Lethbridge Integrated Growth Management Strategy

Client The City of Lethbridge
Location Lethbridge | Alberta | Canada

The City of Lethbridge is at a critical juncture in terms of its future size, urban form and character. The City is looking to direct development  opportunities in a manner that truly builds the economy, promotes long-term job growth, and enhances this City’s already outstanding quality of life, knowing that the form and sequence in which growth occurs will significantly affect the sustainability of the City.

The Lethbridge Integrated Growth Management Strategy (IGMS) was envisioned to provide a strategic understanding of long term growth patterns and a grounded, rational starting point for the anticipated update to the City and County Intermunicipal Development Plan (IDP).

O2, with MMM Group, was retained to develop the IGMS using a GeoDesign approach to systematically integrate consideration of all spatial issues. 

A series of analyses, including a market demand analysis, the identification of defensive (landscape vulnerability) and offensive (development suitability) spatial planning strategies, and transportation and servicing capacities were used to iteratively develop an optimized, 100 year planning scenario. The scenario accommodated projected population and employment demand while maximizing the efficiency of infrastructure investments and minimizing land use and environmental impacts. This scenario was used to make a series of jurisdictionally neutral planning sequencing recommendations.