While much effort has been put into creating a cohesive identity for the Edmonton metropolitan region, something important will be lost if the municipalities around the big city lose themselves, says Murtaza Haider, executive director of the Cities Institute at the University of Alberta. "What we have to do is build this sense of identity for smaller towns where people can say, 'Yeah, I live in Leduc, I'm not in Edmonton, that's perfectly fine,'" he told Taproot. "But that kind of only develops when you have a city with a heart, with a purpose, and with things to do other than sleep and work."
Haider's comments built on his address to St. Albert's Business Breakfast in April. St. Albert is no longer a suburb but an "edge city," he said. Now it needs to capitalize on its assets to develop "a durable, distinctive economic identity before the growth wave arrives." His playbook includes ensuring that housing and employment co-exist; treating industrial zones as economic engines, not eyesores; elevating schools to attract families; and considering transit between St. Albert and Edmonton as a multiplier, not a cost.
Haider noted that a streetcar once ran from St. Albert to Edmonton. "I think what we need to do is to find a way to revive these streetcar routes from downtown Edmonton all over and create that hub-and-spoke system so that we can have a connectivity that is regional," he said on Taproot Exchange, a live-streamed conversation for Taproot members. That involves getting many governments on board, however, and not everyone is enthusiastic. Coun. Erin Rutherford has asked for a memo outlining alternatives to continuing to build the Metro LRT line up to St. Albert, citing prohibitive costs and unacceptable delays in improving transit for people in her Ward Anirniq in Edmonton's northwest.