Goal

St. Albert cherishes a sense of place and community, designing built environments that create lively spaces and instill civic pride.

St. Albert is known for its great places, like St. Albert Place and the broader Downtown, Red Willow Park, and the treelined streets of long-established neighbourhoods. Flourish ensures that the St. Albert of the future is well designed, that existing valued places continue to inspire, and that new places are attractive, enduring, lively, and memorable.

Great places distinguish a city, contribute to a high quality of life, instill pride among residents, and bring visitors back. Some essential principles for designing and building cities with great places include:

• Mixing land uses in a compact, pedestrian-friendly form;
• Integrating natural elements into the built environment;
• Ensuring buildings help to define and enliven streets and open spaces;
• Reflecting heritage and culture in the built environment; and
• Designing civic, institutional, and other landmark buildings to be distinct and of high quality.

Policies in other parts of Flourish support the goal of this Great Places section. For example, applying complete street guidelines when designing new and retrofitted roads helps ensure they become places that encourage walking and interaction with neighbours. Similarly, policies that encourage the integration of public art and heritage interpretation into the design of public open spaces help make these spaces unique and attractive. However, the following policies go beyond the placemaking policies found in other parts of the Plan and provide more specific direction with respect to urban design. The policies focus on the city’s public realm—its streets, parks, and other public open spaces—and how buildings can make them inviting and lively. The principles and policies of this section drive the development of great places across the city for all to enjoy.

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Related Pages

Great Places ›

Downtown Revitalization ›

Universal Accessibility ›