Strathcona

The city of Strathcona County, within Alberta or the "County" for short is classified by the government of the province as a specialized municipality.

The municipality is considered part of the Census Metropolitan Area of Edmonton. Much of the population lives within the community of Sherwood Park, which is located just east of Edmonton. The Urban Service Area of Sherwood Park is known as the equivalent to a city by the Government of Alberta. The rest of Strathcona County is a Rural Service Area and is treated as a municipal district.

The creation of Strathcona as a specialized town dates back to the year 1996 when they needed to address the mixed rural/urban requirements of the region situated between Edmonton City and Elk Island National Park. The area includes a huge urban centre and a significant rural territory. The rural area includes eight hamlets: Antler Lake, Ardrossan, Collingwood Cove, Half Moon Lake, Hastings Lake, Josephburg, South Cooking Lake and North Cooking Lake.

The area of Strathcona was originally part of the North West Territories. By the year 1962, several school divisions amalgamated to become a county, Municipal District 83. County status was withdrawn in 1995 when the provincial legislature repealed the County Act, but status was rapidly given back the next year when the county changed its name officially to the County of Strathcona and received Specialized Municipality status.

To be able to complement the community of Sherwood Park, the County of Strathcona wants to create a new urban settlement on County agricultural land. This new proposal estimates that a population of 200,000 can be supported. The proposed development will be pedestrian friendly and dense, but it would considerably effect land of high agricultural worth, and has been criticized as an urban sprawl example.