Quote:
Originally Posted by CaptainYooh
No, he doesn't, he just keeps repeating the same thing. There is no respectable growth model that is absolutely healthy and without any growth problems. Drooling over parises, san-franciscos and portlands of the world is pointless and laughable - they are different cities with totally different factors affecting their growth. Calgary has grown to over a million population in just over one hundred years, which is a phenomenally fast pace for a municipality. The reason - favourable business environment and good labour market, which have historically been paid for by the entire taxpaying population (assuming that it wants the growth). These factors must be kept in check by low taxes, affordable housing prices and variety of housing for all income levels. This is similar to the yeast reaction - take any of the major components away and growth will stagnate, turn to recession and die.
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You're right, it's absolutely not about copying a growth model of any other city. It's about creating an efficient growth model that's suited to Calgary's unique circumstances. A somewhat more compact growth model will be more efficient for the tax-paying public and the individual. We can build out in this way, and create a place people really want to live and work.
This whole growth discussion shouldn't be about being so doctrinaire. It's not a radical shift really (despite some people's efforts to create false dichotomies of 500sq ft downtown condos vs. the suburban single family home) and we're witnessing this evolution already.