E. Liveable Communities · Liveable Communities: Land Use and Sustainability in Canada

Containing the City: Strategies to Control Sprawl and Reduce Its Effects

E1.4 A1.5 A1.6About 75 minutes

Learning goals

I can describe strategies used in Canada and elsewhere to control urban sprawl, including greenbelts, growth boundaries, farmland protection, intensification and transit-oriented development.
I can describe strategies that reduce the effects of sprawl, such as wildlife crossings and green infrastructure.
I can evaluate strategies using clear criteria and a decision matrix.
I can explain the Ontario Greenbelt as a case study, including recent debates.

Words to know

greenbelt
A large area of protected farmland, forests and natural areas around or near a city where most urban development is not allowed.

urban growth boundary
A line drawn on a plan that separates land where urban development is allowed from land where it is not.

agricultural land reserve
Farmland protected by law from being turned into non-farm uses. British Columbia's Agricultural Land Reserve is a well-known example.

transit-oriented development (TOD)
Compact, mixed-use development within walking distance of a transit station.

development charges
Fees that Ontario municipalities charge on new development to help pay for growth-related infrastructure like roads, pipes and parks.

wildlife crossing (eco-passage)
A bridge or tunnel that lets animals cross safely over or under a road.

criteria
Standards used to judge or compare options, such as cost, effectiveness and fairness.

decision matrix
A table that scores options against criteria to help make a reasoned choice.

Hook: drawing a line around a city

What if a city drew a line on its map and said: "Inside the line, we build. Outside the line, farms and forests stay." Would house prices rise? Would farmers be happy or angry? Would people just build beyond the line? Communities in Canada and around the world have tried exactly this, with different results.

Strategies that contain growth

Greenbelts: Ottawa's Greenbelt, planned in the 1950s and managed today by the National Capital Commission, is a ring of farms, forests and wetlands around the core of the city. Ontario's Greenbelt, created in 2005, protects about 800 000 ha (2 million acres) of farmland, forests, wetlands and watersheds around the Greater Golden Horseshoe, including the Oak Ridges Moraine and the Niagara Escarpment.
Urban growth boundaries: a line in the official plan limits where urban development may go. Portland, Oregon, is a well-known example in the United States.
Farmland protection laws: British Columbia created its Agricultural Land Reserve in 1973, and Québec passed a farmland protection law in 1978. These limit turning farmland into other uses.
Intensification: directing growth to existing built-up areas, main streets and transit stations, and allowing more units on existing lots.
Transit-oriented development: dense, mixed-use areas around stations. Ontario identifies major transit station areas where higher density is planned.
Pricing tools: development charges make new growth help pay for the infrastructure it needs. If charges reflect the true higher cost of serving spread-out development, they can discourage sprawl.
Complete communities: planning neighbourhoods where homes, jobs, shops, schools and parks are close together.

Downtown is hatched in the middle. An urban growth boundary (dashed line) marks where urban development may go. A protected greenbelt (green ring) keeps farmland and nature open. Growth is directed inward through intensification. A weakness: some growth may jump past the greenbelt (leapfrog), creating long commutes.

Strategies that reduce the effects of growth

Even when development happens, its impacts can be reduced:

Wildlife crossings: the Trans-Canada Highway through Banff National Park has wildlife overpasses and underpasses that help animals such as elk, deer and bears cross safely. Ontario has built eco-passages and fencing to protect turtles and other animals on some roads.
Natural heritage systems: connected corridors of woodlots, wetlands and stream valleys protected through a region so wildlife can move.
Green infrastructure and low-impact development: rain gardens, bioswales and stormwater ponds reduce runoff from new subdivisions.
Mixed-use suburbs: adding shops, services and transit to existing suburbs reduces driving.

Case study: the Ontario Greenbelt debate

Supporters say the Greenbelt protects farmland, drinking water sources, habitat and places for recreation, and that there is enough land already inside urban boundaries for many years of growth. Critics have argued that it limits the land available for housing and can push growth farther out, beyond the belt.

In late 2022, the Ontario government removed several areas from the Greenbelt to allow housing. After strong public opposition and critical reports from Ontario's Auditor General and Integrity Commissioner about how the sites were chosen, the government reversed the decision in 2023 and returned the land to the Greenbelt. The case shows how political, economic and environmental forces all meet in land-use decisions.

Transit-oriented development puts the most homes and jobs closest to the station and steps down in height farther away. Within about 800 m (roughly a 10-minute walk), many people can reach transit on foot.

Worked example

Let's evaluate strategies with a decision matrix

A mid-sized Ontario city must choose a main strategy to manage growth. Score each option from 1 (poor) to 3 (good) on four criteria: protects land and nature, cost to the public, housing supply and affordability, fairness to existing residents. Options: (A) expand the urban boundary onto farmland; (B) intensify along transit corridors; (C) add a greenbelt plus intensification.

Set up a table: options as rows, criteria as columns.
A, expand boundary: land and nature 1 (farmland lost); public cost 1 (new roads and pipes); housing supply 3 (lots of new land); fairness 2. Total 7.
B, intensify on transit corridors: land and nature 3; public cost 3 (uses existing pipes and transit); housing supply 2 (slower to build, more complex sites); fairness 2 (risk of displacing tenants). Total 10.
C, greenbelt plus intensification: land and nature 3; public cost 3; housing supply 2; fairness 2. Total 10, but it also gives permanent protection, which matters for the long term.
Explain the judgement: B and C tie on points; C adds lasting protection, so it may be preferred. A different person might weight criteria differently (for example, giving housing supply double weight), which could change the result.

Options B and C score highest (10 each); C adds permanent protection of farmland and nature. The matrix makes the reasoning visible, but the final judgement depends on which criteria matter most, so state your weighting.

Making a judgement (A1.5 and A1.6)

A strong geographic judgement:

States a clear position.
Uses criteria and evidence.
Considers other perspectives and admits trade-offs.
Uses geographic vocabulary (intensification, growth boundary, fragmentation).
Cites sources (for example, City of Ottawa, Official Plan, 2022).

Just for fun

Funny but true: the wildlife overpasses over the Trans-Canada Highway in Banff are covered in soil and plants, so to an elk they look like an ordinary forest path. On these bridges, most of the traffic has hooves or paws.

Hands-on activity

Score your own region's options

You need: paper and a pencil (or a spreadsheet), and access to your municipality's official plan summary or recent news about growth.

Find out how your municipality plans to grow (look for words like growth, intensification, urban boundary, greenbelt).
List two or three real options people are debating.
Make a decision matrix with at least four criteria, including one about the environment and one about fairness.
Score each option and total the points. Then try weighting one criterion double and see if the result changes.
Write a one-paragraph judgement using the five steps in the tip above.

What to look for: clear criteria, scores with reasons, a test of weighting, and a judgement that admits trade-offs.

Your turn

What is a greenbelt, and what does it protect?

When was Ontario's Greenbelt created, and roughly how big is it?

Explain how transit-oriented development helps control sprawl.

Name one Canadian farmland protection law or reserve.

Describe one way to reduce the impact of a highway on wildlife.

What is one weakness of a greenbelt?

More practice: warm-up

What does TOD stand for?

About how far can most people walk in 10 minutes?

What is a development charge?

Which federal agency manages Ottawa's Greenbelt?

What is a criterion?

More practice: on your own

Explain how the Ontario Greenbelt case in 2022–2023 shows political, economic and environmental forces interacting.

Why might an urban growth boundary raise land prices inside the boundary?

How can development charges discourage sprawl?

Why does the TOD model put the tallest buildings closest to the station?

Give two criteria you might use to evaluate a strategy to control sprawl, and explain why each matters.

Challenge

Using the decision matrix example, suppose "housing supply" counts double. Recalculate the totals for A, B and C.

A town has an urban growth boundary but neighbouring towns do not. Predict what might happen and suggest a solution.

Evaluate this claim: "Protecting farmland is less important than building housing now."

Check your understanding

Quiz

Ontario's Greenbelt was created in:

An urban growth boundary is:

Which strategy puts dense, mixed-use development within walking distance of transit?

Why were some areas of the Greenbelt returned in 2023?

Wildlife overpasses in Banff National Park mainly reduce:

In a decision matrix, changing the weight of one criterion can:

For parents and teachers

This lesson asks students to evaluate, not just describe. The decision-matrix method works for many real decisions (even choosing a phone plan), so practising it together helps. The Ontario Greenbelt is a current political topic; encourage your teen to describe the different perspectives fairly and support their own view with evidence. Common difficulty: thinking a growth boundary is a physical wall; it is a line in a plan. If maths in the matrix looks wrong, check that weighted criteria were multiplied before adding.