Plan? Winnipeg?

One day Manitoba Hydro is helping rebuild the downtown with its new headquarters, the next it is planning to gut buildings in the Exchange District for an electricity substation. Then, amidst howls of protest, it changes its mind.

There's no collective consciousness about what our priorities are. IKEA wants to come to Winnipeg and build on a site designated industrial by our planning authorities. No problem. Improved roads are needed. Sure. Go ahead.

It's not that I'm complaining about IKEA. With all the shopping development that has already gone on along Kenaston Boulevard, the site at Sterling Lyon Boulevard looks like a great fit. Nor as an advocate for the downtown do I object. IKEA is the quintessential supplier of urban furniture for downtown dwellers of small condos. You can't get more urban than IKEA. On the other hand, you can't build an IKEA downtown.

The IKEA concept needs a big parking lot, access to highways and, in most cities, access to public transit because in other cities many of the people who shop there don't own cars.

What I'm complaining about is that the city never seems to anticipate development, it always plays catch-up. Maybe that's about to change.

The mayor wants to rework Plan Winnipeg, the basic blueprint for the city. It's a thoroughly good idea and a great opportunity. First introduced with the amalgamation of city in 1972, Plan Winnipeg has been updated many times, but the plan itself often seems more of a curiosity than a working document.

A new plan, however, cannot be drawn up in isolation. It's great that Mayor Sam Katz has also promised to set up a new transportation authority because a plan for the city needs to go hand-in-hand with proposals for how to move its citizens from one place to another.

But more is needed. Consultations and seminars are fine. Mayor Katz understands the need for public input to make Winnipeg a better place. It's just that we have been down this route several times already without coherent objectives emerging.

Academic Richard Florida, author of The Rise of the Creative Class, gave a stirring speech at a conference organized by former mayor Glen Murray. Mayor Katz has already had a conference on the future of the city and there were many more in earlier years. But still our contradictions continue.

As a city, we don't seem to know what we want -- whether in the downtown, development trumps heritage or heritage trumps development or even whether the downtown itself is truly a priority.

There's not even a consensus about how what we want the downtown to be. Is it a pedestrian-friendly place to live and work or a corridor for cars to get through as fast as possible? The barriers at Portage and Main argue one way. Waterfront Drive and the redevelopment of Market Square point another. Development of the downtown, like most of the rest of Winnipeg, is a mish-mash without true direction.

We pay lip service to wanting some sort of rapid transit, but it is always car transportation that wins out. We say we want a green city, but our waste recycling is among the worst in the country. We have fewer bicycle trails and fewer taxi-cabs than other cities with a bus service that tries hard, but is inadequate for most people's needs.

What the city lacks is an overall plan that brings together transit, parking, suburban and downtown development in a precise but flexible document that recognizes the unique challenges we face (it's really cold) and charts an integrated course into an energy-restricted future.

If, as a city, we want to plan for less car use then we have to integrate that idea into all planning decisions: where we build houses, shops, schools and factories. At the moment, one thing rarely seems to have much to do with another. A new Plan Winnipeg should change that. It should preserve where possible, demolish when necessary and build in a way that enhances neighbourhoods. If Winnipeg were clear about its future, Manitoba Hydro would never even have thought of building a sub-station in the Exchange District.

Consultations are fine. But they work best when they are in response to proposals. The mayor and council need to work on priorities and a vision so that we all have something to discuss.

Nicholas Hirst is CEO of Winnipeg-based television and film producer Original Pictures Inc.

Republished from the Winnipeg Free Press print edition February 5, 2009 A13