Winnipeg, Canada
City population: 663615
Duration: unknown – unknown
Implementation status: Completed
Scale: Micro-scale: District/neighbourhood level
Project area: 20000 m2
Type of area: Residential, Public Greenspace Area
Last updated: June 2024

Assiniboine Landing is a 21 ha housing development to raise the bar for environmental responsibility and evolve the landscaping practices in local communities, particularly regarding stormwater runoff and retention, and parklands. It is one of the neighbourhood communities developed by Qualico Communities in cooperation with Native Plant Solutions, a branch of Ducks Unlimited Canada. The project resulted in integrated systems of native grasses, shoreline vegetation and wetlands, creating communities conducive to the cycles of nature and offering stunning natural landscapes for residents to enjoy (1,5,6,7)

Assiniboine Landing
Assiniboine Landing
Source: https://www.nativeplantsolutions.ca/our-work/assiniboine-landing/

Overview

Nature-based solution

  • Blue infrastructure
  • Lakes/ponds
  • In-land wetlands, peatlands, swamps, and moors
  • Green areas for water management
  • Rain gardens

Key challenges

  • Green space, habitats and biodiversity (SDG 15)
  • Green space creation and/or management
  • Regeneration, land-use and urban development
  • Promote natural styles of landscape design for urban development
  • Water management (SDG 6)
  • Flood protection
  • Stormwater and rainfall management and storage
  • Improvements to water quality

Focus

Creation of new green areas, Management and improved protection of rivers and other blue areas

Project objectives

1. Evolve the landscape of the community neighbourhood primarily for environmental and social aspects (1) 2. Creation of a naturalized stormwater system in the area that improves the stormwater runoff and retention capacity of the neighbourhood including parklands using natural plant solutions. (1) 3. Improve the water quality of the wetland and connected retention ponds (1,8) 4. Landscaping using native plant species beneficial for water purification and increasing the area's water retention capacity (1,8)

Implementation activities

- Plantation of tall grass species in public reserve areas at the front entrance of Assiniboine Landing and around the two stormwater retention ponds that were constructed by NPS at the beginning of the development. - Creation of shorter mid-growth planting (130-900 m2) in each of the yards. This included the plantation of a 10 foot buffer of native grasses along the boulevard along each front yard and the plantation of an 80-90 foot buffer for the backyards if they backed on to the river, or a 10-30 foot buffer if they backed on to public reserve area (8) - Construction of trails in the neighbourhood using permeable limestone that is designed to manage the water that runs off above and below ground into the lowlands (1)

Main beneficiaries

  • Private sector/Corporate/Company
  • Citizens or community groups

Governance

Management set-up

  • Led by non-government actors

Type of initiating organisation

  • Private sector/corporate actor/company

Participatory approaches/ community involvement

  • Unknown

Details on the roles of the organisations involved in the project

The landscaping of the Assiniboine Landing neighbourhood area using natural plant solutions and naturalized stormwater systems was initiated by the Qualico Communities Winnipeg real estate developer who reached out to Nature Plant Solutions, a branch of Ducks Unlimited Canada to provide science-based solutions for wetland and upland ecosystems in the area and carry out the landscape development (1,2)

Project implemented in response to ...

... an EU policy or strategy? No
... a national policy or strategy? Unknown
... a local policy or strategy? Unknown

Financing

Total cost

Unknown

Source(s) of funding

  • Corporate investment

Type of funding

  • Unknown

Non-financial contribution

No

Impacts and Monitoring

Environmental impacts

  • Climate change
  • Strengthened capacity to address climate hazards/natural disasters
  • Environmental quality
  • Improved air quality
  • Water management and blue areas
  • Improved water quality
  • Improved stormwater management
  • Enhanced protection and restoration of freshwater ecosystems
  • Green space and habitat
  • Promotion of naturalistic styles of landscape design for urban development
  • Increased green space area
  • Increased number of species present
  • Increased spread of native/heirloom/open-pollinated seed

Economic impacts

  • Reduce financial cost for urban management

Socio-cultural impacts

  • Education
  • Increased awareness of NBS and their benefits

Type of reported impacts

Achieved impacts

Presence of formal monitoring system

Yes

Presence of indicators used in reporting

No evidence in public records

Presence of monitoring/ evaluation reports

No evidence in public records

Availability of a web-based monitoring tool

No evidence in public records

References

1. Native Plant Solutions. n.a. Native Grasses and Wetlands in Your Neighbourhood. Accessed on July 26, 2021.
2. Interview transcript with Native Plant Solutions. 2018. Accessed on July 26, 2021.
3. Native Plant Solutions. n.a. Naturalized Stormwater Systems. Native Plant Solutions, Accessed on July 26, 2021.
4. Native Plant Solutions. n.a. Assiniboine Landing. Native Plant Solutions, Accessed on July 26, 2021. Source link
5. Native Plant Solutions. n.a. Native Grassland. Native Plant Solutions, Accessed on July 26, 2021.
6. Qualico Communities Winnipeg. n.a. Building Success. Qualico Communities Winnipeg. Accessed on July 26, 2021. Source link
7. Qualico Communities Winnipeg. n.a. Native Plants and Grasses. Qualico Communities Winnipeg. Accessed on July 26, 2021. Source link
8. Qualico Communities Winnipeg. n.a. Naturalized Wetlands. Qualico Communities Winnipeg. Accessed on July 26, 2021. Source link
Assiniboine Landing
Source: https://www.nativeplantsolutions.ca/our-work/assiniboine-landing/
Assiniboine Landing
Source: https://www.nativeplantsolutions.ca/our-work/assiniboine-landing/