Historically, the urban form, structure and population of Sudbury dramatically changed over time. From the traditional lands of the Ojibwe, to euro-centric settlements, Sudbury has transitioned into a global economic and services centre and a strong northern Ontario community. As the core of the largest city in Northern Ontario, Sudbury benefits from a variety of assets, from vast park and lake systems, an ever diversifying economy built not only on the mining industry, but also research and technology, health services and education. The city is comprised of a diverse community including a significant proportion of indigenous and franco Ontarian residents. However, the city has struggled to achieve its full potential and faces a variety of economic and environmental challenges. While Greater Sudbury enjoys large areas of residential living, an expansive regional mobility network, a vast nature and lake system and strong production landscape, many of these elements are lacking downtown. The project, Relocal, questions how key assets at a regional level could be transitioned locally to downtown Sudbury in order to bolster its role as the heart of the city.
We strongly believe in providing a strategic spatial vision and framework at multiple scales for the future of Sudbury. Partnered with a set of flexible approaches and public engagement guidelines, Relocal, gives a glimpse of a set of possibilities in how to transform spaces with the freedom and flexibility to adapt. Relocal shows the potential in transforming areas into dense built environments while providing comfort at a human scale. Relocal aims to demonstrate and offer ideas on how to make the future of Sudbury more efficient, more livable and better connected to the environment by bringing key regional characteristics to the downtown core.
Relocal builds upon four key themes: Ecology and Landscape, Mobility, Built form and Productive Economy. As part of the holistic vision, these themes overlap and are built upon a foundation of equity; equity in terms of access, representation, and development.
Landscape & Ecology:
Presently, Sudbury has initiated a series of large-scale plans to reduce the impact of the mining industry on the natural landscape, the building of the Inco superstack, and regreening programs have both had significant impacts in improving the ecological condition of the area. Through the analysis, several major issues were flagged in the downtown core such as the lack of diversity in flora and fauna, pluvial flooding risks, underutilized spaces and pressures of heat island effect. However, the analysis highlighted the potential in creating regional green axes to connect the lakes, boreal forests, wetlands, parks and rocky outcrops which surround the city into the core. ReLocal focuses on bridging the gap between the natural and urban environment. The guidelines place an emphasis on a diverse and resilient vegetated environment within the downtown while enabling the surrounding communities to have equitable access to quality green spaces.The aim is to reap additional social, health and ecological benefits by creating green and blue networks that also link with the education system.
Accessible Mobility:
The movement and flow of people are essential in public programming, facilitating social interactions and active neighbourhoods. Using GIS analysis and traffic data, ReLocal developed a series of road hierarchies and street profiles to accommodate mixed forms of transit while still respecting regional connections to nearby urban developments. The aim of ReLocal is to enable residents to have equitable access to amenities in the core and beyond the city through the means of smart and active transportation while raising potentials of creating mobility corridors. Mobility hubs with multi-functional usages are situated along the regional corridors to alleviate pressures on the downtown core. Specific to the theme was the potential for reformation of existing roadways, surface parking lots and rail yards that could form the foundation of the City's future establishing destinations rather than thoroughfares.
Productive Economy:
The city has been recognized for taking important steps to bolster its position as a leader in Northern Ontario and continues to do so with more localized capital investment projects such as the Junction. Local organizations such as the N'Swakamok Native Friendship Centre and Carrefour francophone de Sudbury work to maintain and share the cultural foundations of their respective communities. ReLocal aims to build on the many strides the City has already taken to further diversify the existing economy. Currently, centred on mining, health care, services and research, opportunities for expansion into renewable energy development, both at the community level (district energy, geothermal, rooftop solar panels) and city-wide level (wind farms, tailing pond batteries, and hydro-electricity). New developments seek to build off the growth of the timber industry, ensuring equitable food access and entrepreneurial maker/creative work spaces to further advance the economic strength of the city.
Collective Living:
Finally, the team looked at the fine grain composition of the downtown core with the aim to enhance the desirability and livability in the downtown core. The aim of ReLocal is to provide flexibility and adaptability in urban form. Based around recent and planned projects downtown such as the Place des Arts arts centre, the establishment of the McEwan School of Architecture, and other nearby residential projects, the guidelines aim to develop an attractive and inclusive environment with flexible programming. Adding diversity to the building stock while facilitating a stronger identity for the downtown core is central to the future development of the city centre.
The strategies together with meaningful engagement with the community establishes a holistic approach to guiding the next era of growth for Sudbury while maintaining its position as the capital of Northern Ontario, a leader in industry, environmentalism and culture. Anchored by new capital projects, existing infrastructure and flexible built form guidelines and public engagement strategies, the city can work with its diverse citizenry to understand the specific demands for building Sudbury 2050.
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