Growing Close to Home: Creating Complete Rural Communities

This report identifies and details the challenges and opportunities rural municipalities have when attempting to make their communities more livable. Supporting the development of complete communities, including settlement areas within rural municipalities, is a core objective in the Greenbelt Plan. 

A complete community is one that meets people’s needs for daily living throughout their entire life and offers: 

• A full range of jobs 
• Retail and services 
• Housing options
• Transportation options 
• Public service facilities

Rural municipalities can experience challenges building complete communities because of lower population densities and more limited resources. Expanding housing and transportation options, in ways useful to the local populations, are some of the most impactful ways to create livable rural communities. It is imperative for these communities experiencing growth to build within existing settlement areas, prevent development from further fragmenting the surrounding prime agricultural lands and natural features.