Bringing a regional perspective to the infrastructure frenzy

Calls for increased federal investment in Canada’s infrastructure have become deafening. Some voices are raised in favour of upgrades to traditional “grey” infrastructure, like wastewater, roads, and bridges. Others want investments to kick-start our COVID-battered economy, or to make our urban and rural infrastructure climate- or pandemic-ready. Further, a wide range of groups are advocating for the rapid outbuild of “green” infrastructure to reduce our greenhouse gas emissions. And those communities in Canada that are free falling down the brutal slope of structural economic transformation are asking for a piece of the pie. How to respond to this cacophony? Now is the time for a strategic, regionally integrated approach to building future-oriented infrastructure that is green, adaptive, and focused on community health and well-being. Here are some thoughts on putting this approach into practice. First, we need to train our policy lens firmly at the regional level. Here I am defining “region” as the broader metropolitan area, including the urban-rural interface which may run 50 to 75 kilometres or more around the city core. The Edmonton Metropolitan Region, for example, includes the City of Edmonton and four large counties, which themselves contain cities and towns that stretch at least 200 km from east to west. Infrastructure projects often require the use of landscapes both inside and adjacent to large urban centres, such as with drinking water and stormwater management, transportation systems, and energy corridors. We know that the fortunes of peri-urban and rural communities around a major city are intricately linked to those of the urban core in areas such as employment, housing and homelessness, and food systems. Across Canada, non-farm housing development into rural and peri-urban areas is impacting ecological and water systems, as well as the viability of local food production. Second, we need to take an integrated approach to infrastructure planning and funding in each region, vertically and horizontally. The federal government has put considerable funds on the table since the 2016 budget, administered primarily through bilateral federal-provincial/territorial agreements. But what is the vision that guides these investments? We need to take stock of projects that have been completed under the earlier Building Canada Fund and National Infrastructure envelopes, plus those that are underway with funds provided by current national programs like the Investing in Canada Infrastructure Program and the New Building Canada Fund. Then we should consider how existing projects can leverage new infrastructure investments. How can we stack or layer new investments onto existing structures in order to fill gaps identified at the regional level? An integrated approach also requires that we think horizontally across energy provisions, water management, health and recreation, and transportation, recognizing that community well-being is intertwined with environmental, economic, and social factors. We need projects that can contribute to multiple goals at once, goals that are unique to the region in question. The 2017 Edmonton Metropolitan Region Growth Plan is a far-reaching document that commits to six outcomes: densification, an integrated regional transportation system, housing diversity, a globally competitive economy, healthy living systems, and an integrated food system. To what extent is national infrastructure funding actively supporting this integrated web of priorities, and in a co-ordinated manner across levels of government? Finally—and perhaps most importantly—our guiding vision for infrastructure must be green, equitable, and future-focused. Our national government has made ambitious commitments to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and enhance biodiversity protection, and the infrastructure investments we make now will have an outsized impact on those goals. Further, a changing climate will worsen existing infrastructure vulnerabilities and crack open new ones that need to be addressed. We have to cast a critical eye on how different groups in our society will benefit or lose out as these dynamics unfold. We need to ask serious questions now about proposed “grey” or big “one-off” projects that will need to be maintained at huge cost by future generations. Instead, let’s look at how we can stack and interlock projects in individual regions to build supportive and integrated architecture for a future focused on healthy ecosystems, economies, and communities. Debora VanNijnatten is a professor of Political Science and North American Studies at Wilfrid Laurier University and the Balsillie School of International Affairs. The Hill Times

Bringing a regional perspective to the infrastructure frenzy

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Bringing a regional perspective to the infrastructure frenzy

Infrastructure projects often require the use of landscapes both inside and adjacent to large urban centres, such as with drinking water and stormwater management, transportation systems, and energy corridors.

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