot of change in the next few years, hopefully away from the sprawl that was so common for a while. Thanks for the great videos!

[@LoganT101]

I am also a Haligonian and I am cautiously optimistic. I hope we can densify and promote walkable neighborhoods. Everytime I see an article trying to promote density/walkability/bike infrastructure in Halifax the “we are not Europe and our city is different! Biking is stupid” comments fill the comment sections. Some people have no desire to try to be better and I worry it is going to keep Halifax the sprawling outward

[@addieburkam2204]

@@LoganT101I feel like there will always be resistance to change no matter what politicians decide haha. I know though, people have such strong opinions about bike lanes and housing (especially people on Facebook) but I think overall it’s a vocal minority who are against these positive changes !

[@spartancanuck]

@@LoganT101 Well, Halifax is a lot more European in its current state than Edmonton ever has been, and we're managing to affect change, despite all manner of joyless husks emerging to say similar things when we started.

[@RealityGutPunch]

​@@LoganT101I lived in Halifax for 3 years, and got my bike stolen every one of those years I lived there. I took the bus when I didn't want to be covered in slush and mud all day at work, and it was miserable. People act like there's no reason not to bike in Canada, and I guarantee I biked more of my life to work than all of them. Halifax weather is awful for biking 7 months of the year, and having to leave for work nearly an hour early so you could change out of your rain gear only to be sweaty and miserable all day sucks. I love biking, and I can bike hundreds of kilometers a day. I hate doing it in cities, especially in Canada. There's a reason new bike lanes are hardly used. We don't live in Europe.

[@orthranus3352]

Edmontonian here. We still have a lot of problems. As mentioned, our urban sprawl is really bad, snow clearing and transit aren't great. There has been a lot of progress but we're also surrounded by more or less tax havens like Sherwood Park and St. Albert so the city can only do so much.

[@saxtremer]

Yeah, their hands are pretty much tied: once Edmonton starts tightening some policies and increasing taxes, people will increasingly go to Sherwood Park and St Albert further depriving Edmonton of money while continuing to use its infrastructure. This does not feel right.

[@The2wanderers]

This is true of business taxes, but residential taxes are quite competitive. Lower in Edmonton than St. Albert or Leduc. Sherwood Park is lower, but that's because of the leg up they get by being a "hamlet." It's not clear to me if there's some point at which hamlet status may be unsustainable and they'd be forced to incorporate, but it would solve a lot of problems for the region.

[@KNosk826]

True but we're doing pretty well. Expanding the LRT...arc card harmonization with surrounding transit authorities...slow for sure but moving in the right direction.

[@orthranus3352]

@@KNosk826 we have a huge fight on our hands to convince people that transit is safe. I’m probably one of the rare Edmontonians that’s comfortable sitting next to someone homeless.

[@KNosk826]

@@orthranus3352 agreed.

[@Arjay404]

0:32 what really stands out to me is that the building(s) doesn't even dwarf the other homes, if you count it as two buildings, then the buildings is just slightly bigger than the home next to it. Yeah the look of the building is starkly different than the other homes in the area, which I wish was taking more into consideration, however all the other buildings look like they are rather old and a bit dated, so maybe if they got upgraded/redone today or built today the visual difference wouldn't be so big. They even elegantly solved the parking issue by keeping the on street parking but then squeezing a just big enough to park your car parking lot in the back.

[@Cragdognamedbear]

Either way it's always better than a McMansion

[@Arjay404]

@@Cragdognamedbear Very true.

[@micosstar]

​@@Arjay404concur!

[@ipadsrawesome3667]

But over time the neighbourhood will transform and update to something similar. It is a process. If the old place got torn down and replaced with a new single family house people would complain about its style as well

[@sor3999]

People's OCD isn't a reason to choke housing.

[@riker_]

I live in Edmonton and I have been seeing the positive things our city has been doing and have since taken an interest in urbanism. I've been waiting for a channel in this space to take a look at Edmonton. What's more impressive is how there are things outside of housing that are being addressed (active and public transportation) and the culmination of all these things can be represented by the Blatchford development which will feature Edmonton's first (and hopefully not last) transit mall. There's a long way to go but the innovation needed to solve the sprawl is present (if only we could hit the reset button on St. Albert and Sherwood park). Edmonton is also very young and there seems to be lots of desire for Gen Z's such as myself to live car free and I see a future in Edmonton where that is possible. But of course there are so many negative reactions to many of these things like the 15 minute city conspiracy theorists (which is probably a very radical example). Most people, especially Gen X's, seem to complain about things because they don't like change. But at the end of the day they will just go with it and say nothing if it succeeds. Therefore the biggest takeaway from Edmonton is a. Elect the right people and b. Let the professionals plan and ignore the nimbys.

[@RealityGutPunch]

Remember all this when you think of having kids, or later you're in your condo elevator with your groceries and your kids and you had to go through 5 doors and 3 different locking mechanisms to get to your pantry... and then you realize you don't even have room to grow a head of lettuce and your "neighbors" are methheads because transit has made your condo complex more accessible to them. This is all based on my experience and everyone I've ever known who has lived in high density. It's not even good when you're single, and hell for kids. MacMansions aren't the answer either, but the idea that some city planner is even remotely capable of creating a human friendly space is laughable. Every one of them suck.

[@riker_]

@RealityGutPunch I actually agree with most of what you say. If you could believe it, there actually exists something in the middle of those things... mid-density: where everybody has their own front door, but not everyone has a garage. Where everybody can get to the store, school or work without needing to own a car. You say planners can't create human friendly spaces, but the planners of the past are the ones who have made it this way to begin with through euclidian zoning laws. A funcitonal city doesn't have just high-rise and low-rise, but offers a spectrum of density. This lets the market work more efficiently so everyone has access to the sizes and forms they demand.

[@AlessandroBertolucci]

Way to go Edmonton! Hopefully, the rest of the major cities learn from this.

[@MultiCappie]

Well Calgary at least will be automatically following Edmonton...

[@MultiCappie]

@@Niko-iv4chTroll alert. Back to the Soviet Union with you, Potemkinbum.

[@blogdesign7126]

Same here and there is one county in California named Solano County, CA (Halfway from Sacramento and San Francisco) that currently has a debate over forming a new city. It has concerns ranging from environmental, Civil Rights and National Security in this debate.

[@Shifter_Cycling]

With so many cities finally considering housing reform, including my city of Calgary just south of Edmonton, it's so nice to see some perspective a few years after the changes were made. The sky hasn't fallen, neighbourhoods haven't lost their "character" and more people can live in reasonably priced homes. Great video. But next time, get a better cycling model 😉.

[@CasualCommuter_]

Ottawa is starting our zoning reform process, and Edmonton is a great example of what can be achieved. I hope we can meet or exceed what they accomplished (ideally 4 stories as of right- as recommended by the housing affordability report)

[@noseboop4354]

Quebec city allows up to 4 stories in the vast majority of its territory since... basically forever. And thus has some of the lowest rents in Canada for a 100,000+ pop city.

[@CasualCommuter_]

@@noseboop4354 that’s awesome, yeah Quebec City and Montreal have pretty great housing elasticity- and allowing for as of right housing is one of the main factors.

[@treker2379]

And allowing single-stair buildings to at least that height, and ideally 6 stories would be a big help too.

[@kassieh5794]

I hope you get 8 unit buildings all around your property where low income ppl will live. Better your neighbors then mine. I live in Beverly Heights, crime everywhere homeless squatters all over the place river valley that is NOT safe to use due to the homeless down there in Beverly. Yea hope they dont build any more low rentals in my neighborhood. Thats why we will never have the train or any other internet option then Shaw, yea no more in Beverly Heights thanks.

[@JC-nl3nh]

get ready to transform into hong kong/ calcutta

[@shilam]

I was in Edmonton this past week and was blown away seeing all the examples discussed in this video. The changes in zoning are really making a difference. Unfortunately, it is not the same in Calgary. Calgary is looking at making some changes similar to Edmonton’s and the latest group speak against? Bizarrely, the real estate association!

[@davidhutchinson5233]

Excellent work done by Edmonton. Truly.

[@KevinHawkshaw]

I am honestly pretty proud to live in this city. It is stroad infested to be sure, and the public transit I would call barely adequate, but council is certainly trying and not just paying lip service to the idea of improvement. There are several big LRT projects on the go, one recently completed, and a lot of bike lane construction in addition to all the changes to housing and zoning mentioned in the video.

[@MultiCappie]

One big one just completed, but two smaller but still important ones as well: NAIT/Blatchford and New Stadium Station.

[@KNosk826]

Thanks for highlighting my town! We have lots of work to do but I'm proud of our progress 😊

[@genghisdingus]

Nimbys be like: NOOO you can't build new housing! That would ruin the property value of the house I am going to die of old age in 5 years from now!

[@MultigrainKevinOs]

Excellent video I am glad you were here and got a great pulse on the city, its successes and challenges. I am really excited for the zoning changes and what new ideas can be built to further density in our fantastic old neighborhoods. 2024 will be the stress test. Despite the challenges of an actively hostile provincial government I think we can be the underdog that offers a good quality of life to anyone who wants to give a smaller center a shot. Regardless, I echo the call for every city to push their own reforms, if we can do it in oil and sprawl centric Edmonton, just imagine the impacts other cities can make, we all deserve better.

[@ChesterSam89]

Thanks! Very motivating and I’ll be taking lessons from this directly to my community.

[@OhTheUrbanity]

Thank you!!

[@PlanePower2]

My neighbourhood in Edmonton!!! Many NIMBYs hate it, but who cares what they think - we need homes!

[@TheCoralie87]

❤

[@RealityGutPunch]

Those aren't homes, but do enjoy the cricket protein.

[@TurnRiver]

Anti Nimby's are just the opposite side of the coin. Expecting affordable housing in desirable areas, at the cost of Nimby's

[@EdmontonRails]

We don't need homes, we need affordable homes. Demolishing a single family home and deforesting the neighborhood only to replace it with an infill monolith that has a higher per-unit price tag doesn't help anyone. The primary expense is land prices, and increasing density skyrockets the price of land. The city needs to expand in a healthy way with new suburbs built around new cores that aren't dependent on lengthly commutes to the physical center of the city.

[@carloconopio6513]

@@TurnRiverthe problem of the nimbys they hate homeless and traffc but dont like to build affordable housing and public transportation. They all idiots.

[@gentlydown41]

From my research on the Edmonton plan, it looks like they're moving towards a green belt like solution. They are aiming to keep all growth within city limits to limit sprawl. This is honestly cool as hell, as a greenbelt in the prairies is almost always an impossible sell. Some other things that are interesting is that they are adopting very similar nodes and corridors planning like Vancouver. Think of the shopping streets which connect areas that are then surrounded by housing.

[@The2wanderers]

This is kind of misleading, and quite honestly a joke as far as I'm concerned. Within a couple years of annexing enough land for decades of expanding sprawl, we created a "no more annexations" policy. By the time it's a meaningful constraint, everyone involved in this decision will be retired (or dead) and changing it will be easy because it doesn't have the same emotional weight a green belt attracts.

[@KNosk826]

Yes! Containing sprawl has been a huge focus for a long time.

[@totempolejoe1]

Cities across North America have a lot to learn. Good to see that Edmonton at least is making positive changes.

[@paulmcewen7384]

I moved back to Edmonton after 15 years in Vancouver. I had a great career that paid really well and a big social circle, the housing crunch was just too much. The NIMBY attitude is just too strong in van, even working class people are convinced building more housing is somehow bad. I think your video nailed it! build baby build! I'm very excited for all the new housing forms being built in Edmonton, and I'm hoping we can welcome a huge number of newcomers. You forgot to mention our new train!

[@UrdnotChuckles]

Greetings from Edmonton! The city has also proposed a plan to reduce sprawl by mandating that existing developments need to be finished before new developments can get started. There was also talk about demanding infill development before more suburban sprawl at the edge of town, as yeah the transportation times can already get pretty high if you're having to drive across town. I'm hoping to see more density, the implementation of the 15 minute city plan, and WAY more transit and walking / cycle paths all over the place. Gotta end car dependency one of these days! The real trick will be building neighbourhoods robust enough with things close enough that people will be comfortable actually going outside and maybe walking a few minutes to the local coffee shop or whatever, even when it is -40 out.

[@stephanieswensrude716]

Love the channel and I'm so glad you made a video about my city! It was awesome hearing you two talk at the WCC (and I got to put a face to the voice of your videos, haha) I wanted to come up and say hi but you two were both so busy. I'm so glad we have such a great urbanist channel that focuses on cities across Canada.

[@katewilson914]

Finally a spotlight on Edmonton, I was wondering whether the ongoing changes to garden suites, infill and row houses, zoning since the early 2000s wasn't all that unique. Seems it may be, thanks for posting.

[@Loxalair]

My cousin is local, and a mall near his house recently converted a large portion of unused parking lot into a high rise apartment, and a hotel's entirely unused back parking lot was made into a two story apartment. It's been amazing (and envy inducing) to visit every year and see the changes first hand

[@aaronl19]

Plus a recent plan to make walkable neighbourhoods with everything you need nearby

[@zahawolfe]

11:27 is one of the most depressing things i've heard. Such a disgrace that people like that get appointed to positions like that

[@BoondockSaintRyan]

Windsor resident here. You can't even imagine how pathetic and backwards our city is. Our mayor is permanently stuck to the rear end of Doug Ford and company. I wish we could impeach him for corruption, and that he immediately be removed from the committee on affordable housing. Want to blow your mind even further? Read about the plan to demolish and shrink the three regional hospitals in favour of building a new mega-hospital in the middle of a bean field on the outer limits of the city, despite having vacant land in the center, surrounded by major roads, bus routes and existing services.

[@JohnFromAccounting]

Affordable family housing built by that church is a great thing. A lot of YIMBYs are only focused on single workers, or couples without children. Large families need urbanism and affordable homes as well.

[@ErelH]

Fantastic! Edmonton is also making a lot of expansions to mass transit, with a new line LRT recently opening, 2 extensions under construction and a lot of additional extensions approved (plus early plans for 2 new lines)

[@atn_holdings]

the criticism that this is only for developer profits is so funny, like if I buy a condo to live in it I'm only doing it to give money to developers. I don't have to do it, I just choose to

[@seantroy3172]

and presumably you are going to build equity in your house over time and if there are more units for less $ then you can get into the market more affordably. Plus you get the normal benefits of having a place to live, which everyone needs lol

[@atn_holdings]

people really genuinely think for 100% real that people don't live in new build condos or blocks. they actually seriously will say that it's all only investment vehicles. people who move in just never enter the equation. it's fascinating

[@coolsteven2]

It's such a silly argument. They're really arguing that people should provide their labor for free... I'm sure they themselves would gladly work for free...

[@EricaGamet]

I think those are the same people who tell me renting is "throwing my money away" or "paying my landlord's mortgage." I used to own a house and hated it... I like to up and move and I felt tied down and worried something would happen to my house that I'd have to fix/pay for. Anyway, I always respond that I'm paying to have a fairly maintenance-free roof over my head. One I can up and walk away from at the end of the lease or just pay to get out of early when I decide it's time to move on.

[@Passque666]

As someone who lives in Edmonton, I’m hopeful for the future of our city especially when it comes to high density and big transit projects. Just three years from now, our city will nearly double the size of our LRT train with adding Northwest Valley line, Upgraded Metro line and also significantly expanding the capital line and hopefully it’ll reach the airport sometime which will make it those North American cities with 21st century infrastructure. But mental health & addiction remains the biggest hurdle to our environment and only adds to our bad reputation as a city.

[@Coltrain78]

Great video summary, thanks for sharing my planning legacy with the world. Former City of Edmonton Senior Planner, and Manager of Affordable Housing Projects. Edmonton really does want to make a difference because it’s run by young and progressive people.

[@DogsWithJobs]

Having just visited Edmonton, it does not feel like these changes have had a big impact on the city just yet. I stayed downtown and it felt very dead. I was one of the few people walking around on a sunny Saturday, which was quite surprising. It wasn't even that everyone was inside, as I went into the City Centre mall and it was eerily empty with nothing open but a tim hortons, and it was past 10 am. I get that the west edmonton mall is the premiere mall in town, but given the distance from downtown I would not expect them to be in competition to that extent. The only place I found groups of people while walking around downtown was when I stumbled across a street off Jasper Ave that was closed for a farmers market (+1 for pedestrianization). It was just one block but had a decent number of stalls and some street music performers. I made my way over to the legislative building, which did also have people around it. It is a very nice building with a great park all around it, but it was hardly crowded and the biggest draw seemed to be that kids can use the reflecting pool like a splash pad (which honestly was a nice use of an otherwise decorative water feature) At that point I walked across the river using the pedestrian walkway underbridge where I saw people cycling along the river paths and saw people rafting and paddling on the river. The university of Alberta campus was very quiet, but that is expected in the summer semester. At that point I got tired of walking and hopped a bus to old Strathcona where it finally felt like I was in a city of over a million people. There was a very large farmers market there (in a permanent building), and Whyte Ave was alive with people. Visiting the city did make me wonder if it was the stroad capital of Canada though. They have no shortage of massively wide roads, where crossings for pedestrians were often extremely far apart. Coming from Ottawa I am no stranger to car oriented design (we have the nickname Autowa after all), but sitting on the bus coming from Calgary, going up Gateway Blvd was a level of car dependent design I've never seen first hand before. Some parts were closer to a freeway than a road, which was likely the point (move a lot of cars quickly). But there were parts where there was an attempt at pedestrian facing stores, but being right next to a roadway that large would make the experience on foot very unpleasant. I suspect all these large roads are what leads the city to having so many surface level parking lots that kill the downtown even more. I had heard that crime and homelessness was a big problem downtown, although I didn't see anything out of the ordinary on that front (I saw homeless of course, but not any more than other cities that size). I didn't use transit very much but from what I could tell the ETS seemed at least decent for the size of the city, by North America standards. It is possible that I just didn't see the right parts of the city, as I was just wandering around a bit aimlessly to explore, but it seems to me like Edmonton has a ways to go to fixing their entrenched issues, but at least they seem to be going in the right direction now.

[@JoshuaFagan]

It seems like Edmonton is quite similar to a city like Houston or Austin: a bit too sprawling and car-centric, but very genuinely committed to attracting new residents from the coasts by building a lot of new development.

[@seamusmuldrew5623]

Yes, and the city is really committing to transit investment with a ton under construction, set to double the length of our LRT network by 2030 compared to 10 years prior. Especially remarkable given that first half of the network took over 30 years to build out.

[@icetow33]

Austin has about a million more people than Edmonton. Houston has around 5x the population of Edmonton. The light rail in Edmonton is also lot more extensive than Austin or Houston.

[@paxundpeace9970]

With getting rid of parking minimums you do ensure that the market is moderating parking.

[@foobar9220]

Surely not. Developers will just externalize the cost of parking to the public via street parking. Simple as that. Removing parking mandates is not enough. One would need to remove street parking in the neighborhood and enforce that. I heard that Tokyo is doing a pretty good job on privatizing the cost of parking

[@OntarioTrafficMan]

@@foobar9220 Yeah it's also important that the Cities bring market forces into their own parking rates at the same time, at least to the degree that it's possible.

[@joeketa6352]

Good for Edmonton. My impression from visiting Edmonton sporadically from the early 80's through the early 2000's was that it was a sprawling suburban city. It was like a small Dallas in my mind. Nice to see some openness to dense growth. We need to build our way into affordable housing.

[@Ranchor489]

People have said that Edmonton was like the Austin, Texas of Canada but I'd agree that it's more like Dallas, especially its urban sprawl of which Edmonton is looking to adopt.

[@ohhellnooooo8233]

can you make a video on this idea that an apartment is a "box" and somehow a house isn't, and that apartments give no privacy (despite houses literally being visible inside from the sidewalk), and that in apartments you deal with noisy neighbours (only happens in older apartments, and we can't build new, better ones because of zoning)

[@lynn858]

Apparently the "noisy" in purpose built rental apartments is related to building codes? I've never lived in a rental apartment building built after the 70s (not surprising, there aren't many). But I wonder if those condos that the developers claiming to be "luxury" with the "high end" visible finishes have chosen to put noise insulation in and around unit doors so we don't have to listen to neighbour's conversations. Or adequate sound proofing between walls so I can't hear my neighbour in the next unit snoring. Adequate noise insulation between floors, and around pipes that are properly secured so I'm not hearing my neighbours toilets flush... These buildings don't need to be noisy. Someone just needs to decide that they can market the units as having excellent, far above code, sound insulation, as a selling point instead of "stainless appliances".

[@roivosemraiva]

You both are AMAZINGLY Correct...

[@WizardTrixx]

Edmonton also has the largest urban park system in all of North America!

[@katherandefy]

I absolutely love these buildings. The street design matches up to it with protected bike lanes into downtown in line with the rail bike-walkways further out. I mean you cross the street at what was one of the worse intersections we have to something approaching civility and much calmer traffic down from two lanes to one lane. Breath of fresh air. Feels lovely and roomy. Seriously. Do more of this. The only thing that would make all this better is actual multi-mode transit connections. And that is from many smart small changes with a couple of savvy larger road renovs. You top the hill and there is this beautiful modern nicely built multi-home building. It is a real pleasure to see it.

[@IanMcCausland]

The culture within city admin that embraced these changes is definitely key! We saw that attitude reflected in the snow clearing policy toward bike infrastructure

[@chrisrunn9540]

The problem with housing in Canada we weren’t building houses for its customers. We were only building SUV type houses. Good job Edmonton.

[@OrechTV]

Wow, amazing. Im European and it is good example for other North-American cities because it cannot be brushed off with: "ok, but we cannot do it here / Europe and Asia are older and denser" and BS like that. We also had our 60s/70s car boom and bad decisions, but you need to see it is possible. And Edmonton shows it can be done even in Suburbia (plus good to combine it with small businesses at the ground floor in those units). Mixed zoning (residential + small business) is crucial also for good competition to the corporations. It needs to be done piece by piece, street by street, as you showed at the end of video: Some are dense highrises, some are 6 units, some are 8. Here we have mostly like 7 - 10 stories appartment buildings so way denser but still ... this is a good step, good example and good policy template for other city governments across Canada and the US. Fully supporting and please share Edmonton´s example instead of european one. Can be more convincing for counsels all over N.America. Yeah .. and those min. parking requirement :D this is uniquely N. American stuff that needs to be erased :D so much space for asphalt with no/minimal use -_- .. of course, together with that, basic public transport needs to be there / bus public transport. The denser neighbourhood gets, the more usage also each stop / line gets. Buses are good enough and can be done anywhere and then use other modes based on demand :) .. .GL to you all. And .. love your channel guys :)

[@MultiCappie]

100% agreed, from an Edmontonian here. Not enough people realise that Amsterdam was just as bike-hostile as any North American City in the 1960s. You don't get anywhere without starting now, and that's what we're attempting to do here. You should take a look at Edmonton's Bike Plan and LRT vision too. Then give us a couple decades (hahaha) and come visit!

[@kevincarter4902]

Thanks!

[@OhTheUrbanity]

Thank you!

[@spartancanuck]

Did you have any opportunity to explore what's up with the Blatchford development on the old City Centre Airport lands? That'll be an interesting injection of density, anchored by a (pre-existing but grown steadily) post-secondary and the Metro Line of the LRT system. It's a bit cursory so far with just a few blocks of row houses, but this summer is when it should actually start to take shape as "transit-oriented", thanks to the new LRT station being connected to the internal roads and paths. Other half and I just bought a townhouse there that will be ready for move-in sometime around then too.

[@KarolaTea]

Great video! Also, just wanna appreciate the design of a lot of those new buildings! Not that that's super important, but they look pretty, and varied too!

[@SeanFromSylvan]

Neighbours over NIMBY's! I love that!

[@connorlomas1108]

I was there visiting family for Christmas. With a few exceptions around the West Ed, i was pleasantly surprised by the architecture

[@yaredmehzenta2771]

I used to live in Edmonton, and it's been cool to see the city's council move in a generally progressive direction for the last decade on things like transit, housing reform and downtown revitalization. That being said... I do wonder if this video is overstating the case a bit. Edmonton's YIMBY housing reforms are great, but ultimately, the city is not very dense. In terms of population-weighted density, it is basically on par with, or less dense than, other mid-sized Canadian cities (3.6k pp/sq.km). Calgary (3.9k), Ottawa (3.8k), Hamilton (4.2k) and Quebec City (3.7k) are all denser on average than Edmonton. Winnipeg (3.5k)and Halifax (3.4k)are basically on par. Maybe Edmonton has better distributed its density than these other cities. But I'm more inclined to think that Edmonton's reforms have not yet had a meaningful impact on the city's population density, and that it remains affordable largely for other reasons, including some that you alluded to in the video like the abundance of land available for sprawley greenfield development. Hopefully the future of the city will move away from that trajectory.

[@MultiCappie]

How are you calculating those numbers?

[@tangomango2353]

Awesome video! Love how critical and fair you guys are with your videos. I'm very excited for the future of Edmonton and seeing how its successes might impact other cities. ❤

[@swagmundfreud666]

As a born-and-raised Calgarian, I am shocked and appalled that anything about Edmonton could possibly be good (*cries in Calgarian*)

[@MultiCappie]

lol. Maybe don't watch Shifter's video about Edmonton's Bike Plan. Or RM Transit's (now deleted???) video about Edmonton's Valley Line. And don't ask for my assessment of your new arena project. hahaha. Good luck down there in the Bottom of Alberta.

[@swagmundfreud666]

@@MultiCappieBro don't get me started on the fucking arena project shit had me fuming.

[@MultiCappie]

@@swagmundfreud666 Sorry, just having fun. Good luck. 😸

[@pattyrollingfree]

Edmonton makes me want to put up with PC provincial government. They're making such great progress. Great seeing you there!

[@economicprisoner]

They have not been "progressive" conservatives for a long time now. It is the "United Conservative Party" (UCP) for years now.

[@MrJoeSomebody]

Put up? PC governments are proving to be great everywhere you go. Alberta has the 3rd highest HDI in the world. People are flocking to the so called "Red States". I think the media paints PC areas in a negative light. I used to vote liberal but after 12 years in Edmonton I cant imagine living under a liberal government with all their promises and no action.

[@yaygya]

PCs? The UCP is Wildrose at best.

[@josephsimonsful]

I think I agree. When the Alberta gov't speaks (about anything at all) I want to move away. When Edmonton city council talks, it makes me want to stay and be part of what seems to be a huge experiment in logical (and yet subversive) thinking.

[@pattyrollingfree]

@@josephsimonsful I can just imagine. I think I would cocoon myself in the city strategy, put my head down and ride those bike lanes.

[@TrickiVicBB71]

City needs to build up and stop building out. We be hitting Leduc and Nisku with all the suburbs still being built south

[@garyholt8315]

that huge annexation toward Devon and leduc didn't help

[@bararobberbaron859]

I just have to give props to Edmonton here, I've seen how bad it can get and somehow Nimby's argue to keep it like that, because 'if I have to suffer, everyone has to suffer'. These are massive steps towards improvements. And even if Edmonton has space, increasing density and limiting sprawl means it becomes economically feasible to mix in retail and such, and it could open the door to much improved public transport as well. It will take quite a few years to really see the benefits of the new zoning, but what you demonstrated here are basically some of the first spring flowers.

[@MultiCappie]

100% agreed, from an Edmontonian here. You don't get anywhere without starting now, and that's what we're attempting to do here. You should take a look at Edmonton's Bike Plan and LRT vision too. Then give us a couple decades (hahaha) and come visit!

[@stacymclean7286]

I'm one of those people who escaped Toronto to Edmonton. I intend to live and retire here ;)

[@ZachJ367]

One of my friend's dad is a city planner for Edmonton, and they've told me a bit about the importance and benefit of densifying the city. Sure, it could be easy to just continue sprawling out indefinitely into the open land around the city; there has even been talk of annexing surrounding communites like Toronto did. However, the need to densify is about more than just housing more people or for developers to "make extra money," as some have said. Taking into account how large parts of the city have become virtually inaccessible to many because of the sprawling nature of suburbanisation, by densifying land usage, as well as expanding public transit services, travel within the city will open up for many of its residents. Another point is that city infrastructures, such as plumbing, have limitations on how far it can expand within optimal efficiency, especially over such a flat terrain. By making the city more navigable, densifying housing, and expanding public services, the city's tax profits will increase, in turn allowing for funding to be put toward many other much needed services. Edmonton has many issues with homelessness, drug abuse, violence, etc., and I currently see them more now because of where I live, but they've been around for far longer than I've been alive. For the safety of the general public, and of those involved, these issues need to be addressed seriously and in the new future. Sadly, much of the problems that the city is facing are systemic in nature. They more often than not are perpetuated by the cultures that enable or even encourage such behaviours, and it has become a multi-generational problem, not just people who fall into it by unfortunate circumstance.

[@leblancti420]

There's some irony in the NIMBY reflex to a four-plex or like being built in residential neighbourhoods when there are so many examples of so-called 'monster homes' being built in neighbourhoods with often only a few making sour faces from adjacent neighbours. These monster homes are often ugly things that tower over everything else around them yet house only one family.

[@AndyB-yv3zg]

Small improvements like this over a few decades can be transformative for our cities. I hope more cities follow examples like these as they become more apparently beneficial, thanks in part to your videos showing it. It'd be difficult for me to see positive trends like this without your work.

[@IndyGuy65]

My Indiana suburb is increasing density by building multi-family housing and its great. The person who thinks a 3-story apt/condo building is a towering monstrosity needs to get a life.

[@modestacattaruzza7400]

I live in Edmonton since I was 18. I truly love my home town.

[@TomPVideo]

A big problem with building infill in places like Vancouver isn't the regulations, but the incredibly steep fees placed on every new unit.

[@BlGGESTBROTHER]

Regulations contribute to inflated fees.

[@P0w2you]

I Love the positivity of y'all Video's! Thank you!

[@kevincarter4902]

I really appreciate how fair, unbiased and detailed your information is. I truly enjoy watching your videos. I also watched 'You Don't have to move to Amsterdam to be Happy' clearly that was geared towards the NJB videos. What I got from that was take pride In you city, join a group or organization to help make things better in terms of housing, public transportation, traffic calming etc. Thanks,

[@OntarioTrafficMan]

Exactly. This is exactly the message that NJB is missing. He complains about how things are bad, but fails to identify all the countless efforts which are trying - and succeding - to change things for the better, and fails to direct people to support those initiatives. It is infuriating as a former Toronto urban planner to watch videos where Jason would imply that Toronto's planners are car-brained villains, when in fact none of my colleagues actually were, and nearly all of them were just as passionate about urbanism as Not Just Bikes. The difference being that they understand the systemic issues and the avenues to addressing them, rather than just creating a cartoon villain of "North American planners" or "North American engineers" as NJB videos often do.

[@kevincarter4902]

​@@OntarioTrafficManYup! Be part of the solution.

[@BoondockSaintRyan]

Excellent video on how progressive cities with a council and mayor who actually want to help can change affordability and density. Kudos on calling out the pathetic mayor of Windsor, ON for being a complete failure. Born and raised here, Windsor mayor and the majority of our council voted to reject a proposed $40-70M from the federal government for a housing initiative. Add to that the fact that you pointed out (our mayor was appointed to head a committee on affordable housing), and it's even worse. No city has any leg to stand on when it comes to not having a plan to overcome the current crisis. They only need to look to Edmonton and other similar forward-thinking cities for the answers.

[@edwardmiessner6502]

The US has a city somewhat like Edmonton: Houston Texas. This city never had a zoning code but they are cursed with HOAs and an extreme right-wing Christian conservative state government that meddles in the big cities' internal affairs.

[@user-sm6lt9mf9t]

Even with all this, we are still getting squeezed with not enough housing (they are expecting house prices to jump) and quickly rising rents that the people can't easily afford (Alberta has no sort of rent control). The city council has started to admit that they need to start growing housing in the suburbs again alongside infill.

[@vincewhite5087]

Plus they passed a great improvement to cycling infrasrture.

[@mhkpt]

I watch stories about new housing developments and mixed-use zoning like others might watch, uh, adult entertainment. It makes me so hot it's crazy.

[@Skyfoogle]

isn't downtown edmonton more parking lot than building?

[@OhTheUrbanity]

There's a ton of parking just east of downtown. Eliminating parking requirements didn't change that overnight, but it does open it up to more possibility of development.

[@Ryan-093]

there's a lot of parking currently but it is being filled in with development. you also have the Whyte Ave area south of the downtown that is medium-rise walkable

[@TheCruzFelipe]

I lived in Edmonton back in 2014 until 2016 and loved the city.

[@AustinSersen]

Calgary's voting on similar housing reforms next month. Good step, but doesn't go nearly as far as it needs to IMO...especially when my councillor (Sean Chu, the always "NO" vote on council) is holding on to parking minimums and single family households.

[@Ryan-093]

ah, Sean Chu, the former police officer who r4p3d a minor.

[@MultiCappie]

Good luck down there. I'm actually cheering for you.

[@AustinSersen]

​@@MultiCappieYeah, I wish they increased the scope to also rezone transit station areas to only medium and high density. I think that would get more support than blanket city-wide rezoning, which is probably also necessary.

[@HaonProductions]

There's a riding in/around Edmonton that literally doubled in population since 2011, and I'm strongly considering trying to work for the government of Alberta so I can move there. I'm amazed by how much better it has handled the situation in the last few years and just about any other city in Canada.

[@pest174]

This is quite interesting and makes me hopeful of similar reforms hitting NYC. I will admit to being in the nihilism camp as any new housing built in NYC has become far from affordable. We don't need anymore luxury rentals that'll charge over $3k for a studio.

[@pest174]

@@cmdrls212 that's exactly what I've been saying...

[@MultiCappie]

@@cmdrls212Manhattan isn't everywhere. Take a look at Long Island. It has lots of places that look just like Edmonton.

[@hyleslie]

Thanks for coming to the winter cycling congress! And thank you for paying attention to what our city is doing, urbanism-wide. We elected a fantastic, progressive Council 4 years ago, and unelected some pretty regressive people. That made a difference because it's signaled to the administration in the city that we really want to be YIMBYs, we want to have a walkable, ridable, affordable city with good climate protective policies. The vibe here is good, but being surrounded by regressive attitudes means we're not out of the woods. Having outsiders recognize how well Edmonton is doing (in terms of policies) is a big help.

[@coke8077]

5:10 Yeah this is a big deal in parts of the US too unfortunately. Expensive housing is just the new normal for most people my age, so a lot of people are hopeless which makes me sad since we live in such a free country where reform like this is entirely possible.

[@mr2981]

Seems a lot of people try to deny it, but there is plenty of affordable housing in the US if you are willing to relocate to it. If your heart is set on living in Santa Monica, etc, then good luck to you and your future as a renter living paycheck to paycheck. But if you are willing to move to a small city in the midwest, one could own a home with ease. The usual retorts are things like "but my family is here" or "there are no high paying jobs there", to which I say make your choices and live with them.

[@modestacattaruzza7400]

​@@mr2981why would I want to go to the Us?? They have humongous problems of their own. No thanks. I am a Canadian citizen not an American, I stay in my city.

[@coke8077]

@@mr2981 I agree, the problem isn't really lack of affordable housing, its lack of affordable housing in desirable areas i.e. safe and economical areas with a high quality of life.

[@Shadowninja1200]

@@mr2981 "Seems a lot of people try to deny it, but there is plenty of affordable housing in the US if you are willing to relocate to it." You're not going to find a good paying job in those places unless you work remote. My experience looking for a place to live on and off over the years in the US is that any places with good paying jobs have high cost in housing. My area? You basically work for the government or healthcare yet housing is expensive here relative to the pay you get. It's in the middle of the State that a lot of people drive through to get to other cities yet no one young actually stays here for long. They basically get a job getting experience then hop out to areas that pays more and actually have things to do. Plenty of NIMBYism here too. Only place cheaper is living out in the stick and well prices are cheap there for a reason because you don't have as much access to stuff.

[@mr2981]

@@modestacattaruzza7400 You're not paying attention, I was replying to someone talking about the US.

[@AlexTurpin]

I've spent some time in Edmonton and my friend lives in one of those suburb projects outside the city ring where all the houses look the same, so it hasn't given me a great vibe on the city but it's really cool to hear it's better than I thought!

[@Ryan-093]

Best areas are Whyte Ave area south of the downtown, and the Jasper Ave corridor in downtown. in ~5 years time there will be much more new developments completed downtown.

[@gp7910]

Gee .. I thought all cities were judged by far flung suburbs? 🤔.

[@CalCalCal6996]

It's called freedom and capitalism. If you don't like what your neighbours are building your capitalist freedom allows you to sell. If the sale prices isn't what you wished it was, then you lose money. This is how our capital system works. I don't understand people's expectations to have their neighbourhoods never change. Do they realize someone likely opposed their own home way back when? If you hate development and developers theres this thing called the countryside you might want to look into. You can't see your neighbours and nothing big ever gets built. If you live in the city and oppose these things, I'm sorry to say but youre a hypocrite.

[@Ryan-093]

they want to have their cake and eat it too. it's gross. cities should be cities. people who don't like it can move to a rural area.

[@paulwood356]

If those people leave for rural areas then the tax base the government needs to fund the low income residents that they forced into the suburbs because the cities are broke aren't available to steal like before. The people in the suburbs already moved away to get out of the cities and all the problems of violence and poverty and now you want them to move again?

[@genosreviews252]

Its great to hear about a city taking an active approach to their housing problem. As much as people hate on Houston, they took a very similar approach. They don't have a missing middle issue, since it's legal & encouraged to build townhomes and skinny tall houses. But once you get out of the city, it's all suburban sprawl. There are mixed use, walkable, and bikeable neighborhoods in those suburbs though. The Woodlands and Bridgeland being the biggest of the two.

[@orospakr]

It's pretty interesting to see that Pierre Poilievre has called out parking mandates as unnecessary government red tape helping to hold back housing supply.

[@economicprisoner]

Pierre Poilievre opposes the Carbon Tax: the most "free market", least interventionist, way to tackle the existential threat posed by fossil carbon being released into the atmosphere. The more we delay action on climate change: the more urgent action becomes. The reason is that our "carbon budget" (to hold the line a 1.5C or 1/3 of an XKCD ice age unit) remains fixed. When the Kyoto protocol was signed in 1997: we had about 50 years to phase out fossil fuels (2050 deadline). After 25 years of inaction: we have about 7 years to phase out fossil fuels (2030 deadline) If Conservatives get elected: we will have 4 more years of inaction, and negative 1 years to phase out fossil fuels (2027 deadline, plus minus a few years). Never vote conservative. A shame, since Brian Mulroney was voted the greenest prime minister in Canadian history in 2006.

[@jaydenthegreat6469]

@@economicprisoner ill vote for liberal when Trudeau is not the leader for the party respectfully...

[@pauldyck2405]

Thanks for the frank coverage of our city! They are trying to mqke it better but youre also right that it has work to do

[@James-vj5hz]

Berta

[@MrAlen6e]

I'm really impressed by Edmonton of all places to lead the way on housing reform, how incredible has it been to see that Canada could finally see modern missing middle housing coming to be

[@MultiCappie]

Edmonton has had a significant urban discourse happening since around 2006. Arguably 1997ish with the "Smart City Initiative", but the technology didn't really exist to enable it. It was how we shut down our redundant downtown airport, built the downtown arena ("Rogers Place") and embarked on a vision of a city-wide urban rail system.

[@pr0wnageify]

This infill is incredibly normal in Richmond BC and has been for over a decade.

[@MultiCappie]

@@pr0wnageify You're saying that infill where the developer doesn't even need to apply for a permit has been normal in Richmond for over a decade?

[@The2wanderers]

Near transit, there's actually parking maximums. This was a long haul to get there. I have consultation events in my calendar back in 2019, so at least 5 years. There's so much I like about Edmonton, I just wish we weren't hobbled by the provincial government so much.

[@MultiCappie]

Hear hear. Time to respectfully engage in dialogue with rural Albertans.

[@stickynorth]

Great video. As an Edmontonian, you are correct. We are a younger city that is a lot less precious about "heritage preservation" and development because most of us know cities are meant to be dynamic and every changing places, not set in stone monuments to past civilizations... There's the odd mistake we make in not preserving buildings worthy of it (Tegler Building, Alberta Hotel to name just a few) but given what we get in exchange, it's generally worth it... The only flaw Edmonton has which you mentioned is the homeless/addictions issue. Flattening 50+ tent cities over Xmas probably wasn't the best way to solve it either since all it does is scatter those residents to the wind yet again but then again that was Ms. Smith issue and there's no fixing that level of stupid....

[@avroarchitect1793]

A city that doesn't preserve its historical landmarks and culture eventually becomes a cultureless blob or gets subsumed by the foreigner/ invader's culture. There is a reason the old buildings of Western Europe are part of their respective city's and country's identities. You don't imagne glass skyscrapers when you think of France now, you see the Eiffel Tower, the old streets of Paris and Notre Dame in your mind.

[@ryuuguu01]

@@avroarchitect1793 Given that North America has been dominated by foreigners/ invaders for 400 years that is the culture here. So I don't see the problem.

[@avroarchitect1793]

@@ryuuguu01 I'm talking about Canada as a country not the continent. If you want to complain about conquest, then every country is evil. The First Nations waged wars of conquest and genocide long before Europeans got here. Stop virtue signaling and grow up.

[@ryuuguu01]

My statement applies to Canada as much as any other part of North America. Why are you talking about the Eiffel Tower and Notre Dame? They are not Canadian. Why are you talking about foreigners and invaders? If they come to Canada and get citizenship they are as Canadian as you. Canada is a mosaic and has been from before whenever you were born. If you can't deal with the fact that Canada is a mosaic that welcomes immigrants, move to the US and find some MAGA white supremacist group to join. We don't need any white supremacists who want to turn Canada into some Trump anti-immigrant nightmare

[@ryuuguu01]

​@@avroarchitect1793 Reading over your comment I notice you talk about " foreigner/ invader's culture" and don't mention any Canadian buildings like the CN hotels, CN Tower, or Notre-Dame Basilica of Montreal. So I am guessing you are not Canadian or you would know that Canada is known as a mosaic of cultures and that immigrant citizens have made up a large percentage of our population since Canada became a country. You sound like a MAGA Trump anti-immigration white supremacist but they would probably not talk about European buildings. So you could be a European (French?) white supremacist, or maybe you are a Canadian white supremacist and just don't know much about Canadian culture. You were triggered when I mentioned that 90%+ of the people who came in the last 400 years were at the time they foriegns, so that makes you some type of snowfake white supremacist.

[@ilghiz]

An energy efficient church, what an oxymoron :)) What can be less useful than a church? 😂

[@netook8]

Edmonton also had one of the lenient pandemic experiences, All major parks and outdoor spaces were always open(with the exception of equipment), you never got a ticket for spending time at the park by yourself or with a small cohort. So during the pandemic, Edmonton residents received more vitamin D than most other cities worldwide where parks were closed and strict limits on outdoor activity were enforced, in it shows in the data. Imo that makes people more receptive to sharing the outdoors with crowds because their right to use outdoor space wasn't completely revoked like it was in much of Europe and the USA. The big city "agreement" is you give up all private outside space in return for having a massive park system you share with thee others in the city. By keeping it open all during 2020, and 2021 imo it help Edmonton retain it's density destiny while other cities were fleeing to thee suburbs for sun exposure and fresh air. Having density is best with easy and unpenalized access to nature, which Edmonton does very well. However the main negative about it is the crime, big cities are a challenge when it comes to crime, though it's not impossible to make them safe without violating privacy.

[@mtbrain1]

Surprising that this mentality hasn't taken hold in BC where the culture has classically been much more condusive to this style of thinking.

[@Ryan-093]

BC, mostly in the Vancouver area, has a very small number of extremely rich elitists who block any good housing reforms from getting passed.

[@KennyCutout]

Thank you for this. It's really great to know these cities can still change for the better in our lifetimes.