Integrating Ecological Infrastructure In
Regional Planning: A Methodological Case Study
From The Calgary Region Of Western Canada
Author(s)
M. S. Quinn & M. E. Tyler
Abstract
The Calgary region of south western Alberta, Canada, like other areas of western
North America, is experiencing dramatic population growth. The cumulative
effects of rapid urbanization and land use intensification, specifically related to
water use in a semi-arid region, are poorly understood. But, this needs to be
considered in sustainable land use planning and policy development at a regional
scale. There is a growing awareness among the municipalities in the Calgary
area that a coordinated inter-municipal ‘partnership’ approach is needed to
address long term regional growth management. We present an innovative
methodology to incorporate landscape ecology and ecological infrastructure into
strategic policy planning for regional development. Our approach involves the
identification of critical ecological infrastructure related to landscape hydrology,
the development of ecological performance criteria and preferred spatial
development patterns related to landscape heterogeneity and connectivity and
ecological infrastructure capacity. The methodology incorporates current urban
ecology and landscape ecology thinking and encompasses both the ‘gray’ and
‘green’ infrastructure needs necessary to support regional population growth
patterns. Three methodological tools are used to spatially ‘link’ ecological
infrastructure performance, landscape heterogeneity and land use change over
time. The methodology will be coupled with cellular automata scenario
modelling at a watershed scale. The paper demonstrates key principles by
focusing on two critical ecological facets of the Calgary area’s regional
landscape: landscape connectivity and landscape hydrology.
Keywords: ecological infrastructure, regional planning, sustainability,
landscape management, ecological performance criteria, growth management,
ecological design.
Keywords
ecological infrastructure, regional planning, sustainability,
landscape management, ecological performance criteria, growth management,
ecological design.
Related Book
Other papers in this volume
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