The Saskatchewan Professional Planners Institute’s Excellence in Planning Award recognizes the excellence of professional planning work undertaken by SPPI members in communities and regions across Saskatchewan. V3 was the lead consultant for this City-wide Infill/Brownfield Analysis in Regina, Saskatchewan, Canada.
Key Challenges
This project is an extension of the Design Regina Official Community Plan whereby Regina has identified becoming a more sustainable city as one of its key growth objectives over the next 30 years. The priority is to create a better balance between Greenfield and Infill development and the City has set a target of 30% infill development by the time it reaches 300,000 people. The number of vacant lots in Regina has been rising and at the same time, the amount of Greenfield development has increased. The imbalance between Greenfield and Infill is now close to 90/10 in terms of percentage of building activity.
Solutions
The project included several main tasks:
- A GIS-ready database was developed to profile the characteristics of the underutilized and vacant lands.
- The project also included creating three business proformas for vacant sites which have potential for redevelopment in three different areas of the city – neighbourhood, arterial roadway and downtown locations were analyzed.
- Finally, a comprehensive set of ‘Policy Directions’ was created to guide the development of a new Underutilized Land Improvement Strategy which the City is developing in 2019.
Unusual Conditions, Other Things to Make This Project Unique
The area of interest in Regina is an ‘Intensification Area’. The Intensification Area is very large and encompasses all areas with established development. The project also included a brief look at vacant buildings within the City Centre.
