A North-west Calgary Snapshot

I spent the first part of April in Calgary, helping family with the arrival of new twin babies. It was an intense, rich time.

During breaks from babies I explored a few of the north-west's inner-city neighbourhoods. This post is a few random snapshots of things I noticed, especially around sustainability. 

Trees

One of the things I appreciated was the magnificent decades-old spruce trees in the old neighbourhoods, and in parks. There are a couple of different species of spruce which grow in Calgary; I saw many which are healthy, despite the heat and drought of recent summers. 

Calgarians know that the City's climate is challenging for gardeners: its elevation of over 1,000 metres (it's actually over 3,500 feet) above sea level is one factor. Then there are the dry chinook winds which blow in winter. And finally, Calgary's location in the dry foothills adds to its gardening challenges. Once trees are established though, they create their own micro-climate. I enjoyed seeing so many thriving in the city.

A healthy tree in a park in north Calgary.

This row of large spruces in a park along the Bow River breaks the wind and helps the bench be an attractive place to catch some sun.

These trees were retained during the construction of the houses behind them. Hopefully they will survive the stress of construction.

I was happy to find occasional houses which had opted for natural landscaping over grassy expanses.

A house landscaped with multiple trees, and decorative red poles to demarcate its boundaries.

My final observation about trees is a note about replanting, which I saw in some parks. These are new trees planted in Confederation Park, in northwest Calgary.

Conifers planted in Confederation Park.

Transportation

I enjoyed discovering ways that Calgary is developing to leave a more sustainable footprint.

Calgary's C-train has expanded in multi-directions. While it was later than Edmonton getting started on construction, it now has more km of LRT than Edmonton (60 km in Calgary compared to 24 km in Edmonton). Edmonton chose to do more tunnelling with its LRT system, which was expensive and slow; Calgary's system has more at-grade lines, as the photo shows.

I encountered numbers of the rental e-scooters like those in the photo below in various places in northwest Calgary. Outside North Hill Shopping Centre, I saw a young woman walk up to a scooter, palm her phone for a brief moment, put on the helmet, and scoot off, all within less than a minute. 

Electric scooters lined up for rent in West Hillhurst. 

Bicycle and pedestrian path slung underneath Crowchild Trail

River valley paths are one of Calgary's assets.

The city is gradually creating cycling paths along roadways. This path on 24th avenue NW has been created by widening the sidewalk and elevating the cycle path.

The 24th Ave bike path from a different angle

Even though I saw few bicycles on the streets, here is proof that they are in fact being used!

Land Use

In the neighbourhoods I explored, I saw evidence of some gradual mixed uses being introduced to the edges of communities.

Some commercial development has been built in this community, along one of the neighbourhood collector streets. These are mostly offices, and busineses with limited daily traffic. Businesses like pharmacies and grocery stores are hard to find in these communities.

Energy

Solar panels make sense in sunny Alberta. My brother has installed solar panels (this is not his house) and tells me even in winter there are days he is able to distribute back to the grid. I had thought I would see more installations like this; hopefully, with federal incentives, more Calgarians will take up the opportunity.

Landscape Restoration

Twenty years ago I was involved in education about the importance of shorelines, and the need to protect and restore streambanks. I was glad to see that some action is happening in some of the degraded areas along the Bow River.

The fenced restoration area is in the foreground, with the river and the iconic Calgary downtown skyline in the background.

Food Sustainability

Raised vegetable beds in a south-facing front yard.

I was intrigued by Capitol Hill school which has embarked on a program to naturalize its grounds with native plants, and go pesticide-free.

Sign in at Capitol Hill School in Northwest Calgary.

As part of the native plant program, a committee of parents and community members has built a geodesic dome on the school grounds, to help students learn year-round about planting and growing. 

Geodesic dome at Capitol Hill School. The dome was built by volunteers (parents and community members) to help students learn year-round about planting in a greenhouse setting.

Pedestrians

Sustainability also involves priorizing other modes of transport over vehicles.

Traffic is being diverted from cutting through some neighbourhoods, in favor of pedestrian and cycling.

In this neighbourhood, the road was blocked off to prevent shortcutting through the neighbourhood. I was intrigued to see the basketball hoop on the right, and the goal net on the left, both evidence of how the street is now used by youth from the neighbourhood.

Many neighbourhoods lack the kind of pedestrian walkway shown here. This one is in Rosemont and is an essential for pedestrians in neighbourhoods where the curvilinear design of streets makes efficient walking between departure point and destination an extra long journey.

Pedestrians are gradually being supported with pathways and "people places". Here are a couple I discovered.

Outside the Safeway store in Kensington. The trees and shrubbery on the left add to the ambience of this space

I walked past this little library several times, and there was usually someone browsing the books within.

Diversity

My explorations of Calgary were limited to a few neighbourhoods in the northwest inner city - West Hillhurst, Houndsfield Heights / Briar Hill, Capitol Hill, Sunnyside, Hillhurst, and Rosemont. 

I was pleasantly surprised to find little touches that reflected a more diverse city from when I grew up there decades ago -- in the art on the streets, the mixing of land uses, and the art that people showed on their properties. Here are a few examples.

A pleasant sitting space outside a commercial buidling in a residential area

A (private) front yard sitting space in West Hillhurst

A community firepit in the Gladstone Pocket Park of Hillhurst

Another community firepit, this one in Houndsfield Heights

A colourful installation outside a bookstore in Kensington

There are not so many beaches in southern Alberta; I liked the funky appeal of this fence decoration.

A sign in a front yard in West Hillhurst. I liked the loving kindness the sign expresses.

Seen on an electrical box near Kensington. Quoting Tommy Douglas in conservative Alberta!

Art in a park in Capitol Hill

A bike rack designed with a mountain theme

The mountain theme is reflected in this mural on this Ski West shop

My brief time in northwest Calgary showed me some hopeful signs of changes to a more sustainable Calgary from what I remembered from the years I lived there. 

Opportunities for Sustainability

There are many opportunities for more changes. Calgary is still a car-dependent city. My relatives who arrived six months ago from the UK would prefer to live a car-free life; it has been a challenge for them to make this happen, even in an inner city neighbourhood like West Hillhurst. Even something as simple as going to the corner grocery store to pick up a few supplies is not easy unless one owns a car.

Calgary's residential streets are super-wide. I paced this one to be roughly 14 paces wide. My steps are long, so I take this to mean close to 14 metres wide. This is much wider than the current approach calls for. There are opportunities for other uses in these streets. And, the neighbourhoods also have back lanes!

Extracted from Calgary's Residential Street Design policy, 2012. Street widths are 9 metres from sidewalk to sidewalk, much narrower than the West Hillhurst streets I paced out.

A typical back alley in Calgary. Again, I see underutilized space. 

Calgary has opportunities to densify in the communities I explored, and opportunities to examine other uses for roadways and back alleys. A more sustainable footprint means more small scale increases in density, and more mixed use development, than I saw in my community wanderings.

Redevelopment of single family lots in West Hillhurst has often been with new large single family houses, rather than duplexes or triplexes.

This proposed new development in West Hillhurst (19th street and Kensington Rd) will add density (266 units in an 8 storey building), and will also generate commercial development (including a much needed grocery store). The planning model Calgary is using seems to be one of "protecting" single family communities, and adding density along busier streets.

As I wandered the streets of the inner city in northwest Calgary, I saw glimmers of hope for more sustainable planning and community development.