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The projects and initiatives responsible for implementing The City Plan.
No city is static. Edmonton, like all cities, is constantly growing and changing to align with the needs and priorities of its residents.
Effective change can be planned for and managed. That’s why we created The City Plan—Edmonton’s long-term vision for the future. Thousands of Edmontonians shared their voices throughout The City Plan’s two-year-long engagement. The City Plan represents Edmontonians' hopes for the future. It will guide our decisions so Edmontonians benefit from the new vision while creating new and exciting opportunities for future generations.
Cities are complex. They work best when their land use, transportation, environment, economic and social factors are considered together.
The City Plan connects Edmonton’s physical networks into three interconnected systems: Planning and Design, Mobility, and Managing Growth.
A number of foundational initiatives are in the process of setting the stage to integrate these 3 systems.
Establishes The City Plan’s District Network of 15 districts across Edmonton and a common District General Policy shared among them. Individual district plans and District General Policy will guide city growth in an incremental way and lay the foundation for 15-minute communities.
A comprehensive overhaul of our current Zoning Bylaw. It includes rethinking how, what and why we regulate land use, to support The City Plan’s building outcomes and streamline the City’s development services.
The City Plan envisions a well-connected city of two million people where all Edmontonians can easily meet their daily needs within a short 15-minute walk, bike, roll and/or transit trip.
To achieve this, we’ll need to evolve Edmonton’s current mobility system to prioritize a broader array of travel options. This includes moving towards the City Plan goal of 50% of all trips being made by transit or active transportation, such as biking or walking.
Learn more about the work the City is advancing to transform Edmonton’s mobility system.
Establishes a process for where, when, why and how the City supports growth and development. This works with Growth Monitoring to measure progress toward The City Plan’s goals.
Changing how we move, design and grow will take time. The impacts of this foundational work will be gradual as Edmonton moves closer to the 1.25 million population milestone, the first of four population horizons on our journey to 2 million residents.
Want to learn more about zoning and land-use planning? Listen to Making Space—the City of Edmonton’s first podcast. The 5-episode series features stories of real-life folks and communities whose lives have felt the impact of how Edmonton has been and is being planned.
It’s an honest look at some of the hard-won lessons of how Edmonton can be an equitable city for all.
Edmonton has the fifth highest population in Canada and it has experienced year-over-year growth over the past 5 years, equating to more than a 9% population increase (via the Alberta Regional Dashboard). The 2 million population horizon is when The City Plan’s vision will be fully realized.
Based on our current rate of growth, Edmonton is expected to reach a population of 2 million in about 50 years. It’s not a question of if Edmonton reaches a population of 2 million—it’s a question of when.
Although we are planning to welcome 2 million people as our ultimate goal, we need the right plans, systems and networks in place to set Edmonton up for success. The City Plan implementation projects/initiatives have a much shorter time frame than The City Plan.
They help set the foundation for future change by focusing on what we need to do in the first 250,000 population horizon, helping inform public and private decisions and investments. Once we reach the first 250,000 population milestone, we can assess how our road to 2 million is going and adapt as needed.
It is very unlikely Edmonton will stop growing. However, if Edmonton doesn’t grow or experiences a significant population decrease over time, The City Plan’s vision for change can be revisited and adjusted to reflect the realities and choices we may need to face.
Ultimately, The City Plan’s choices are triggered by growth milestones rather than periods of time.
Edmontonians have told us sustainability, the environment and affordability are key. Our four strategic goals in ConnectEdmonton inform our plans and set the City's direction.
The City Plan outlines the choices we make to achieve the vision and growing in the same pattern as the past doesn’t align with those goals or choices. Also, in partnership with our intermunicipal partners at the Edmonton Metropolitan Region Board, Edmonton is committed to growing within its current corporate boundary.
Continuing to grow the way we have in the past would require annexing land that is currently part of our neighbouring municipalities, which is a difficult and lengthy process.
Also, the way we were growing is costly from a climate and financial perspective. In creating The City Plan, a series of technical analyses were completed, including a financial assessment and a climate vulnerability assessment. Both indicated that we, as a city, need to change the way we grow, move and design our city to be more financially and environmentally sustainable.
The City Plan is about change, but the rate of change depends on where you live, council direction and priorities, and building and development trends. While the plan will be realized when Edmonton reaches 2 million people, there are benchmarks and targets that will help ensure our growth aligns with The City Plan’s vision.
The first benchmark is the 1.25 million population horizon. Much of the work currently underway is intended to guide Edmonton’s growth to this horizon. This will help make sure change is gradual and in line with current development patterns.
That being said, there will be pockets of change before we hit the 1.25 million population horizon, particularly along , which are key areas of activity in the city.
The City Plan provided the general location of nodes and corridors. District Planning will consider existing development and plans in effect to solidify nodes and corridors' boundaries.
The Zoning Bylaw Renewal Initiative will create new zones that enable a greater mix of uses and development types in the nodes and corridors locations. Investment in mass transit and active modes will also be more prominent along nodes and corridors.
How your neighbourhood changes and when it changes depends on a number of factors such as private investment, zoning, planned infrastructure and its location. In general, we need to make the most of the space we have available so we can grow within our current city boundaries.
Strategic investments and choices that are rooted in the Big City Moves will ensure our decisions are aligned with the Guiding Values Edmontonians expressed through The City Plan’s creation, resulting in a city of 2 million that is healthy, climate-resilient, urban and prosperous.