Abstract
This research provides analysis of the case of the Jackson Farm development application, embedded within the particular dynamics of the municipal, regional, and provincial sustainability land use policy culture of the Metro Vancouver region, in Canada. Within a culture of appreciation of the increasing need for sustainability in land use policy, including the protection of agricultural lands at the provincial level through the Agricultural Land Reserve (ALR), to urban intensification and protection of the green zone at the regional scale, lies a political conflict that comes into focus in individual land use decisions, within municipalities struggling for autonomy. This case is neither driven strictly by “the politics of the highest bidder” nor by policy failure; the case of the Jackson Farm is instead a case of the challenges of implementing inter-governmental coordination and collaborative governance in a context of both significant sustainability policy and urban growth. The process can be seen to follow an ecological modernization agenda, seeking “win–win” alternatives rather than recognizing that typical compromises, over time, may tip the direction of development away from sustainability policy goals. Understanding the twists, turns, and eventual compromise reached in the case of the Jackson Farm brings to light the implications of the shift in the regional planning culture which may necessitate a less flexible, more structured prioritization of competing goals within plans and policies in order to meet sustainability goals. We highlight this, and present an alternative implementation process within the existing policy regime with potential to aid the specific goal of agricultural land protection.
Highlights
Around the world, the spatial extent of cities is growing faster than population growth
The Jackson Farm case demonstrates how Metro Vancouver is like other regions in the world, where sustainable development policies to protect farmland can be undermined by private interests that often influence local political decisions, and reveals the pernicious nature of sustainability compromises that have become popular in contemporary sustainability policy implementation
While the Jackson Farm case may not have resulted in the best possible outcome, it is likely that the compromises to sustainable development would have been significantly worse, had it not been for the efforts of planning staff, community members, some local and many regional politicians that recognized the importance of Jackson Farm and fought for its protection
Summary
The spatial extent of cities is growing faster than population growth. The existence of three interacting government layers of effective urban policy and planning, and the collaborative and consensus-oriented spirit with which these have been applied, is credited with much of this success Despite this aggregate success, an investigation of the detail of specific applications of agricultural protection and urban development policy reveals a fraying policy consensus that may need further support in order to continue to function in a more densely-populated, riskier future. The Jackson Farm case demonstrates how Metro Vancouver is like other regions in the world, where sustainable development policies to protect farmland can be undermined by private interests that often influence local political decisions, and reveals the pernicious nature of sustainability compromises that have become popular in contemporary sustainability policy implementation. The case demonstrates the value of intergovernmental coordination, when coupled with rigorous implementation standards, for the protection of farmland in line with the demands of urban growth
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