Under the Municipal Government Act (MGA), municipalities are responsible for land use planning and development decisions. Because the MGA provides municipalities with significant autonomy, approaches to urban design, built form, and architectural quality vary widely across Alberta.
Many municipalities, particularly small and mid-sized communities, face capacity constraints in developing and implementing consistent, design guidance within their planning frameworks.
Municipal Affairs is advancing the Beautiful Communities Initiative to support the development of safe, affordable, attractive, livable, and family-friendly communities, in an effort to address:
- a lack of standardized community design codes; and
- limited municipal capacity to develop and maintain comprehensive design guidance.
With this Beautiful Communities Initiative, Municipal Affairs aims to develop two (2) community design codes:
- Alberta Urban Development Code (AUDC)
- Alberta Heritage Architectural Code (AHAC)
These codes are intended to provide practical, clear, and implementable standards and design guidance for municipalities. The codes will need to consider potential impacts on housing affordability, administrative requirements, and development processes. The codes are intended to support greater clarity, consistency, and predictability in planning and development, while minimizing unnecessary regulatory burden.
Municipalities may voluntarily choose to adopt all or portions of these codes to meet local needs. Where adopted, the codes are intended to support more efficient approvals, reduce ambiguity, and improve overall development outcomes through clearer standards and more predictable outcomes.
Municipal Affairs is issuing this Request for Proposals to retain a consultant to develop two (2) community design codes that improve the quality, consistency, and usability of development guidance across Alberta municipalities.
