HOW TO GET THE CITY READY FOR THE FUTURE

This past year presented considerable challenges to building the city and communities envisioned in our city's plans and policies — from supply chain pressures to inflation issues to lending rate increases. Not to mention ongoing impacts of a global health crisis. While these challenges have created significant barriers to how we work, build and develop, city builders across the region have entered 2023 with a desire for change and an eye to the future.

As developers, planners, and engineers who invest and steward community development throughout the region, we are keen to dive into this year's most pressing issues — housing affordability, talent attraction and economic investment.

While there is much work to do, it is important to reflect that our region has demonstrated significant progress and leadership, not only in our built environment and the creation of great places, but also in the spirit of Edmontonians coming together to foster a sense of community. We appreciate living in a region where our elected officials and civic administration, businesses, developers and members of the public value collaboration to build great places.

Here are some ideas on how we might prepare our cities for the next frontier:

Making our region affordable: To ensure our region remains an attractive place for people to migrate to from across Canada and around the world, we will need to keep housing costs low and non-residential development opportunities plentiful. Municipalities can contribute to this outcome by opening up more land for development and providing a clear and predictable picture of development requirements, timelines and costs. We are excited for the opportunities that Edmonton's new zoning bylaw will bring, as well as the changes being advanced in land-use regulations across the region. We would like to see rental units embedded in intentional ways in all pockets of our city, creating flexibility to meet shifting market demands.

Making places of work a meaningful amenity: The pandemic changed the way each of us works and how we connect. While remote work offered us and our colleagues convenience, others have revelled in the return to the office — desiring in-person opportunities to convene and collaborate. Places like the downtown, which were hollowed out, rejoiced as office workers found their way back. So what's next? We see an opportunity for places of work transitioning into places of amenity. To bring people back means to offer them the comfort and opportunity they receive while working from home. As our industry is all about relationships, there is a necessity to reimagine how we work, and how this connects to how we live, how we play and how we move.

Making public infrastructure efficient: While infrastructure standards for roads, sidewalks, trails, pipes and sewers are critical to our neighbourhoods, their initial installation impacts the cost of new homes, and their maintenance and repair drives up property taxes over time. The over-engineering of our public realm also erodes affordability and conflicts with stated climate change goals. Our communities are being designed in smart ways by the private sector, and we need the public sector requirements to match the moment, too.

Making our downtown safe and clean: Downtown Edmonton is an important economic and cultural driver. In the short term, we need a safe, secure and clean downtown. In the midand long-term, we need to create a clear path to attract economic investment and robust residential and non-residential growth downtown. Making city building an ongoing priority: What we see as innovations today will be seen as expired ideas in the future. We need to continually grow, evolve, adapt and stay relevant. Our recommendation is to ensure policy and processes are matched with appropriate resources for implementation.

Any serious New Year's resolution requires a plan. Edmonton and the region are seen as leaders in making plans and seeing them through. Any combination of the ideas above will require steadfast commitment and co-ordination of city builders across the region, and a reimagination of how we work, how we problem solve and how we adapt and embrace new opportunities. We are ready to dive into these challenges.

Janelle Brenner is the marketing and residential project lead at Maclab Development Group. Dhruv Gupta is president of Akash Group of Companies. Katrina Rowe is president of Cantiro Communities. Andrew Usenik is a partner of Strata Developments. They represent a growing practice of young real estate developers and city builders in the Edmonton metropolitan region.