"We thrive and survive on planet earth as a single human family. And one of our main responsibilities is to leave to successor generations a sustainable future."

-UN Secretary-General, Kofi A. Annan

A Sustainable City

Sustainability acknowledges the interrelationship of the economic, social and environmental aspects of the human and non-human environments, and seeks to ensure the best outcomes for human and natural environments into the indefinite future. Sustainable development is about configuring urban areas and human activity in a way that citizens and economies are best able to meet their needs and achieve their greatest potential in the present-day, without compromising that ability of future generations to also meet their own needs and realize their full potential.

The Regional Municipal Planning Strategy seeks to guide urban growth in the Halifax Regional Municipality in a manner that achieves sustainable objectives. By directing growth to existing urban areas, the Plan sets in motion a strategy to make more efficient use of existing infrastructure and public services; encourage active transportation choices including transit; strengthen the viability of existing commercial centres; and, discourage the encroachment of urban sprawl into surrounding natural and rural areas.

Fundamental to the success of intensified growth in the Regional Centre is an urban design strategy that provides a coherent framework to guide development in a manner that reinforces the Region's sustainable planning objectives. Sustained economic, social and environmental health should be an inherent outcome of a comprehensively considered urban design strategy where the all the fundamental building blocks of the city - neighbourhoods, streets, open spaces and buildings - are coordinated, configured and designed to reinforce sustainable land use, transportation and built relationships and patterns.

These sustainable relationships and patterns operate at all scales of urban design, whether in the design of healthy neighbourhoods that offer the stability, housing choices, services and amenities to support cohesive and walkable communities; or in the design of intensified mixed-use centres that will enable the expansion of a viable and well used transit network; or in the design of inviting streets that encourage a pedestrian culture and strengthen the vitality of existing retail areas; or in the design of buildings that are constructed for permanence, adaptability and energy efficiency.

These and many more urban design strategies should work in concert to ensure a sustainable city with enduring benefits.