Regions

Updates to Volume 3 (Drainage) and Volume 4 (Water) of the City of Edmonton Design and Construction Standards

Over the past year the EPCOR, the City of Edmonton, IDEA and other industry groups have been participating in working groups tasked with updating the City of Edmonton Design and Construction Standards to align with the zones in the new zoning bylaw. IDEA would like to thank IDEA board members, Jason Cunha and Joshua Schmaltz for their involvement in this initiative. Addenda to the standards have been published to the epcor.com website (January 2, 2024) to reflect updates to Volume 3 (Drainage) and Volume 4 (Water). Please refer to the addenda at the links below:

City of Edmonton Design and Construction Standards Volume 3 – Drainage



City of Edmonton Design and Construction Standards Volume 4 - Water


These updates are the product of work between EPCOR, the development industry and the City of Edmonton. Throughout 2023, EPCOR hosted a series of consultation sessions and technical working groups with our industry partners. These engagement sessions included industry associations, consulting firms, industry business leaders and City of Edmonton planners, Fire Rescue Services, and climate adaptation professionals. The sessions focused on how best to modernize the design standards and approval processes for water consumption and sewer generation, fire flow requirements, stormwater, and green infrastructure implementation.
Through these consultation efforts, it was identified that a two-pronged approach would best meet the diverse needs of the development community. The first approach was an update of the design standards based on the new zones, recognizing that this would still be conservative, but could be updated to reflect modern water conservation and building materials, and on-site stormwater management opportunities. This approach supports developers that want to move quickly through the approval process and reduce engineering design costs.

The second approach is a new process where the developer can engage with EPCOR earlier in their planning and work collaboratively through the design assumptions for the specific requirements of the development they are proposing. This process can, for example, include discussions on where best to orient buildings with higher water consumption or higher fire flow requirements to maximize the use of existing capacity for infill developments, or reduce pipe requirements in greenfield developments.

For developments that wish to pursue the second collaborative approach to planning water and drainage infrastructure, please reach out to boundaryconditions@epcor.com early in the development process. Green infrastructure, planning for high water consuming industries,

Moving Forward

These addenda are to be followed for planning all NEW developments and associated hydraulic network analyses, neighbourhood design reports, and other water infrastructure planning instruments.

For inquiries related to how these addenda may affect EXISTING area and neighbourhood level planning, please contact One Water Planning at boundaryconditions@epcor.com. In cases where updates to plans are required, EPCOR will work with the developer to reduce the amount of additional analysis. This is especially important in cases where a lift station, pump station,booster station or reservoir is planned.

Keep an eye on IDEA’s website for more infrastructure resources from EPCOR to support your 2024 development projects!

An Urban Development Case Study of Hammarby Sjöstad in Sweden, Stockholm

This case study is a part of China Development Bank Capital’s Green and Smart Urban Development Guidelines. The study is framed around the 12 Green Guidelines, hereafter referred to as the “Green Guidelines.” These 12 Green Guidelines define the foundational sustainability metrics that should be used to evaluate an urban development project. Our study shows that the 12 Green Guidelines are not only the foundation for sustainability, they are also key conditions for economic and social success. 

Nordic Urban Strengths and Challenges

An increasing population and historically unprecedented urbanisation characterise the 21st century. When resource-scarcity, climate change and growing demands for liveability are added into this mix, thinking of innovation and sustainability in the built environment becomes critical. The Nordic countries are in a strong position to address many of these challenges.

Malmö, Sweden

This case study portrait is part of a series of 20 case studies on urban green infrastructure planning and governance in European cities, undertaken in the course of the GREEN SURGE project. GREEN SURGE is a trans-national research project funded through the Eu-ropean Union’s 7th Framework Programme. GREEN SURGE is an acronym for “Green In-frastructure and Urban Biodiversity for Sustainable Urban Development and the Green Economy”. The project is identifying, developing and testing ways of connecting green spaces, biodiversity, people and the green economy, in order to meet the major urban challenges related to, e.g., climate change adaptation, demographic changes, human health and well-being. 

The State of Asian and Pacific Cities 2015

This report on the state of Asian and Pacific cities is the second in the series first published by UN-Habitat (the United Nations Human Settlements Programme) and ESCAP (the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific) in 2010 then 2011. Building on the findings and baseline data provided in the 2010 report, and in capturing both rapid change and new policy opportunities, The State of Asian and Pacific Cities 2015 seeks to further contribute to policy-relevant literature on the region’s urban change. Specifically, as reflected in its subtitle, the report highlights growing gaps between current urbanisation patterns and what is needed to shift to a more inclusive and sustainable urban future, in which the role of the region’s cities is unquestionably tied to national, regional and global development prospects.

Redefinition of Territorial Scales and Spatial Planning in Denmark

 Spatial planning in Denmark has been exposed to important reorientations over the course of the past two decades. The comprehensive character associated with plans and policies and at different administrative levels has notably shifted after the implementation of a structural reform that changed the country’s geopolitical subdivisions since 2007. Based on the principle of framework control, comprehensive spatial planning was based on the idea of achieving a high degree of cohesiveness and synchronisation amongst policy instruments and institutions across different levels of planning administration. Amongst the many implications of such reform, however, the county (regional) and metropolitan levels of planning administration were repealed and their physical (land-use) planning functions and responsibilities re-scaled to municipal and national levels, respectively.

The Institutional Framework of Land Consolidation – Comparative Analysis Between Slovenia and Norway

The study is aimed to compare the institutional framework of land consolidation in Slovenia and Norway. The traditional meaning of land consolidation is that is a comprehensive reallocation process in a rural area that suffers from fragmentation of agricultural and forest holdings or their parts. Nowadays, land consolidation has to be seen in a much broader sense and could be an integral part of rural as well as urban development projects. Nevertheless, the focus of our study is on land consolidation in rural areas, where the legal background as well as organizational part of land consolidation projects in Slovenia and Norway is introduced and compared. In both countries, rural land consolidation projects are of national importance due to limited areas for advanced agricultural production and problematic land fragmentation of agricultural holdings. Since development of the procedures has been influenced by the historical trends, tradition, legislation, and land administration systems in the countries, a special attention has been given to the historical overview of land consolidation in Slovenia and Norway. All these aspects have to be considered when comparing land consolidation procedures between different countries. The research includes historical background, organization, objectives, procedures and the development prospects of land consolidation in Slovenia and Norway. Based on literature research and knowledge from the practical examples, the objective of this article is to discuss the similarities and differences in the rural land consolidation procedure in Slovenia and Norway.

Portland — Transit-Oriented Development Strategic Plan

This Strategic Plan is designed to guide future investments by the Metro TOD Program, in order to ensure the program maximizes the opportunities for catalyzing transit-oriented development throughout the region and effectively leverages additional resources to comprehensively advance TOD in all station areas and frequent bus corridors.

Netherlands — Summary National Policy Strategy for Infrastructure and Spatial Planning

Making the Netherlands competitive, accessible, liveable and safe. This is what central government wants to achieve, taking a robust approach designed to achieve an outstanding international business climate, allow scope for tailored regional solutions, put users first, clearly prioritise investment and link spatial developments and infrastructure. It will work towards this goal alongside other authorities, taking a European and global view, on the basis of a philosophy based on trust, clearly defined responsibilities, simple rules and selective government involvement, to create scope for tailored solutions and freedom of choice for individuals and companies.

This new approach will require an update of spatial planning and mobility policy. The various policy documents on these two areas have become dated as new political priorities have emerged and circumstances have changed, nationally and internationally, in the face of the economic crisis, climate change and growing differences between regions which are due partly to growth, stagnation and contraction all occurring simultaneously.

Inclusion, Collaboration and Urban Governance: Brazilian and Canadian Experiences

This book of case studies has been prepared to assist the dialogue and support the extension courses. It provides examples of collaborative governance initiatives in Brazil and Canada. Each case examines the particular issue under consideration that requires collaboration among a number of governments and organizations to achieve a solution, such as urban settlement and housing, environmental improvement, or transportation. The case then outlines the collaborative governance structure and process established to enable multiple jurisdictions and interests to work together. Third, each case describes the case outcomes, both the actions taken to address the consortium’s particular problem and the benefits or challenges of the structure. Each case concludes with some possible questions for discussion.

Trends and Spatial Patterns of Infill Development in Melbourne Metropolitan Local Government Areas

Urban consolidation has been featured in Australia for over twenty years as a growth management tool to accommodate an increasing population while reducing urban sprawl and preserving open space on the fringes. Although infill development (also known as dual occupancy) has long been possible, and over the present decade, encouraged under new urban consolidation policy, monitoring of the inevitable changes in residential urban form has not occurred. Thus decision support teams in strategic planning cannot offer detailed advice on the implications of the changed patterns of either changed population densities or changes to access to existing infrastructure and services. We report here the results of applying a data integration framework and tool for systematically detecting infill pattern changes, land parcel by land parcel, first devised and applied to data from the City of Monash. The synthesis presented here refers to infill mapping in different local government areas in the Middle and Outer regions of the Melbourne Metropolitan Area (MMA), including Monash, Knox, Casey, and Whittlesea local government areas. Thus the utility of infill mapping for urban development monitoring and urban planning can be discussed in reference to the MMA as a whole.

Analysis of Regional Spatial Planning and Decision Making Strategies and Their Impact on Land Use in the Urban Fringe

 This report describes and analyses the efforts of regional partners to steer land use developments in the urban fringe of The Hague Region, a polycentric city region with nine municipalities in the urbanized West of The Netherlands. It summarizes trends that drive land use change and recent land use developments, and describes important governmental and private actors and their objectives and strategies with respect to the urban fringe. It focuses on the ways in which actors, and especially The Hague Region itself, influence land use in the urban fringe. Special attention is given to agriculture, which dominates land use in the urban fringe enclaves in The Hague Region. Another subject of study is recreation, as one of the main arguments used by authorities to prevent further urbanization of the urban fringe areas. Culture and identity are discussed as issues that may influence discourses and decisions. The report describes strategies for these three issues, in relation to actors, coalitions, discourses, spatial concepts and resources. This report is the first on the case study of The Hague Region. It will be followed by a report that contains assessments of the strategies.

Housing Prototypes — Solutions for Achieving Density and Neighborhood-friendly Design on Small Infill Sites

The housing prototypes of this section are intended to serve as a problem-solving tool to help improve the design of medium-density infill housing projects, particularly in the R2 and R1 multidwelling zones. The prototypes highlight medium-density housing types and configurations that are suitable for common infill situations, meet City regulations and design objectives, and are feasible from a market perspective. They illustrate solutions for common infill design challenges such as balancing parking needs with pedestrian-friendly design and providing usable open space while achieving density goals. They are also intended to help broaden the range of housing types being built in Portland by presenting innovative configurations, with a particular focus on arrangements conducive to ownership housing. The prototypes continue characteristic neighborhood street frontage patterns by featuring house-like building volumes along street fronts and by providing opportunities for landscaping.

Integrated Land Use and Transportation Policies: What Can Reykjavík, Iceland and Other Cities Learn from Portland, Oregon?

This paper discusses integrated land use and transportation planning policies in Portland, Oregon and the lessons learned in the city’s fight against sprawl and extensive automobile-use. In particular, it focuses on how Portland’s experience with such policies can be of use to other cities which are dealing with sprawl and extensive automobile-use, particularly Reykjavík, Iceland. Portland is very famous for progressive planning and there is a wealth of information in the literature about its experience. The city is often mentioned in relation to planning initiatives such as urban growth management, smart growth, transit-oriented development (TOD), New Urbanism, and integrated land use and transportation planning to name a few. Integrated land use and transportation planning aims at mitigating problems stemming from automobile use and creating a compact and liveable city environment with land use solutions. Like most North-American cities, Reykjavík was mostly developed after the arrival of the automobile and is considered sprawled compared to most other European cities. Therefore it could learn from cities such as Portland which has dealt with similar problems as Reykjavík in an innovative and strategic way for close to four decades.

Rural Response to Urban-Biased Land Use Policy — New Bottom-up Planning Strategies in Norway

Many rural councils are in favour of dispersed low density housing as it takes advantage of a country location. They are likely however to increasingly come into conflict with the planning system and with governmental planning policies which favour a planned and dense development. We discuss the degree to which six rural councils on the urban edge have developed dispersed housing as a strategy and how this is addressed in their planning. Five of them have strategies for dispersed housing and used local planning as a means of realizing this goal. Nevertheless, only two had proactive plans to address this strategy. Despite governmental policy to ban dispersed housing, such areas are identified in negotiations between local and regional authorities who then subvert institutional barriers. We conclude that while central planning policy does not seem to constrain dispersed housing, local planning does. Local authorities do however set limits on dispersed housing through sector interests.

Dutch Spatial Planning: From Implicit Towards Explicit Sustainable Urban Development

Since the 1960’s the containment of urban growth and the maintenance of a certain level of concentration within the urban pattern are policy goals In the Netherlands. With hindsight this so-called ‘concentrated deconcentration’ can be understood as an implicit strategy towards sustainable urban development. The explicit discussion on sustainable development that started around 1987 focused strongly on environmental issues, and lead amongst others to environmental standards.

More recently urban development strategies are more explicitly focused on sustainable development using the well-known frame of people, planet and profit. Together with this shift of focus the future – or the long term – became a more intrinsic part of the policy formation process. The triple-P frame of reference has been used for a strategic study for the Randstad Area for the period 2020-2040 currently undertaken. Striking in this study is that with the shift of focus towards triple-P the environmental issues have disappeared from the spatial agenda. Using the Randstad case as a pièce de résistance we will discuss the continuities and discontinuities in the ways of understanding of and intervening in sustainable urban development in the Netherlands.

Hammarby Sjöstad Stockholm, Sweden: A Case Study

The Hammarby Model, which is the district’s attempt at a balanced, “closed-loop urban metabolism”, accounts for the unified infrastructure of energy, water and waste. In addition to the Hammarby Model infrastructure, the presence of urban-scaled density, access to multiple modes of transit with an emphasis on reduced car commuting, preservation and restoration of existing natural systems, and progressive construction and housing policies make Hammarby Sjostad an “effective demonstration that ecological and urban go together” by means of comprehensive planning (Beatley 2004:251, 255).

Spatial Planning in Denmark

Denmark will not become beautiful and well-planned spontaneously. Visions are required about what type of country, landscapes and municipalities are desirable. This requires strategies and planning to create and maintain high-quality surroundings – in nature, in the environment, in landscapes and in cities and towns.

Spatial planning creates the surroundings in which people will be living their lives. Political decision-making processes with public participation and balancing of various interests are therefore an important and exciting part of democracy.

Stockholm, Sweden

Stockholm is crafting policies and using planning to create a more sustainable society. The planning system in Sweden is termed “community planning”, which is a system that focuses on enhancing or altering the production and consumption of society that is normally left up to the market to determine. Planning is about formulating strategies to improve the quality of life for Swedes and the quality of the natural environment. Planning and environmental policies focus on this “dual” purpose of urban development patterns and green space preservation—crafting guidelines and policies to ensure that humans are close to nature and that natural areas maintain their ecological functions.