Modernism in Land-Use Planning
A major influence on land development patterns was the decision by Saanich Municipality in 1963 to relocate its Municipal Hall to its urban edge. Saanich had not adopted any formal zoning bylaws until 1939 when it began to recognize its emerging bedroom community status. By then, it had become clear that if its rural identity was to be maintained, some attempt at rural conservation would have to be undertaken. The municipal hall relocation was therefore done in conjunction with the adoption of a set of planning principals heavily influenced by the Progressive schools of urban design, their main objective being the containment of urban sprawl. The elder statesman of the Progressive movement was the Swiss-French architect Le Corbusier whose Ville Radius, a 1920s conceptual project, gained popularity in North America during the 1950s and 60s. The essence of radial planning was the preservation of open (agricultural) greens spaces by creating very high density population nodes (skyscapers on stilts) linked by linear communication conduits (for vehicular express ways, electrical, sewage and water services, etc). The subsequent planning process in Saanich has been dominated by repeated attempts to preserve rural character, define urban containment boundaries, identify nodes for commercial or residential densification, and provide connectors through and between these elements. The recent development history of Saanich, and indeed the entire Peninsula has therefore been very much tied to the increasing sophistication of land management tools such as the provincial act to establish the Agricultural Land Reserve, development cost charges to feed landbanking and parks acquisition funds, and partnerships with ammenity agencies such as the Provincial Capital Commission. The decision by Saanich therefore to locate its modernistic Le Corbusier inspired Municipal Hall, facing a nature sanctuary (the front line of green belt on the "radieuse") almost inaccessible to pedestrians, and with its back to a proposed shopping centre (since built) was appropriately symbolic. Symbol also must have been paramount in the plan for two adjacent twenty storey landmark apartment towers (not built) intended to supply a distinct nucleus population and gateway marking the transition from Victoria to Saanich. Although Le Corbusier's idealized image of tower block nodes dotting the verdent landscape has not materialized for Saanich, in fact pockets of medium density tied to commercial or institutional uses have become a recognizable feature at Royal Oak, Camosun's Interurban Campus, Broadmead and University Heights. The University of Victoria might be seen as an garden version of the Ville Radieuse reconfigured for the industries of academe.
Other Urban Planning Projects:
