Section 01
Site is the first and least reproducible attribute
A top-of-bank position over the North Saskatchewan, a ravine frontage, an oversized mature-area lot with a preserved canopy — these cannot be built. There is a fixed supply of them and no mechanism to create more.
This is why the atlas is organised by setting. It is the attribute that survives every renovation and every change in taste.
Section 02
Land dimension and geometry
Frontage, depth, orientation and the relationship to lane and street determine what a house can be, how private it feels and what can be added later.
Two properties of equal floor area on lots of different geometry are not comparable products, though a price filter will present them as though they were.
Section 04
Construction quality in this climate
Edmonton's temperature range punishes shortcuts. Envelope continuity, window specification, ventilation and mechanical design determine whether a house is comfortable in January and July.
These attributes are invisible in photographs and are precisely where genuine quality separates itself.
Section 05
Privacy and the experience of arrival
Setback, screening, entry sequence, garage arrangement and the position of neighbouring windows shape daily experience more than any single interior feature.
Buyers consistently report that privacy is what they miss when they compromise on it.
Section 06
What this definition deliberately excludes
It excludes neighbourhood-wide claims: no Edmonton neighbourhood is uniformly luxury. It excludes rankings and awards, which this atlas does not publish. It excludes price thresholds.
A large new house on a small lot in a new district may be expensive without being scarce; a modest house on an irreplaceable site may be the opposite.