REPORT PREPARED FOR THE PLANNING DIVISION OF THE METROPOLITAN CORPORATION OF GREATER WINNIPEG BY THE PLANNING RESEARCH CENTRE OF THE FACULTY OF ARCHITECTURE OF THE UNIVERSITY OF MANITOBA.
NOVEMBER, 1966
In May 1965, the Planning Research Centre of the Faculty of Architecture of the University of Manitoba was instructed by the Planning Division of the Metropolitan Corporation of Greater Winnipeg to undertake a study of the image of Winnipeg as a prairie community and of the character of its various parts, notably that of its central area.
The intent of this study was first, to identify the factors which determine this character, and second, to evaluate these factors in such a way as to furnish a guide to help in making decisions which will magnify the development tendencies of both the metropolitan area and its core. The emphasis was placed on the clarification of the composite image, respecting the scale of values of the parts, and on the recognition of the importance of the relationship between rational and perceptible criteria, which must be combined into a single scale of values and equated with one another even though their natures are not comparable.
The members of the Planning Research Centre who were entrusted with this study were Jacques Collin, Claude de Forest and Carl R. Nelson Jr., associate professors at the Faculty of Architecture of the University of Manitoba.
It goes without saying that this final report would not have come about in its present form without the generous advice and the penetrating criticism of a great number of people who are concerned about the future development and welfare of Winnipeg.
In particular, the authors wish to state their indebtedness to the following persons: S. George Rich, and Roy Darke, respectively Director and Assistant Director of the Planning Division of the Metropolitan Corporation of Greater Winnipeg, for their generous counsel, constructive criticism and patience; Rosalind Forbes, Senior Planner in charge of the Development Plan, for her good advice and tireless assistance in gathering and providing important information; the members of the Civic Design Advisory Committee headed by Mr. Rich, who met with the authors on a number of occasions to review their progress and to suggest fresh viewpoints Colleen Helgeson Nelson and Ruth Lucow for their assistance in editing the final draft of the report, and finally, David Hamilton for his fine draftsmanship.
Winnipeg is experiencing an important transformation, perhaps the most important of its history. It is changing from a city t a significant metropolitan area.
The physical form of Winnipeg is the result of a laissez-faire momentum which began with the spread of settlers along the river banks to the north, to the south and to the west. It is apparent that this impetus, when unguided, is not in the best interests either of the region or of the city itself.
Winnipeg's lack of a contemporary self-image has caused various agencies, responsible for different aspects of planning the future o this Metropolitan area, to dissipate their energies in diverse and uncoordinated programs.
The need for extensive rebuilding bordering the central area and to reconstruct or to expand the transportation network are just two factors which offer both the necessity and a tremendous opportunity to initiate a dramatic and significant transformation of the physical environment.
This preliminary study, undertaken for the Planning Division of the Metropolitan Corporation of Greater Winnipeg, is addressed to this unique situation. The primary task of this study is to focus on the central area of Winnipeg, to examine its composition, to define its characteristics, and to comment upon its future development, particularly emphasizing the policies which affect the physical form. However, the authors have found, in the course of the study that it is necessary to comment generally upon the entire Winnipeg Metropolitan scene. The central business district is not an entity or isolated district with definable boundaries which can be discussed independently, but rather is the focus of regional urban activities.
"It is quite clear that the city is both a whole and many parts. But we cannot understand the whole by simply investigating the elements which compose the parts. The city as a whole has form of its own and each element of the city only has meaning when the total form of the city is fully understood."
The study is only a preliminary exploration of the factors which must be recognized as vital to the healthful organized growth and development of the metropolitan area. It should be subjected to extensive testing and critical scrutiny and review.
This study is not a formal proposal for the central area. The primary intention of the report is to define broad, new planning policies based on an existing physical situation and firmly rooted in the social and economic forces operative in the area. New policies can offer realistic incentives to central area and regional development and hopefully will result in an intense, vital metropolitan area, making available a maximum variety of goods, services, and an efficient transportation network to all citizens.
The conclusions are intended to support the need for an ecological approach to metropolitan planning action. There are several cogent observations which should be made in this regard.
First, an ecological approach 1, by definition, is one which is operable only as a comprehensive system of interaction. The commitment to such an approach must be made through recognition of its need and through deliberate intention to act in a comprehensive manner. It cannot simply come about through some extended time sequence by the enactment of a series of regulations and by-laws.
Second, This concept of urban planning is based on mounting scientific evidence that environmental health is an urgent topic of current concern. Robert J. Anderson, Assistant Surgeon General of the United States Department of Health and Welfare made the following statement in an address given at the University of Pennsylvania on November 21, 1962: "We (the Department and Government) are acutely aware that all the interrelated components of the environment 2, as they affect health, must be regarded as a single entity; ....
1 ecology - author's abstraction from Webster's Second Edition. use of this term is to denote mutual relationships among individuals and between them and their environment; or the mutual iterrelatonships of all individuals and environmental phenomena.
2 environment - Webster - "The aggregate of social and cultural conditions - as customs, laws, language, religion, and economic and political organization - which influence the life of an individual or a community."
I hardly need emphasize that in today's complex world a comprehensive approach is an absolute requirement in all health planning."
Third, the basis of an ecological approach must be rooted in a thorough investigation and understanding of all the existing factors and processes which have relevance to the formation of the physical environment and to environmental health.
In the light of these considerations, the material presented in this report was organized in the following manner:
The first two chapters define the nature, and the importance, of the proposed ecological approach to planning; and furthermore, analyze in general terms those factors and processes which have shaped the urban environment in the past, and those which are likely to have the greatest impact on the development of urban areas in the future.
Chapters three and four concern themselves with the local situation and discuss, respectively, Winnipeg as a regional centre, and the central area as a unique element of the entire metropolitan area. In both instances the potential for future development is determined by the analysis o past and present urban form determinants.
The conclusions in Chapter five are an attempt to define and describe in some detail the major new considerations which must underly any planning action in the future, and the various types of legislation which must be considered in order to transform these new comprehensive planning concepts into reality. Some of these conclusions are intended primarily to correct certain imbalances which have resulted from the historic situation and which have failed to anticipate the future. Others are intended to serve as guidelines for future urban development in the light of accelerating urban complexity and change.
In the last chapter, certain conclusions are elaborated upon, and their intended cumulative effects on the development of the central area are discussed in greater detail.
This study does not conclude with a series of "images" of what the metropolitan area, or the core, might look like.. The primary intent of the study is not to offer solutions, but to propose a new attitude and approach t the future planning and development of Winnipeg.
At present Winnipeg is experiencing an important transformation from prairie city to a modern metropolis. Larger cities of the world which have undergone or are experiencing similar transformations offer alarming examples of our future if proper measures are not undertaken immediately.
A "Metropolitan Area" is an emerging form of human settlement brought about during the first half of the twentieth century as a direct result of the industrial revolution. Industrialization gave birth to a specialization of labour which in turn resulted in forcing workers of many skills and different agencies into close proximity so as to facilitate exchange of goods and services. This dual condition of specialization and co-operation initiated the migration from country to city. The urban growth began slowly until the fruits of technology began to be applied to urban life itself.
During the time between the beginning of the industrial revolution and the development of communications and mechanical transportation, all types of buildings -- factories, commercial, residential, and office became crowded together , covering every square foot of land. The invention of the streetcar, the elevator, the telephone and the automobile gave birth to the modern metropolis and the old city began to disappear.
The conditions which gave form to the cities of that period are gone but the institutions, street patters, structures, and, most important, the ideas are still with us. Do we not, for example, still think in terms of city or country?
The migration from country to city continues today, and the metropolitan areas are simultaneously affected by an increasing decentralization. These two phenomena and their interaction are the primary forces which are producing the metropolis.
The understanding o the nature f the metropolitan area and its unique qualities is a prerequisite to the planning for its growth and the building of an environment which satisfied the needs of the inhabitants and provides for a full and rich life. It follows, too, that the by-laws and regulations created prior to the emergence of the metropolitan area need to be re-examined and perhaps transformed or re-written to satisfy contemporary conditions.
There appear to be, then, several questions which must be answered in order to formulate policies and regulations responsive to the metropolitan situation: how is the metropolitan area different from the city? How are future changes to occur? and Wat are the determinates of urban form? Answers to the first question will show what changes have occurred in the transformation of urban communities. The answers to the second question will offer the basis for wise decisions and actions. The answers to the third question will furnish seeds from which can spring concepts of what must be done to formulate dynamic responsive policies and regulations.
A recent article in Scientific American by Hans Blumenfeld (1965) explains how the metropolitan area differs fro the traditional city. In contrast to the smaller city the metropolis is unique in its ability to provide complex and efficient transportation and communication facilities, large inventories and specialized business and consumer services. The financial, legal, technical and promotional services, essential to modern business can exist only in the central area of a metropolis and are the chief sources of its economic strength. The large department stores, specialty shops, entertainment, various cultural facilities, and specialized educational and medical institutions offer a parallel advantage to consumers.
The migration of people to urban areas has resulted in greatly increased resident population in the metropolitan areas. The rapid development of communications and transportation has allowed these people to travel greater distances to their employment. The results have been the decentralization of urban functions and the functional division of work and residential areas. The greater mobility has further resulted in a greater choice of jobs and occupations for workers and in the greater availability of a variety of skilled and unskilled workers for metropolitan area employers.
The division of place of residence and work has resulted in a new kind of habitation, neither urban nor rural but rather a mixture of urban districts and open areas. What, then, are the important forces which are in some way determining the form which the metropolis takes?
The expanding population, reinforced, as we have seen, by the rural migration to urban areas is a primary factor in determining the form of a metropolis. An expanding population pre-determines and assures continuing growth. It is implicit that change is allied to growth. Any realistic responsive planning actions can occur only as part of a systematic pattern of actions based on the factual growth data.
"The patterns of bettering life and its environment are not separate ones, as political and other mechanically educated minds constantly think, and as religious ones have also too much come to believe ... It is at bottom an experimental problem, that of starting a re-adaptation."
These prophetic words of Patrick Geddes, written in 1905, are today more relevant than ever.
Sociologists who base their projections of future urban expansion on forces now at work will inevitably arrive at megalopolis. 1 Much current thought about the future urban community tends to spring from contemporary ideological thought about the nature and destiny of man. The contrived mechanized, standardized proposals which inevitably follow would direct our technology to providing ingenious mechanical substitutes -- which are, incidentally, controllable and profitable -- for man's historically most fundamental relationship to the earth, the air, the water, the flora and fauna.
The visible changes evident in the growing metropolis are probably suggestive of a greater degree of social change than is real. Close examination of the various zones of suburbia will show, however, that middle class North Americans tend to carry their style of life with them. There are no doubt differences in superficial aspects of culture, in the traditional symbols of class, nationality and ethnic groups. The transition from
1 Megalopolis: a vast metropolitan agglomeration, such as the Eastern Seabord of the United States, between Boston and Washington.