Surging oil wealth, a huge provincial surplus, and a booming real estate market make Calgary the new "centre of the universe" in Canada.
"The city boasts the highest GDP per capita in the country. In its concentration of corporate head offices, Calgary is second only to Toronto. Office space runs at the national high, fetching more than $40 a square foot in the most desirable buildings -- when it can be found. Last year, rents soared 49 per cent. Yellow cranes hover over the downtown cityscape...[s]ome 19.5 million square feet of real estate is currently under construction or being marketed, 6.7 million square feet of it downtown.
The residential housing market is also aflame. Resale house prices rose more than 18 per cent in February over the previous year, three times the national average. Ten years ago, the sale of a million-dollar house was rare. Now it's commonplace.
With no sales tax and a flat provincial tax, Alberta, with zero debt and a budget surplus of more than $10 billion, has become a wealth magnet."
Read the full story: Swingin' Calgary
Planetizen Federal Action Tracker
A weekly monitor of how Trump’s orders and actions are impacting planners and planning in America.
Amtrak, CN end decades-long dispute with eight-year agreement
The new operating agreement establishes an updated framework for the companies to work together, including processes to resolve disputes.
Northwest rail fans eager for Sept. 30 debut of Amtrak’s Airo fleet
Get ready for that new train smell and more seats. But they won’t go faster or run more frequently on the Cascades route in Washington and Oregon.
St. Louis Metro to test if single-car trains can reduce operating costs, maintain rider satisfaction
The pilot program will run from October to spring 2027, and begin with one single-car train operating on Metrolink’s Red and Blue lines.
Pennsylvania is building data centers in abandoned mines
Housing data centers in mines provides an alternative to destroying local forests and may spare residents from data centers’ noise and air pollution.
If Corpus Christi can’t revive desalination plant project, it may owe Texas $235 million
Earlier this month, city officials declined to pursue developing the plant for the second time in a year.
FREE Course: Walkable City 1: Why Walkability?
After describing his path towards focusing on walkability as the essence of good planning, Jeff Speck marches through his five principal reasons for making more walkable places.
Reinventing Malls: Planning Alchemy—Turning Gray Fields Into Gold
The course focuses on the opportunities and imperatives that shape reinvention of mall sites.
City of Thousand Oaks
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Harvard University Graduate School of Design
The Architects Foundation
University of Cincinnati Online
The Pocatello Development Authority
The Urban Renewal Agency of the City of Pocatello