Building a successful neighbourhood, where young professionals lay down roots, parents raise their kids and seniors age in place, requires more than just an array of dwelling types and sizes. People thrive in complete communities with ready access to schools, childcare, green spaces, recreational centres, libraries, as well as shops, services and eateries located within a short walk or bike ride.
Complete communities can develop organically, over time, or developers can try to purpose build them from the outset with a comprehensive master plan. The master-planning process blends the priorities of real estate stakeholders with the social and environmental needs of community members. “When you think of a building in isolation, you’re compartmentalizing people’s lives,” says Antonio Gómez-Palacio, partner and chair of design firm Dialog. “The real opportunity with master planning is that we can connect the dots between the places where people live, go to school, recreate and shop.”
Until relatively recently, master planning in Calgary was an approach used only in suburban communities on the city’s outskirts, where urban planners and developers have a blank slate to showcase the design trends of the day.
But master planning communities within established areas presents an opportunity to create walkable neighbourhoods with ready access to existing services and amenities inside the existing city footprint. In the mid-’90s and beyond, comprehensive plans drove the creation of smarter, denser suburban neighbourhoods such as McKenzie Towne and West Springs, both of which incorporate New Urbanism principles that prioritize housing density, walkability and a mix of uses and activities.
But they didn’t address urban sprawl. With new communities on the edges of the city, not only do homeowners potentially need to commute more often and for longer, but the whole city needs to pay for extending power and sewer lines as well as longer routes for everything including snow plows, garbage pickup, transit and more.
“We need to flip our urban policies and economic models to incentivize sustainable cities that contribute to more healthy, sustainable lifestyles and benefit the community,” Gómez-Palacio says. “There’s a huge catch-up for us, the policies of the ’50s, ’60s and ’70s need to be updated to get us there.”
Calgary is working to catch up. Over the past couple of decades, there have been increased opportunities to create new master-planned communities inside of city limits. Teresa Goldstein, chief planner and director of community planning at The City of Calgary, says the municipal government is consistently modernizing its planning policies to ensure they aren’t obstacles to redevelopment. Since 2014, The City has rolled out a number of initiatives — including the Main Streets Program and Local Area Plans — to guide incremental redevelopment while revitalizing existing amenities, services and infrastructure in established areas.
“Redevelopment offers the opportunity to add thousands of people and housing choices in areas where the infrastructure already exists,” Goldstein says. “The opportunity for master planning in established areas is to ensure that the community is part of [creating] a vision.”
Redevelopment in established areas remains largely piecemeal — mostly because large swaths of inner-city land don’t come up for sale often. And, without a strong vision, piecemeal redevelopment can overwhelm existing infrastructure, from roads and sewage to garbage collection, and trigger community opposition.
Not long ago, City Council turned down a proposal to revitalize Glenmore Landing, an aging southwest shopping complex located next to a new bus rapid transit (BRT) hub, and create at least 1,800 apartments. Similarly, plans to transform the site of a decommissioned high school into a residential hub in the southwest community of Richmond Knob Hill came to a halt after neighbours launched a lawsuit against The City for approving the construction of more than 1,000 homes on the 11.5-acre parcel.
In cases where master-planned communities have moved forward, they offer a chance to accommodate growth and change in established areas. Here’s a look at five neighbourhoods that demonstrate the advantages of master planning new communities inside the city’s borders.
Garrison Woods
The model for inner-city, master-planned redevelopment.
Developer
Canada Lands Company
Area
175 acres
Dwelling target
1,600
Year started
1997
Progress
100 per cent complete
Calgary’s first master-planned community completed in an established part of the city’s southwest, Garrison Woods provides a solid example not only of the benefits of this redevelopment model, but it also highlights the importance of collaboration among interested parties from the get-go.
Bordered by Altadore, on the eastern part of a decommissioned Canadian Forces Base military site, Garrison Woods now boasts roughly 1,300 dwellings and close to 3,000 residents, according to the 2021 census.
Single-family homes, row houses and green spaces stand side by side along narrow streets, whose tree-shaded sidewalks are designed with the comfort of pedestrians in mind, a key principle of New Urbanism.
In the spring, cherry and crabapple trees bloom across the boulevards and parks that lead to Garrison Woods’ commercial strip, where local shops and restaurants, anchored by a grocery store, cater to the needs of residents.
This didn’t happen by chance, or in isolation. The neighbourhood’s success stems from a vision devised by developer Canada Lands Company, local residents and businesses, City administrators, as well as urban planners, architects and designers, whose collaboration set a high bar for developing complete communities in Calgary’s established areas.
Since the neighbourhood was built out in 2004, Garrison Woods has become a desirable place to live, shop, learn and play. The influx of new residents has also supported the ongoing success of Marda Loop, a vibrant commercial district comprising businesses along 33rd and 34th avenues S.W. And the amenities the development introduced — a grocery store, two parks and several playgrounds — also helped bolster the appeal of adjacent neighbourhoods.
The Bridges in Bridgeland-Riverside
The City’s first foray into transit-oriented development in an established area.
Developer
City of Calgary
Area
36.8 acres
Dwelling target
1,575
Year started
1998
Progress
88.5 per cent complete
On any summer afternoon, Murdoch Park, in Bridgeland-Riverside, is bustling. Families out for a stroll stop by Village Ice Cream for a scrumptious scoop, while youth shoot hoops at the basketball court and children run around the playground. Overlooking the 3.5-acre park where the Calgary General Hospital formerly stood, now sit nine buildings, whose human scale and eclectic façades create a modern, yet charming tableau.
This isn’t a happy coincidence. Roughly 30 years ago, when the hospital was demolished, Bridgeland-Riverside’s vibrancy stymied. The neighbourhood’s population reached an all-time low of 4,403 residents in 1998 — barely enough people to sustain the businesses on 1st Avenue N.E., the area’s main street.
Rather than selling the land to a private developer, City Hall directed the transformation of the roughly 37-acre site into Calgary’s first transit-oriented community in the inner city. Planned to attract new residents, The Bridges today features more than 1,300 apartments and 200 townhomes located in proximity to services and amenities, including the Bridgeland CTrain station and the Bow River Pathway.
More than two decades since residents moved into the first completed building, Bella Citta, the four expansive blocks linking the CTrain station and 1st Avenue N.E. are now effectively connected by a mix of multi-family buildings and retail ground floors, including two built by Bucci Developments.
“We like the master-planned community because it allows us to be inner-city developers with the advantages of greenfield development,” says Mike Bucci, vice-president of Bucci Developments, referring to the ability to build brand-new projects on undeveloped inner-city land. “Everything is laid out and ready for infrastructure, parks, shopping and transit.”
East Village
Breathing new life into a blighted neighbourhood.
Developer
Calgary Municipal Land Corporation
Area
49 acres
Dwelling target
3,500
Year started
2009
Progress
60 per cent complete
East Village is a hip destination to meet up with friends for some shopping, a classy pit stop for after-work drinks or simply a space to relax by the Bow River. And, for more than 4,000 people, East Village is home. They live in new and resale condos suitable for first-time buyers, young families and empty nesters. The iconic Central Library acts as their living room, while the River Walk and the redeveloped St. Patrick’s Island provide a front yard of sorts.
Rather than buying a suburban home, these Calgarians choose to stay in their city’s centre and enjoy the perks of living within walking distance to everything they might need. Less than half of East Village residents drive to work; they walk, wheel, take transit or work from home.
Getting East Village off the ground took several attempts, as it’s made up of an assemblage of land parcels. Eventually, The City cracked the code and, in 2007, launched the Calgary Municipal Land Corporation (CMLC), a wholly owned subsidiary, to lead redevelopment in East Village. To fund the infrastructure required to attract private investment to the area, CMLC implemented Canada’s first community revitalization levy, a financial tool that allows The City to borrow against future tax revenue.
But transforming this seedier area into a complete community required more than a compelling vision concocted by CMLC experts. The collaboration of City administrators, community groups and industry partners has been essential to attract close to $4 billion in private investment, and breathe life back into Calgary’s downtown east end.
“East Village had seen fits and starts for decades,” says Kate Thompson, president and CEO of CMLC. “Without a great master plan, we wouldn’t have been able to create a vision for everyone to buy into.”
University District
A much-needed vibrant hub for Calgary’s northwest.
Developer
University of Calgary Properties Group
Area
200 acres
Dwelling target
7,183
Year started
2011
Progress
Almost 50 per cent complete
University District has become a central hub for Calgary’s northwest, and home to more than 4,000 Calgarians. That’s according to University of Calgary Properties Group (UCPG), the development company created by UCalgary’s Board of Governors to develop a 200-acre property adjacent to campus.
“University District was a way for the university to take excess land that it didn’t need for its academic mission, and create something that would optimize a return, and benefit students and staff by having a place where they could live, work and play,” says Novy Cheema, president and CEO of UCPG.
Cheema notes that because UCalgary continues to hold title to the land, an unusual ownership structure was adopted to give certainty to both homeowners and investors. Rather than hold title to their property, property owners hold a sublease title issued for a 99-year term that can be renewed and transferred to new buyers.
Designing the neighbourhood from scratch enabled UCPG to lay out buildings and amenities in a way that not only encourages spontaneous activities, but also fills amenity gaps in the northwest.
Stretching between the university campus and Shaganappi Trail N.W., University Avenue is the new community’s social hub, whose mix of sleek apartments complement 50-plus shops, services, restaurants and entertainment venues, all flanked by wide sidewalks, creating an inviting space for pedestrians to linger. Along the neighbourhood’s edges, row houses and townhomes give young families an opportunity to live in an urban setting with ready access to nature, including 40 acres of greenspace and 12 kilometres of pathways.
Upon completion, University District expects to welcome more than 13,500 residents.
West District
Attracting urban amenities and dense housing to an established suburb.
Developer
Truman
Area
95 acres
Dwelling target
3,500
Year started
2015
Progress
50 per cent complete
Up Old Banff Coach Road, at its intersection with 77th Street S.W., a somewhat unexpected urban village is taking shape — the nascent West District.
Rising amidst an expanse of single-family homes built out in the early 2000s, a dense array of mid-rise apartment buildings and townhouse complexes broaden the housing choices available in an otherwise thinly populated area — close to the mountains, but far from everything else.
In the last 10 years, Truman, West District’s developer and primary builder, transformed a series of countryside properties into a mixed-use, walkable neighbourhood whose restaurants, shops and a state-of-the-art central park serve more than 28,000 Calgarians on the west side. Up until recently, residents of West Springs, Aspen Woods and Cougar Ridge had limited shopping and dining choices, outside a handful of car-centric centres.
West District is a rarity, however. In Calgary and elsewhere, undeveloped sites this size tend to be found exclusively on a city’s outskirts. For this reason, when Truman came across the opportunity to purchase a 95-acre land assembly within the city’s boundaries, the developer sprang into action.
“This last big undeveloped pocket of west-side suburbia needed a master plan that was laser focused on one principle: with density must come amenity,” says Tony Trutina, Truman’s chief operating officer. “Key for us was our mixed-use pedestrian main street, Broadcast Avenue, and Radio Park as our urban living room packed with enhanced programming.”