Despite its booming growth and the recent announcement of a world-class office tower, downtown Calgary is suffering from a lack of human-scale planning, writes Lisa Rochon.
"Walk around [downtown] Calgary -- dare to abandon your car -- in order to appreciate how mean the streets have become. The city is defined by urban parsimony.
Instead of parks or courtyards designed to allow people to bask in the big Alberta sun, there is a formidable system of one-way streets and towers that come down hard to the edge of the street. It's no wonder only 30,000 people call centre city their home. Since the 1960s, the above-ground system of walkways that connects buildings in the downtown has further undermined the basic fact that any dynamic city requires foot traffic at street level.
...The centre city communities accounted for almost half of all personal and property crimes in Calgary, compared with 23 per cent of Toronto's total crimes that are committed in its downtown. In an oil-rich city like Calgary with a young population of highly educated, hard-working engineers, there isn't a lot of time or interest for those who are left behind. There were 2,597 homeless people enumerated in 2004 by the city-sponsored count of homeless persons. Sweeping the homeless into shelters -- there are 43 such facilities in the downtown -- is hardly the answer.
In boom time, the tendency is for Calgary to go on automatic pilot and build towers. In order to accommodate a flood of people wanting to work and live in the downtown, the projection is for more than 100 30-storey condominium towers and about 20 new 30-storey office towers by 2025. But too many towers will further depersonalize the city centre. Without credible alternatives to the suburbs, such as low-scale dev elopments animated by new public space, cafés andretail, Calgary's downtown will die a slow, heart-stopping death."
FULL STORY: Time to get tough on Cowtown

Maui's Vacation Rental Debate Turns Ugly
Verbal attacks, misinformation campaigns and fistfights plague a high-stakes debate to convert thousands of vacation rentals into long-term housing.

Planetizen Federal Action Tracker
A weekly monitor of how Trump’s orders and actions are impacting planners and planning in America.

In Urban Planning, AI Prompting Could be the New Design Thinking
Creativity has long been key to great urban design. What if we see AI as our new creative partner?

Portland Raises Parking Fees to Pay for Street Maintenance
The city is struggling to bridge a massive budget gap at the Bureau of Transportation, which largely depleted its reserves during the Civd-19 pandemic.

Spokane Mayor Introduces Housing Reforms Package
Mayor Lisa Brown’s proposals include deferring or waiving some development fees to encourage more affordable housing development.

Houston Mayor Kills Another Bike Lane
The mayor rejected a proposed bike lane in the Montrose district in keeping with his pledge to maintain car lanes.
Urban Design for Planners 1: Software Tools
This six-course series explores essential urban design concepts using open source software and equips planners with the tools they need to participate fully in the urban design process.
Planning for Universal Design
Learn the tools for implementing Universal Design in planning regulations.
Gallatin County Department of Planning & Community Development
Heyer Gruel & Associates PA
JM Goldson LLC
City of Camden Redevelopment Agency
City of Astoria
Transportation Research & Education Center (TREC) at Portland State University
Jefferson Parish Government
Camden Redevelopment Agency
City of Claremont