Planning Canadian Communities

Submission for the CIP Planning

Publication Award

Gerald Hodge and David Gordon RPP MCIP

Summary

Planning Canadian Communities is

the only book that provides a comprehensive

introduction to the needs, origins,

contemporary practices, and future

challenges involved in planning Canadian

communities. This book is the most widely

used planning text in Canada since 1986. It

tells how community planning got started in

Canada, how it works today, what are current

best practices and who participates in it.

This sixth edition of the book

continues to monitor and synthesize the theory and practice of Canadian community planning.

The book is used as an introduction to the profession by students, as curriculum for mid-career

education and as a reference by community members.

Key points for consideration for the award:

Innovation & Contribution to the Profession:

Documented the evolution and practice of community planning as a distinctly Canadian

endeavor

Synthesizes and organizer a broad range of practice and research as an introduction to

Canadian planning

Contains original research and interpretation frameworks

The most highly cited Canadian book by CIP members.

Method:

Regular updating and revision every five years

Detailed consultation with users for suggested improvements

Comprehensive reviews of all new books and articles on Canadian planning

Illustrate best practices by featuring recent CIP award-winning plans.

Clarity of Goals and Objectives:

Clear and unique focus on Canadian community planning

Comprehensive range of topics across planning history, plan preparation, public

engagement and plan implementation

Examples from over 100 communities from coast to coast to coast

Examines every scale from individual sites to regional planning.

Implementation:

Sixth edition now includes 250 illustrations and twelve case studies of planning issues

Over 1,100 references to almost 2,400 sources

Companion website with searchable bibliography, image bank and legislation summary

Hard copy book or individual electronic chapters available

Almost 25,000 people have used the book as an introduction to community planning.

Overall Presentation:

Heavily illustrated in new format combining text and graphics

Illustrated mini-biographies of influential planners and thinkers

Case studies drawn from articles in national media.

Public Engagement:

Strong coverage of citizen participation practice and theory

New consensus-building techniques and use of social media

Attention to needs of special populations: older adults, children and youth; women;

aboriginal peoples; ethno-cultural groups; the frail and disabled; homeless people and

LGBTQ groups.

Sustainability:

Strong attention to civic engagement and social planning, especially for aboriginal and

homeless peoples.

Current environmental planning practice in landscape ecology and GIS

Economic policy tools to implement plans

Introduction to healthy communities.

Planning Canadian Communities is a repository of wide range of good planning practice,

relevant research findings and citations. It is a record of Canadian planning practice, and it is

important that this history not be lost or forgotten.

Innovation & Contribution to the Profession

The first innovation of the book was the very idea that there is a distinctive form of urbanism

practiced in Canada, which is reflected in the unique term “community planning”. Surprisingly,

this view was not widely held forty years ago, when the literature and practice of planning in

Canada were dominated by British, American and French examples. Planning Canadian

Communities demonstrated the evolution of the discipline in this country, using an original

framework to organize ideas, (see below) and archival research by both authors.

In addition to documenting the evolution of the Canadian planning profession, the book uses

current best practices to introduce the field to the readers, via projects that have recently won

CIP awards. The book is used in most English-language CIP-accredited planning programs and

is a core text for professional practice courses in planning and civil engineering. Perhaps its most

important contribution has been as an introduction to the field to a generation of Canadian

planners. A 1987 survey of CIP members found no Canadian books cited among their ten most

influential texts. 20 years later, a similar survey of planners yielded these six leading books:1

1 Filion, P., Shipley, R. & Te, Z. “Works Planners Read: Findings from a Canadian Survey”, Canadian Journal of Urban Research, 16:1 (2007 supplement), 59-91; Martin, L. R. G., Higgs, E., & Filion, P. (eds.) “Literature of planners”, Plan Canada, 28: 1 (1988 special issue).

Method

The first edition of the book was written in response to concerns in the late 1970s that there was

no basic text introducing Canadian community planning. The original research and writing for

the original 1986 edition required almost a decade of research by Gerald Hodge.

The book is revised every five years to stay current, using the following methods:

1. Four years after publication, the previous edition receives anonymous peer reviews to

generate suggestions for improvement. For example, the new sections on infrastructure,

multiculturalism and planning theory came from suggestions from academic reviewers,

while the chapter on secondary plans and the legislation table followed suggestions from

practicing planners.

2. Review, classify and catalogue all books and peer-reviewed articles produced on

Canadian planning, or peer-reviewed articles by others that have Canadian community

planning as a subject. Over 75% of the new literature cited was Canadian.

3. Review Plan Canada, Urbanité and other affiliate journals. There is much good urbanism

coming from Québec in recent years and we are pleased to highlight it for our anglophone

readers.

4. We update the comparative planning legislation table (Figure 9.3, p. 230) by reviewing

provincial planning acts and connect the new acts to the summary on the web site.

5. The volume of Canadian professional practice is too great to examine every plan and

report. So we search for best practices by reviewing plans and documents that have won

professional practice awards from the CIP or its affiliates, and Canadian plans that have

won international awards. The current edition includes excerpts from at least 40 award-

winning plans, including:

Cambie Corridor Plan, Vancouver

Burnaby Social Sustainability

Strategy

UniverCity, Simon Fraser Univ.

New Monaco secondary plan,

Peachland, B.C.

Kaska First Nation Health and

Healing Strategy

The Bridges: Calgary

Red Deer Parks Systems Planning

Activity and Urban Form in

Saskatoon Public Spaces

Our Winnipeg/Speak-up Winnipeg

Spirit Garden, Thunder Bay

Places to Grow: The Growth Plan

for the Greater Golden Horseshoe

Toronto Avenues and Mid-Rise

Buildings Study

Regent Park in Toronto

Ontario Transit-Supportive

Planning Guidelines

Benny Farm Master Plan, Montréal

Montréal Metro Community Plan

Les Bassins du Nouveau Havre,

Montréal

Truro NS Zoning Bylaw

Downtown Halifax Plan

St. John’s CBD Heritage Strategy

Clarity of Goals and Objectives

The book is clearly focused as an introduction to Canadian community planning. It is

comprehensive in scope along three dimensions: the wide variety of planning types considered,

the geographic scope of examples and the differing scales at which we examine planning.

The range of topics covered in the book is comprehensive, starting with an argument that Canada

has important urban and regional issues to address and a distinctive form of community

planning.

This book’s first section includes three chapters on the history of Canadian community planning

from 1800-2010. These chapters are probably the most complete history of our profession to

date. The second section explains the preparation and content of community plans in five

chapters that address all scales – urban regional and rural. This topic is a central activity of the

planning profession. This section has been supplemented by three new chapters on detailed

planning for people and places. Chapter 11 explains plans for neighbourhood and special districts

such as downtowns, or airports, land use corridors and important nodes in the transportation

system. It also discusses redevelopment plans for brownfields and sprawl repair in the suburbs. A

new chapter presents techniques for planning green infrastructure such as open space systems,

blue infrastructure (river basins and waterfronts), grey infrastructure (pedestrians, cycling,

transit, roads and utilities) and social infrastructure such as schools, recreation facilities and

health systems (Ch. 12).

The book’s traditional strength in public participation has been augmented by a new chapter on

planning for diverse and healthy communities (Ch. 13). Finally, plan implementation receives

detailed discussion of land use regulation and policy tools.

These topics are discussed for Canadian communities from coast-to-coast-to-coast. The detailed

index reveals that examples are drawn from every province and territory, including over 100

communities. The larger metropolitan areas have multiple examples and there are numerous rural

and aboriginal communities represented in the text and images..

We've looked at both the successes (Vancouver’s False Creek South; Toronto’s St. Lawrence

neighbourhood) and failures (Africville in Halifax or demolishing East Victoria Park in Calgary).

Finally, we examine planning at every scale from an individual rural severance to planning

northern resource regions or the global mega-region of South Central Ontario. There are separate

chapters on planning regional and metropolitan communities (Ch. 8), the urban community plan

(Ch. 9), planning for small towns and northern areas (Ch. 10) and neighbourhood and special

district plans (Ch. 11).

Implementation

Planning Canadian Communities is kept current and relevant by consultation with users and

regular monitoring of research and practice as described above. It is now in its sixth edition and

more popular than ever.

The book is supported by a web site (PlanningCanadianCommunities.ca) with a comprehensive

bibliography & research guide, an image bank, a legislation summary and website index. The

text is available in a paperback hard copy or as individual electronic chapters to allow instructors

to assign targeted portions of the book for specialized courses.

The book’s longevity and wide use are evidence of the effectiveness of its message. Planning

Canadian Communities continues to be used in most universities and the colleges with planning

programs. We estimate that over 25,000 students, planners and citizens have read the book, and

many keep it on their bookshelves for years ahead.

Overall Presentation

The graphic presentation of the book has been greatly improved in the latest edition. It now

boasts over 250 illustrations, placed in a two-column format so that text and images can interact.

Twelve new planning issues case studies on topical issues are illustrated by articles from the

Globe and Mail, Maclean’s and the Vancouver Sun.

Short illustrated biographies of people who founded and influenced Canadian community

planning are placed in side-bars to add interest and background to the history of our profession.

The copious references to supporting research have been placed in endnotes, so they can

supplement the text without interrupting the reader. Over 1,100 endnotes refer to almost 2,400

sources. The bibliography has been moved to the web site, so that it can be searched by key

words.

Public Engagement

The book has featured strong coverage of citizen participation theory and practice from its first

edition. It contains extensive discussion of citizen engagement in the planning process, including

social media and new techniques in Chapter 14 (Deciding Upon the Community’s Plan) and

Chapter 15 (The Texture of Participation in Community Planning). Chapter 14 covers citizen

inclusion/engagement in communities small and large; from planning circles on Lake Huron to

the use of social media in the visioning for Saskatoon and Vernon BC.

The new Chapter 13 elaborates the planning needs/problems of eight population groups that are

integral to Canadian communities and their planning: older adults, children and youth, women,

Aboriginal peoples, ethno-cultural groups, the frail and disabled, the homeless, LGBTQ. This

chapter discusses how to engage some of Canada’s most disadvantaged communities.

This charming graphic summarizes the main strategies to engage diverse groups in Burnaby BC.

The Burnaby Social Sustainability Plan received the 2012 CIP Social Planning Award.

Sustainability

Planning Canadian Communities has always emphasized citizen participation and social

sustainability (Ch. 13, 14, 15), and the latest edition provides additional examples of planning for

aboriginal and homeless peoples from across the country. The last two editions have placed the

natural environment on an equal footing with the built environment, including the latest research

on landscape ecology and the role of Geographic Information Systems in planning (Ch. 7).

Economic issues are addressed in discussions of demographics, employment, urban development

and policy tools to implement plans.

The connection between public health and community planning has moved from the history

chapters to the cutting edge of current professional practice. Healthy communities are

documented in the epilogue as one of the key future directions for Canadian planning, but

research and new professional collaborations in this field are moving so quickly that it is likely to

be a major component in the next edition of the book.