Quote:
Originally Posted by someone123
There is a new wilderness park only a few kilometres from downtown Halifax, on the mainland side of the Northwest Arm:
It's a mix of rocky barrens, lakes, and more forested areas.
I'm actually kind of mixed on these because I feel like they sometimes enrcourage leapfrog sprawl. People try to get parks created in their backyard whenever possible. This is okay if an area is special but if not the net effect is more or less just longer travel times. This park seems worthwhile, although it would be nice if there were a pedestrian/cycling bridge over the Northwest Arm to make it more accessible.
https://keephalifaxwild.ca/ |
Awesome wilderness park! I find parks such as that nicer looking than more formal ones.
In terms of it causing leapfrog sprawl the problem is not the wilderness area but how we build our "sprawl". Any kind of natural land feature is going to have a leapfrog effect. The solution is not to avoid creating wilderness areas but rather to design the sprawl better so it is not a dirty word. If we can build sustainable communities that are walkable, smart well placed transit, well planned regional road networks and smart land use then the sprawl wouldn't be looked at in such a bad light. Tie these communities in with wilderness areas and you create a well functioning city and the ecosystem within it. It's no secret that tress and nature make people happier and increase quality of life for all (people, plants, animals). Really they are invaluable
Now unfortunately, just looking at Halifax on Google Maps, it seems to have terrible sprawl. Winding roads that to lead to nowhere, looks like very little regional planning, just haphazard in general. I can see what you are saying but again this is a failure at the planning level rather than a problem created but a wilderness areas. Smaller or less wilderness would just lead to more winding roads to nowhere that happen to be slightly closer to downtown.