Program
Sept 26, 2023
7:00-9:00pm
University of Calgary
City Building Design Lab
616 Macleod Trail SE, Calgary, AB T2G 2M2
Opening Session OPEN TO ALL!
Evoking the Transition Imaginary through the Storied Landscape
For the last four decades, there has been an increasing interest by scientists and scholars in Indigenous knowledges. The Indigenous worldviews offer a new ecological ethic, which carries a heightened standard of care for all living things. The timing coincides with debates surrounding dominant models of practice, from urbanism to ecology. The moment has been called the Transition Imaginary. The mobilizers are called transition activists, whose role it is, to question the structures of unsustainability that maintain the dominant ontology of devastation (Escobar, 2017). Transition activists are creating alternative models of practice that are collaborative, plural, participatory and distributed, and build on the interconnectedness of all life. This talk will introduce a few new methods, including the Storied Landscape, in which every place has a range of stories and songs associated with it, building our connection with place, increasing our appreciation of the uniqueness of place, reducing the layers between our bodies and the earth, and inspiring concepts of interactive responsibility.
Wanda Dalla Costa AIA, FRAIC, LEED A.P. , Saddle Lake Cree Nation
Principal, Tawaw Architecture Collective
Director and Founder, Indigenous Design Collaborative
Wanda Dalla Costa, AIA, FRAIC, LEED A.P. is a member of the Saddle Lake Cree Nation. Her firm, Tawaw Architecture Collective (www.TawArc.com) has offices in both Phoenix and Calgary. At Arizona State University, she is the director and founder of the Indigenous Design Collaborative, a community-driven design and construction program, which brings together tribal community members, industry, and a multidisciplinary team of ASU students and faculty to co-design and co-develop solutions for tribal communities. Her teaching and research are focused on Indigenous ways of knowing and being, co-design methodologies, sustainable design, and the resiliency of vernacular architectures. Dalla Costa received an Honorary Doctorate in 2023 from Athabasca University. In 2022, she was also recognized as an Honorary Fellow of the Royal Architecture Institute of Canada, and in 2019, she was recognized as a YBCA 100 recipient by the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, a list that celebrates people, organizations, and movements shifting culture through ideas, their art, and their activism.
Day 1
Sept 27, 2023
DJD Danceworks
111 12 Ave SE, Calgary, AB T2G 0Z9
7:30-8:30am
Registration Desk
8:30-9:00am
First Nations Welcome Ceremony
Aapaa’mahkaa Leonard Weasel Traveller
Member of the Blackfoot Community
9:00-9:30am
T1 - Welcome and Theme Introduction
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Welcome from CanU President - Ute Maya-Giambattista
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Councillor Carra's Welcome
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City of Calgary Welcome
9:30-10:45am
T2 - Round Table: Chief Urban Designers
The role and importance of Canadian urban design is rapidly increasing in the last decade. The focus of this Panel discussion will be to discuss state of urban design in Canada, and the creative impact of municipal and private sector designers, politicians, developers, and consultants on overall design quality of Community and public realm planning and design. Panel will discuss challenges and opportunities of acquiring the best talent as well as current issues and trends in Canadian Cities.
Moderator:
Alberto de Salvatierra
Associate Professor + Associate Dean (Undergraduate), SAPL, University of Calgary
Founder and Director, Center for Civilization
Alberto de Salvatierra is a transdisciplinary polymath, designer, and urbanist. His research and work are situated at the intersection of cities, society and civilization. His work has been published widely and exhibited both domestically and abroad, such as in Australia, the United States, the United Kingdom, Mexico, Italy, Japan, Sweden and Serbia. Since arriving to Calgary in 2020, Alberto has secured, as PI, over one million dollars in grant funding, including direct funding sponsorships by Alberta municipalities, industry partners, community associations and non-profit organizations. Previously, he’s been part of the Harvard Kennedy School’s inaugural STS (Science, Technology and Society) program on Expertise, Trust and Democracy, and an invited panelist and delegate to the United Nations. Alberto is the past recipient of the UN Sustainable Development Solutions Network (SDSN) Local Pathways Fellowship, Cornell’s Robert James Eidlitz Fellowship, Harvard Library’s inaugural May Crane Fellowship, and Harvard GSD’s Penny White Prize. He has previously taught at Cornell University, the Boston Architectural College, the Harvard University Graduate School of Design, Universidad Iberoamericana (Mexico City), and the UNLV School of Architecture. Alberto holds a Bachelor of Architecture from Cornell University and both a Master of Landscape Architecture and a Master of Design Studies in Urbanism, Landscape and Ecology from Harvard University’s Graduate School of Design.
Panelists:
David Down, Architect, AAA, FRAIC, LEED AP
Chief Urban Designer, Urban Design & Open Space, City of Calgary
David Down is an Architect and the Chief Urban Designer for the City of Calgary since 2005, guiding the Urban Design & Open Space team whose mandate it is to help realize the city’s objectives around the planning and design of liveable, walkable, beautiful communities and buildings which are held to a high standard of design quality. His team reviews and evaluates development submissions, creates design-focused policy, and guides Calgary’s Urban Design Review Panel and Mayor’s Urban Design Awards program. Advocating for architectural and urban design excellence has been a personal mission throughout a career which has included, prior to the City of Calgary, work for prestigious architectural firms as well as directing his own award-winning practice while serving as Adjunct Professor of Architecture at the University of Calgary School of Architecture, Planning and Landscape. A former president of the Alberta Association of Architects, Fellow of the Royal Architectural Institute of Canada, and former chair of the Calgary Architecture and Urban Studies Alliance, he has been honoured with the distinguished Contribution Award to the Architecture Program at SAPL.
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Jana Kelemen, Manager, Heritage and Urban Design, City of Hamilton
Jana Kelemen is the Manager of Heritage and Urban Design at the City of Hamilton. She holds a Master’s Degree in Architecture from Slovak University of Technology as well as a Master of Urban Design Studies from University of Toronto. In her 25 years of progressive experience in both Europe and Canada she worked primarily as an architect, senior planner, strategic leader and urban designer. Focused on facilitating multi-disciplinary conversations, Jana has led comprehensive visionary projects.
* Jana is the vice president on the Board of Directors of the Council for Canadian Urbanism.
Peter Spearey, Lead Urban Designer, City of Edmonton
A graduate of the University of Manitoba and a Registered Landscape Architect, Peter is the Lead Urban Designer for the City of Edmonton. Peter leads a team of architects and planners responsible for establishing urban design policy, supporting streetscape and public realm projects, overseeing the Edmonton Design Committee and managing the Edmonton Urban Design Awards.
Emilia Floro, Director of Urban Design, City of Toronto
Emilia Floro is an urban designer and Director of Urban Design at the City of Toronto. She has been involved in creating transformational urban design visions and implementation strategies, delivering on city building projects. Influencing development through her work in both the public and private sectors with a focus on the reurbanization of downtowns, urban centres, waterfronts and transit corridors, she has contributed to the quality of the built environment and public spaces. She has played a leading role in promoting design competitions as a means of achieving design excellence and is a collaborator whose core values centre on diversity and inclusion. Sustainability, resilience and tackling climate change are priorities in her life and work.
Emilia holds a Bachelor of Architecture degree from the University of Toronto, is a member of the Royal Architectural Institute of Canada, Canadian Institute of Planners and is a Registered Professional Planner. She regularly participates in academic reviews, talks and design workshops.
10:45-11:00am
Refreshment Break
11:00-12:15pm
T3 - Round Table: Calgary Developers
City building happens with the vision of creative individuals and development industry groups who can bring complex ideas together. This includes collaborating on the overall vision, planning, design, engineering, financing, construction, and marketing of a development project. The focus of this Panel will be to discuss the role and elements of good urban and architectural design that contributes to the overall success of various projects. We invited several creative Calgary developers to discuss their thinking processes, challenges, and opportunities while working collaboratively with the Planning department, Urban Design Review Panel, Calgary Planning Commission and City Council throughout the development approval process.
Moderator:
Kathy Oberg, Partner, B&A Studios
Kathy holds a Bachelor (University of Manitoba) and Master’s Degree (University of Calgary) in Urban Planning /Environmental Design and works within the private industry at B&A Studios as the Managing Partner. With experience in urban design, architectural design, subdivision design, land use planning and sustainable community design, Kathy is well versed in all facets of planning. With over 25 years of experience within the Calgary Region and the City of Calgary, she brings a wide range of planning expertise to the Panel.
Panelists:
Alkarim Devani, President, RoundSquare
Alkarim's vision is to help others deliver middle housing and gentle density at scale in our established neighborhoods across Canada. The emphasis is placed on living, access, and creating sustainable homes where people can make it all fit. He wants to connect more people to the simple pleasure of living in walkable neighborhoods full of vibrant local businesses and existing infrastructure. Seeded in his hometown of Calgary, he is committed to improving urban life and the connection of people everywhere.
As the President of RNDSQR and a Doctorate of Design candidate at the University of Calgary, his ideas are rooted in his work and everyday life. In addition, Alkarim is a proud board member of the Calgary Housing Corporation, the city's largest housing affordability provider, and D.Talks, an organization committed to furthering discussions on all things design.
Edan Lindenbach, Principal and CEO, JEMM Properties
Edan Lindenbach is CEO of Calgary-based JEMM Properties. Founded in 2016, JEMM is committed to community-driven mixed-use and purpose-built rental projects that generate enduring stakeholder value through creativity, authenticity and fun. JEMM developments typically reflect transit-oriented design principles while emphasizing livability, walkability, local art and human connection. When not out enjoying urban Calgary, Edan spends his time in nature and with his family.
Kate Thompson, President and CEO, Calgary Land Corporation
Kate Thompson is the President & CEO of the Calgary Municipal Land Corporation (CMLC). She is responsible for the overall direction, business strategy, and operations of the organization. Thanks in large part to Kate’s exceptional leadership and foresight, CMLC is now overseeing more than $1 billion in development projects in East Calgary—including the BMO Centre expansion, 17th Avenue extension and Stampede Station rebuild, Arts Commons Transformation, and the redevelopment of East Victoria Park into Calgary’s Culture + Entertainment District. Kate has held numerous positions of leadership since she joined CMLC in 2013, including Director of Development, Vice President of Projects, and Vice President of Development.
Holding a Master’s in Architecture, Kate is a registered member of the Alberta Association of Architects (AAA) and a Fellow of the Royal Architectural Institute of Canada (FRAIC). She has extensive experience in design and development, having worked for private firms in Calgary and Europe. Kate shares her vast knowledge of architecture by teaching at the University of Calgary’s Faculty of Environmental Design as an Adjunct Professor. Additionally, she is passionate about developing new talent and provides mentorship for many young professionals in the field.
Kate has always been active in the community. She joined the YWCA Board in 2014 and became Board Chair in 2018, serving until 2021. Kate currently sits on the Boards of Ignite Calgary and Calgary Economic Development. She is a member of the Real Estate Sector Advisory Committee and chairs the Downtown Vibrancy Committee. She is also part of the Dean’s Circle and the University of Calgary’s Faculty of Environmental Design.
Teresa Goldstein, Senior Director, Real Estate, CLC Western Canada
Dr. Teresa Goldstein is a recognized leader in urban planning and housing. Based in Calgary, Alberta, Teresa is hailed as an authority in housing, community development, and planning with a diverse background spanning government and private sectors. In her current role as Senior Director- Real Estate for Canada Lands, Teresa has led significant redevelopments throughout Alberta including the community of Currie, Calgary and the Village of Griesbach in Edmonton. For over 11 years, she held multiple roles at The City of Calgary - serving as both the Manager of Affordable Housing, the overseer of The City of Calgary's housing initiatives and managing assets surpassing $400 million, as well as the Manager of Community Planning. She is an accomplished instructor and for eight years has taught at the University of Calgary- School of Architecture, Planning and Landscape. She successfully defended her Doctorate centered on the emotional dimensions of local area planning in June 2023. Teresa's diverse experiences bear testament to her ability to drive growth, uplift lives, and achieve ambitious objectives.
Alex Fergusson, SVP, Anthem Properties & Founder, Pattern Plus Developments, Calgary
Alex has over 22 years’ experience in B.C. and Alberta, specializing in residential real estate. Over that time, he has held various executive roles and co-founded two development companies, GableCraft Homes (2010) and Pattern + Developments (2021). In 2022, Alex joined Anthem Properties Group with a dual role contributing to the Vertical Development (multi-family) and the Capital Formation group. Since 2010 he was responsible for the completion of 1,200 homes (all built forms), in Calgary, Vancouver Island and Okanagan.
12:15-1:15pm
T4 - Lunch Presentation: Caucus Work
Dan Leeming, BA, Dip CP, MES, FCIP, RPP, Special Advisor, Urban Design, The Planning Partnership, Toronto, ON
Dan was a founding partner of the Planning Partnership, where he is currently a special advisor. His areas of expertise include: community planning, from regional to neighbourhood scale, the relationship between urban design, public health and sustainability initiatives, and facilitating the creation of meaningful and complete communities while satisfying the needs of the marketplace.
Dan has worked with various universities including the University of Guelph, the University of Toronto, and the University of Waterloo. He has authored a number of articles for professional journals on topics such as changing energy needs, public health and urban design, our aging society, and innovation in sustainable community design.
He is a Fellow of the Canadian Institute of Planners, currently chairs CanU’s Resiliency Working Group, and was a founding Board member with CanU. Dan formerly served with the Toronto Design Review Board, the Mississauga Urban Design Advisory Panel, the Board of Healthy Kids Canada and the Canadian LEED-ND review committee. Dan is also the recipient of the 2016 Minister’s Award for Environmental Excellence.
David Gordon, FCIP, RPP, AICP
Professor, School of Urban and Regional Planning of the Department of Geography and Planning at Queen’s University
David Gordon FCIP RPP AICP is Professor in the School of Urban and Regional Planning of the Department of Geography and Planning at Queen’s University. He received a Doctor of Design degree from the Harvard GSD. David was SURP Director for over a decade and has also taught at McGill, Toronto, Riga, Western Australia, Harvard and Pennsylvania, where he was a Fulbright Senior Scholar. Prior to becoming a full-time professor, David was a principal in an urban design firm and manager in a Toronto waterfront agency. He is a member of the National Capital Commission’s design review committee, Research Chair of the Council for Canadian Urbanism and a Fellow of the Canadian Institute of Planners, sharing their National Awards four times. Recent books include Town and Crown and Planning Canadian Communities (with Pam Shaw). His research examines planning histories, cities, waterfronts and suburbs in Canada, Australia and the USA.
1:15-2:30pm
T5 - Panel: Diverse Perspectives In City Building
This panel seeks to provide a platform for experts and professionals from diverse backgrounds to share their insights, challenges, and innovative approaches in shaping urban environments. By centering the perspectives and needs of these communities, the panel aims to challenge traditional urban design practices and promote inclusivity, social equity, and cultural representation in the built environment. The panelists will discuss topics such as community engagement, representation in urban planning and design processes, addressing systemic inequalities, and creating spaces that are welcoming and safe for all individuals. Through this symposium panel, attendees will gain a deeper understanding of the importance of diverse perspectives in creating truly inclusive, vibrant, and equitable urban spaces.
Panelists:
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Darby Lee Young
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Marie Cecile Kotyk, Founder and Principal consultant, Kotyk Consulting
Marie (Cecile) Kotyk is an Urban Planner with 15 years of progressive experience in the public and non-profit sectors. She specializes in designing and managing community development projects to address housing shortages and end homelessness. Her passion for social justice and racial equity led her to pursue her doctoral studies in the Doctor of Design program at the University of Calgary’s School of Architecture, Planning, and Landscape Architecture. Her research aims to address anti-Black systemic racism and advance Black inclusion in the housing and homelessness sector. She was awarded the Alberta Human Rights and Multiculturalism scholarship for 2022/2023 at the doctoral level for her research. She is the founder and principal consultant at Kotyk Consulting and a sessional instructor at the University of Calgary.
Meighan King Wall, Intern Architect, Two Row Architect
Meighan is an Intern Architect at Two Row Architect, an Indigenous owned firm based on Six Nations of the Grand River. She is Kwickwa̱sut’inuxw Ha̱xwa’mis of the Kwakwa̱ka̱ʼwakw First Nation and is of Métis and eastern European descent. Meighan has a Bachelor of Visual Arts from UBC, and went on to receive her Bachelor of Environmental Design and Masters of Architecture from the University of Manitoba. Here, her research explored the role of narrative and language in creating Indigenous spaces within the urban public spaces to reclaim place, space, and identity. Past projects also include co-curating the Winnipeg Design Festival in 2018, participating in the Seoul Biennale in 2019 with the installation “Global Studio”, and creating the cover art for the publication “Voices of the Land” by the UofM Indigenous Design and Planning Students Association. What she makes is rooted in her own learning as it relates to storytelling, process, and relationship to land and place.
Teron-Jordan Richard, Community Involvement & Vision Lead, Grey & Ivy Inc.
Exploring. Making. Laughing. Helping. Ballin’. These are just a few things that somewhat describe Teron-Jordan (TJ) Richard. Originally from Winnipeg, Manitoba, TJ shares Cree, Ojibway, and Métis ancestry, and is a member of Ebb and Flow First Nation. Today, he enjoys most of his days in Okotoks, Alberta, where he lives with his beautiful partner and two troublemaking cats. When not wondering about, he works as the Community Involvement & Vision Lead at Grey & Ivy, where he pursues his passion for discovering new places and people, gaining new knowledge and skills, and helping others find their path. Graduating in 2020 with his Master of Architecture, he hopes that he can help contribute to the many stories of others through an honest and meaningful approach that identifies and celebrates the unique qualities that make us who we are.
2:30-5:00pm
T6 - Walking Tours
1. Urban Transformation - Beltline East/ Downtown East / East Village
Since the adoption of the award-winning Centre City Plan by Calgary City Council (2007), an explosion of creative private and public development is changing face of downtown core and associated neighbourhoods. Resulting densification, increased livability, accessibility by multi-modal transportation, and iconic cultural destinations have combined to create inspiring public spaces, improved streetscapes, and riverfronts. This walk will outline the genesis of Calgary’s Downtown successes and challenges, and present new policies and implementation strategies, while also showcasing the best of Stephen Avenue, Olympic Plaza, The Bow, TELUS Sky office developments, the new award-winning iconic Public Library, National Music Centre (Bell Centre) and the evolving, critically acclaimed East Village neighbourhood.
Tour Guides:
Sonny Tomic, Senior Urban Designer, City of Calgary
Sonny is an internationally recognized, award-winning urban design practitioner, policy maker and team leader with thirty-six years of experience in large scale planning and urban design projects in Europe, Canada, United Arab Emirates, and the Caribbean. He is currently utilizing wealth of experience gained as a former Manager of the Calgary Centre City Planning and Implementation and Urban Design Manager at the Abu Dhabi Urban Planning Council contributing to evolution of Calgary urban design policy and approvals for large urban projects. Sonny is known as “fusion” thinker, a visionary urbanist rooted in present, but enthusiastically embracing future in the most creative ways.
* Sonny is a board member of the Council for Canadian Urbanism.
Josh de Jong, Senior Planner, City of Calgary
Josh de Jong is an urban planner with more than 10 years of experience leading and supporting city building initiatives. He holds a Masters of Planning from Dalhousie University and is a Registered Practicing Planner (RPP) and Member of the Canadian Institute of Planners. Recognizing the power of collaboration, Josh is motivated to seek out opportunities to engage with diverse groups to ensure that downtown development and policies align with the aspirations and needs of the community. Josh is passionate about project delivery and achieving the best outcomes possible. Josh is a Senior Strategic Planner with the City of Calgary’s Downtown Strategy team.
Guest Guide:
Jewel Chan, Development Coordinator, Calgary Municipal Land Corporation
Jewel joined the CMLC Development team in August 2021 as a Development Coordinator. She holds a Bachelor or Arts in Urban Studies from the University of Calgary and a Master of Landscape Architecture from the University of Calgary’s School of Architecture, Planning and Landscape. Jewel leverages her experience in the urban planning industry, vast communication skills and design-focused mindset to provide Calgarians with vibrant spaces and places at various scales.
Jewel’s dedication to sustainable city-building through innovative placemaking and design is a great asset to the CMLC team.
2. Calgary Downtown Modern
This tour highlights Downtown Calgary’s mid-20th century history, including discussion of significant buildings and public spaces along with the early city-builders responsible for them. While what has survived of the City’s early sandstone architecture is considered part of Calgary’s “heritage” buildings, this tour will discuss the later additions to the downtown landscape which were previously under-appreciated but are now seeing a resurgence in interest, including a number of early modern landmarks finding new purpose through Calgary’s groundbreaking office to residential conversion program. More recent projects of interest, which will be significant parts of the City’s future architectural legacy, will also be discussed. All eras of building and design have merit, and retaining the best examples from each era ensures that a city preserves the memory of its past through examples of the entire pattern of its growth.
Tour Guide:
David Down, Architect, AAA, FRAIC, LEED AP
Chief Urban Designer, Urban Design & Open Space, City of Calgary
David Down is an Architect and the Chief Urban Designer for the City of Calgary since 2005, guiding the Urban Design & Open Space team whose mandate it is to help realize the city’s objectives around the planning and design of liveable, walkable, beautiful communities and buildings which are held to a high standard of design quality. His team reviews and evaluates development submissions, creates design-focused policy, and guides Calgary’s Urban Design Review Panel and Mayor’s Urban Design Awards program. Advocating for architectural and urban design excellence has been a personal mission throughout a career which has included, prior to the City of Calgary, work for prestigious architectural firms as well as directing his own award-winning practice while serving as Adjunct Professor of Architecture at the University of Calgary School of Architecture, Planning and Landscape. A former president of the Alberta Association of Architects, Fellow of the Royal Architectural Institute of Canada, and former chair of the Calgary Architecture and Urban Studies Alliance, he has been honoured with the distinguished Contribution Award to the Architecture Program at SAPL.
3. Past And Future Of Stephen Avenue
This tour will highlight the past and future of the Stephen Avenue National Historic Site of Canada. The street consists of three dozen commercial buildings from the 1880-1930 era (known as the Sandstone Era). Stephen Avenue is a superb illustration of the vital role that retail streets have played and continue to play in the Canadian urban experience. On this tour you will learn about elegant architecture of Calgary's sandstone era, featuring Victorian, Art Deco and Beaux-Arts elements.
Currently, the City of Calgary - in collaboration with Jan Gehl’s planning and design team - is continuing an exciting journey to reimagine Stephen Avenue. Bold, innovative, and visionary, this work imagines Stephen Avenue as an exemplary 21st century street that links Calgary’s walkable urban core to its neighbourhoods through a first-in-class public realm. The City of Calgary is working to make Stephen Avenue a more livable, vibrant, and thriving downtown destination for citizens, businesses, and visitors to our great city. Come learn about key design moves that will transform and ensure the long-term viability of Stephen Avenue.
Tour Guides:
Ian Harper, Senior Planner, City Planning Policy, City of Calgary
Ian Harper is a Senior Planner with City Planning Policy, where he has led the City’s development of Heritage Conservation Tools and Incentives since 2019. He is a Member of the Canadian Institute of Planners and has a Masters of Planning from Dalhousie University. His recent projects include the development of the Heritage Value Analysis & Conservation Tool Development Focused on Commercial Streets, a pioneering triple-bottom line valuation of commercial heritage concentrations, and the first Heritage Guideline Areas in Calgary (through Local Area Planning).
Joyce Tang, Leader Greater Downtown, Public Spaces Delivery, City of Calgary
Joyce Tang is a strategic leader who has elevated the importance of designing and building through the lens of equity in our public realm. Joyce brings over 23 years of planning and landscape architecture expertise, where she injects her passion of healthy built environments and research into her systematic integrated design approach. This has resulted in many award-winning projects for the City of Calgary (West Eau Claire Park and Flood barrier, 5th Street SW underpass, Montgomery Main Street, Nose Creek Area Structure Plan and Health Impact Assessment).
As a registered Urban Planner, and Landscape Architect with training in Health Impact Assessment and Circular Economy and Sustainability and construction experience, she has developed the unique skill set to operationalize plans into executable programs and projects while maintaining a human-centred approach. This has resulted in many multi-million-dollar place making infrastructure programs such as the Eau Claire Public Realm Improvements Program, The City of Calgary Main Streets Streetscape Program and supporting metrics program, and the Downtown Revitalization Capital Infrastructure Program.
She is excited to focus her expertise and leadership on the execution of the catalytic public realm projects for the City of Calgary’s Downtown. Active projects under her leadership include Stephen Avenue, Eau Claire Plaza, Eau Claire Promenade and Flood Barrier, 8th Street SW, Riverwalk West and 1st Street SE Streetscape and Underpass. As the Leader of Greater Downtown, Public Spaces Delivery, she and her team of talented project managers and designers will create thoughtful and equitable design outcomes and turn them into robust and beautiful places.
Jenna Matthews, Project Manager, Public Spaces Delivery, City of Calgary
Jenna Matthews is a Project Manager with City of Calgary's Public Spaces Delivery team, where she is leading the future of Stephen Avenue revitalization project. She is a registered Landscape Architect with the Alberta Association of Landscape Architects and has a Bachelor of Landscape Architecture from the University of Guelph. In her current role, Jenna leverages her past experience delivering both private development and public realm projects at various scales having worked at Calgary firm. She is passionate about creating equitable and sustainable places that facilitate and support vibrant urban life.
4. Calgary’s Plus 15 Skywalk System
Since the construction of the first Plus 15 bridge in 1969, the Plus 15 network has grown to eighty-six bridges and over sixteen kilometers of elevated, weather-protected, and climate-controlled walkways in downtown Calgary. The Plus 15 Network is a unique part of Calgary’s downtown landscape that supports the economy, enables pedestrian mobility for all ages and abilities and connects people to services and destinations throughout downtown. Join us to learn about policy, implementation and place-making related to the Plus 15.
Tour Guide:
Gareth Webster, Senior Planner, City of Calgary
Gareth Webster is a Senior Planner with the City of Calgarys Downtown Planning team with over 16 years professional planning experince. He has a Master of Planning from Leeds Metropolitan University (UK) and is a Registered Professional Planner (RPP) and Member of the Canadian Institute of Planners (MCIP). Gareth has worked as a Development Planner in the UK, rural alberta and small town town Alberta before starting at the City of Calgary in 2014. At the City Gareth has led a variety of planning applications, including the BMO expansion (Western Canada largest conference venue with over 1 million square feet), numerous tall buildings within the Beltline, downtown and East Village as well as helping with the Plus 15 Network since 2017.
Adam Sheehan, Senior Development Consultant, Downtown Strategy, City of Calgary
5. Calgary Downtown Public Art & Beltline Urban Mural Project Tour
Part 1: The City of Calgary has an art collection of over 1300 works including outdoor sculptures sited in parks and plazas, installations integrated into infrastructure, monuments, memorials, environmental art, temporary projects, street art and functional objects. This tour will focus on many fascinating pieces of publicly accessible art located within walking distance of the conference venue. City of Calgary Public Art Experts will lead the tour.
Part 2: Started in 2017 as the Beltline Urban Murals Project (BUMP), the community-led, artist-focused, city-wide street art movement is reimagining public spaces through the visual arts and expanding the capacity of the local arts community. Movement is based on belief that public art can enrich communities, create beautiful and captivating places, provoke conversation, and add beauty to the everyday. To date, the annual BUMP Festival has transformed Calgary with over 180+ public art installations capturing the imagination of residents and visitors in a celebration of the arts and community. A diverse jury selects from among local, national, and international artists for the BUMP Festival’s annual exhibition of new mural, Road Works and graffiti works in Calgary.
Tour Guides:
Julie Yepishina-Geller, Public Art team lead – City of Calgary
Julie Yepishina-Geller is The City of Calgary’s Public Art Liaison, and leads the team that stewards the public art collection on behalf of Calgarians. Julie is passionate about contributing the vibrancy and creative energy of the city by enabling art that is meaningful and accessible to Calgarians. She has dedicated the last 5 years of her career to building opportunities for local artists, enabling initiatives that contribute to equity, diversity, inclusion and accessibility through art, and ensuring art is contextually integrated into the city in a meaningful way.
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Priya Ramesh, Director, Producer, Musician, Curator, Creative Strategist
BUMP Festival, Marketing & Communications Manage
Priya is a multidisciplinary artist who navigates the Canadian arts and culture landscape as a musician, director, curator, producer and creative strategist. As a founding member of the FOREIGNERZ art & production house her artistic journey that began with music, has brought her into the world of art direction, filmmaking, and creative strategy. Challenging cities, industries, and narratives to allow new voices in is at the very centre of how Contra pursues all her creative endeavours; furthering culture and allowing art to thrive. Her work in the Canadian arts sector has led her to working with organizations such as Arts Commons, Sled Island, BUMP Festival, CIFF & more.
Peter Oliver, Director of Public Art, Beltline Neighbourhoods Association
Peter is a longtime community organizer in Calgary. As a founding member of the Beltline Neighbourhoods Association, he helped lead the development of the McHugh House Community & Arts Hub, The Beltlandian Neighbourhood Zine, Beltline Bonspiel, BUMP Festival, and High Park rooftop public park space. Through his volunteer work, Peter strives to strengthen communities and build a thriving arts scene in Calgary. You can catch his community radio show, The Palgary Almanac on CJSW 90.9FM.
6. A Resilient and Vibrant Riverfront
This tour will bring delegates to the Bow River, the heart and soul of Calgary. Since the 2013 flood, more than $60M has been invested in flood protection infrastructure coupled with public realm improvements that have built a more resilient, vibrant, and inclusive riverfront. We will travel along RiverWalk, which ignited the regeneration of the East Village over a decade ago, journey to Eau Claire, Calgary’s central riverfront area and the site of current renewal after the Eau Claire Market experienced decades of decline, and make our way to the Peace Bridge and the Delta Garden in West Eau Claire Park. From here, can make our way to the Bow to Bluff Corridor, a recently completed series of public spaces designed with the community over 10 years.
Tour Guide:
Matt Williams, Principal, Senior Landscape Architect, O2
Matt is a Principal, Landscape Architect with over 15 years of experience leading unique park, public realm, and green infrastructure projects. Matt’s work emphasizes the development of multi-functional landscapes and public spaces that meet both the cultural and ecological needs of a site. Projects such as Bow to Bluff, a linear series of highly programmed parks in Calgary, and West Eau Claire Park, Calgary’s preeminent riverfront park, highlight Matt’s commitment to creating spaces that prioritize community, ecology, and culture.
5:00-6:30pm
Down Time
6:30-7:00pm
Evening Reception
7:00-8:00pm
T7 - Pecha Kucha: Canadian Urbanism Coast To Coast
A fast-paced presentation of the latest examples of good urban design from Coast to Coast, presented in Pecha Kucha style. Six leading urbanists, curated by Queen’s professor Dave Gordon, will present best practices and award-winning projects from BC, the Prairies, Ontario, Quebec and Atlantic Canada. Join us for this perennial favorite!
Moderator:
David Gordon, FCIP, RPP, AICP
Professor, School of Urban and Regional Planning of the Department of Geography and Planning at Queen’s University
David Gordon FCIP RPP AICP is Professor in the School of Urban and Regional Planning of the Department of Geography and Planning at Queen’s University. He received a Doctor of Design degree from the Harvard GSD. David was SURP Director for over a decade and has also taught at McGill, Toronto, Riga, Western Australia, Harvard and Pennsylvania, where he was a Fulbright Senior Scholar. Prior to becoming a full-time professor, David was a principal in an urban design firm and manager in a Toronto waterfront agency. He is a member of the National Capital Commission’s design review committee, Research Chair of the Council for Canadian Urbanism and a Fellow of the Canadian Institute of Planners, sharing their National Awards four times. Recent books include Town and Crown and Planning Canadian Communities (with Pam Shaw). His research examines planning histories, cities, waterfronts and suburbs in Canada, Australia and the USA.
Panelists:
Ontario East
Eric Turcotte, FCIP, RPP, OAA, OAQ, MRAIC, LEED AP BD + C
Partner, Urban Strategies Inc.
Eric is an Urban Designer, a Planner and an Architect. He is a Partner at Urban Strategies Inc. and has over 27 years of experience in Canada, the United States and Europe. Eric has extensive redevelopment experience in in Canada – notably in the GTA, Ottawa, the United States and Europe. As a partner, he has led numerous award-winning downtown revitalization plans, community design plans, transit oriented developments and large scale master plans. He has recently completed the award-winning University of Ottawa Master Plan and is currently working on new mixed-use development of mall properties including, Dufferin Mall, CF Sherway Garden and CF Fairview. He is also leading the urban design and approval of a number of hospital projects including Toronto SickKids, CAMH and Mount Sinai.
Eric is an Urban Design industry leader and the past President of the Council for Canadian Urbanism (CanU). He is a member of the Waterfront Toronto Design Review Panel and the chair of the Brampton Design Review Panel Project.
Ontario West
Jana Kelemen, Manager, Heritage and Urban Design, City of Hamilton
Jana Kelemen is the Manager of Heritage and Urban Design at the City of Hamilton. She holds a Master’s Degree in Architecture from Slovak University of Technology as well as a Master of Urban Design Studies from University of Toronto. In her 25 years of progressive experience in both Europe and Canada she worked primarily as an architect, senior planner, strategic leader and urban designer. Focused on facilitating multi-disciplinary conversations, Jana has led comprehensive visionary projects.
* Jana is the vice president on the Board of Directors of the Council for Canadian Urbanism.
Quebec
Craig Sklenar, Principal, Urban Places, Stantec
Craig is an Urban Designer and Planner based out of Montreal, Quebec. He is a Principal for Stantec’s Urban Places Group and leads the global Transit-oriented Communities initiative at the firm. His 19 years’ experience across North America and New Zealand primarily focuses on work that fuses urban planning, urban design and transportation planning with the art of placemaking, development potential, community design and governmental approvals. Craig holds a Bachelor of Urban Planning from Ball State University, a masters in Urban Design and Masters in Urban and Regional Planning from the University of Colorado.
Craig’s team recently was awarded the 2022 UK Royal Town Planning Institute’s International Planning award for their innovative Transit-oriented community plan in Cleveland, Ohio USA. He is currently working on Saskatoon’s Downtown Event and Entertainment district which seeks to develop a new urban event centre, an improved convention centre and a public realm strategy which will be the anchor for a new downtown community of over 10,000 residents.
Prairies
Tyson McShane, Manager of Long Range Planning, City of Saskatoon
Tyson McShane is a professional planner who is currently the Manager of Saskatoon’s Long Range Planning Section. He has a background in policy development and neighbourhood design, having previously worked for Saskatoon’s land developer, Saskatoon Land which saw him leading the design and development a 650 acre neighbourhood. His current role has seen him overseeing the development of large scale Sector Plans for the City of Saskatoon, supervising the development of a green infrastructure strategy, and leading a redesign and update of Saskatoon’s Official Community Plan.
British Columbia
Nastaran Moradinejad, Principal, PFS Studio
Nastaran Moradinejad is a principal at PFS Studio where she is recognized for her communication and project management skills. She is also a versatile designer who brings her experience in both architecture and landscape architecture to her PFS Studio projects. Since joining the firm in 2006, Nastaran has contributed her expertise to a variety of projects with a wide range of design requirements from conceptual site specific design and detailing to large-scale planning.
Nastaran has led PFS Studio teams to realize numerous complex, challenging projects and is currently focused on managing some of the firm’s largest and most high-visibility projects in the public realm including the West End Waterfront Parks and Beach Avenue Plan, PNE Amphitheatre Renewal, and multiple large scale plans in Brentwood Town Centre in Burnaby.
She has served as President for both British Columbia Society of Landscape Architects and the Canadian Society of Landscape Architects and has participated as a jury member in multiple award programs for the profession.
Day 2
Sept 28, 2023
City Building Design Lab, University of Calgary
616 Macleod Trail SE, Calgary, AB T2G 2M2
Evening Session: DIALOG Calgary Studio
Suite 300, 134-11 Avenue SE Calgary, AB T2G 0X5
8:00-9:00am
Registration Desk
9:00-10:15am
T8 - Innovation By “Urban” Design Panel
This Panel will focus of exploring new Urban Design trends and innovations. Leading Urban Design Practitioners from across the country will present and discuss how they are integrating new thinking, innovations, tools, technology, etc to redefine and improve their practice and how these help the of shaping of places and cities. The panels will also offer insight as to how the future of the practice will continue to evolve.
Moderator:
Chris Hardwicke, Principal, Urban Design, O2 Planning + Design
Chris leads the firm’s urban design practice and combines his training in fine art, environmental studies, and architecture to bring integrated design thinking to complex urban projects. His expertise includes community, urban, public space, and campus streetscape design. Chris is highly regarded for his strategic and collaborative approach to complex urban projects – including charting and leading the public engagement process. Chris is chair of the Calgary Urban Design Review Panel and a board member of the Council for Canadian Urbanism.
Panelist
Craig Sklenar, Principal, Urban Places, Stantec
Craig is an Urban Designer and Planner based out of Montreal, Quebec. He is a Principal for Stantec’s Urban Places Group and leads the global Transit-oriented Communities initiative at the firm. His 19 years’ experience across North America and New Zealand primarily focuses on work that fuses urban planning, urban design and transportation planning with the art of placemaking, development potential, community design and governmental approvals. Craig holds a Bachelor of Urban Planning from Ball State University, a masters in Urban Design and Masters in Urban and Regional Planning from the University of Colorado.
Craig’s team recently was awarded the 2022 UK Royal Town Planning Institute’s International Planning award for their innovative Transit-oriented community plan in Cleveland, Ohio USA. He is currently working on Saskatoon’s Downtown Event and Entertainment district which seeks to develop a new urban event centre, an improved convention centre and a public realm strategy which will be the anchor for a new downtown community of over 10,000 residents.
Will Craig, Principal, Kasian
Will Craig is a Principal and Global Chair of the Lifescape studio at Kasian and leads the national Commercial sector, serving clients around the world from their offices in Calgary, Edmonton, Toronto, Vancouver, and Victoria. Will is an international city-builder leading efforts to enrich human experiences and ground-level environments in dense, urban settings. Through Lifescape, a human-centric design approach, his team creates memorable ground-level experiences for buildings and communities. Will is a licensed architect with a track record of over 11 million square feet of built work in mixed use, office, residential, cultural and institutional projects. In 2020 he was voted Calgary’s Top 40 under 40 by Avenue magazine. Will has served on national and international councils and steering committees, including ULI Alberta’s executive committee and ULI’s Redevelopment and Re-Use Council. Will currently sits on Calgary Economic Development’s Real Estate Advisory Committee and Calgary Arts Development committees.
Eunice Wong, Urban Designer, Associate, Perkins & Will
Eunice Wong RPP MCIP LEED ND, is an award-winning planner, urban designer, and associate at Perkins&Will. Their professional work spans from strategic policy planning to built-form testing and streetscape design, with a focused interest in both social and physical resilience. Notable projects include Toronto’s First Resilience Strategy, TOcore Building for Liveability study, the Meadoway Visualization Toolkit, Corner Commons, and the Jane Finch Initiative. Eunice has also led a firmwide research initiative called “Living Urban Districts”, which digs into how public health and wellbeing can be better integrated into the planning process, and why the ability to respond to social inequities should be a critical part of every planners’ toolkit. Eunice is also a planning instructor at Toronto Metropolitan University, a member of the studio’s JEDI (Justice Equity Diversity and Inclusion) Committee, the Innovation Incubator champion for the Ontario studio, and co-host of the Inhabit Podcast, a show about the power of community-powered design (available wherever you get your podcasts!).
Charles Ormsby, Associate, Canadian Climate and Sustainability Services Leader, ARUP
Charles Ormsby is an Associate and the Canadian Climate and Sustainability Services Leader, based in Arup’s Montréal office. With over 15 years of experience, he is an expert in sustainability design for infrastructure and development projects of various scales using a selection of accreditation tools such as LEED, Envision, and Sites, and fosters true design integration within multi-disciplinary teams.
Charles delivers engineering solutions that sensitively align with the project-specific social, cultural, heritage, architectural, and environmental considerations. His experience includes the development of sustainable water management strategies for cities and masterplans, decarbonization plans for neighborhoods and infrastructure operations, resilience planning for buildings and communities, and inclusive public realm design for sites of national importance in countries across the world. Notable projects include the Stavros Niarchos Foundation Cultural Centre in Athens, Greece; the VIA Ottawa Station accessibility improvements project in Ottawa, Canada; and the Samuel De Champlain bridge in Montréal.
10:15-10:30am
Refreshment Break
10:30-11:45am
T9 - Academia Panel: Urban Design In Dynamic + Turbulent Times: Critical Conversations On Canadian Education & Research
This timely session brings together a rich panel of Academic representatives from Canadian Universities specialized in urban design to discuss how we can better educate next generations of urban design professionals. Curricula and research, within universities, needs to effectively equip professionals for unprecedented design challenges, including climate change, housing affordability, public health, and accelerated technological transformations. Panelists will revisit definitions of urban design in light of changing needs and will explore vehicles to improve inter-professional convergence – that is, integration between Planners, Architects, Urban Designers, Landscape Architects, Engineers and other key players in the enterprise.
Moderator:
Dr. Brian R. Sinclair, PhD DrHC FRAIC AIA (Intl)
Professor of Architecture + Environmental Design, School of Architecture, Planning + Landscape, University of Calgary
Dr. Brian R. Sinclair, PhD DrHC FRAIC AIA (Intl) is an award-winning Professor of Architecture + Environmental Design, and former Dean, in the University of Calgary’s School of Architecture, Planning + Landscape (SAPL). Brian is president of sinclairstudio inc., a multi-disciplinary design|research corporation engaged in an array of global projects. He holds postgraduate degrees in architecture and psychology. An educator and practitioner, Sinclair`s expertise and explorations span from science to art. Professional memberships include American Institute of Architects, Union of Mongolian Architects, Society of Nepalese Architects, Council for Tall Buildings + Urban Habitat, and Fellowship in the Royal Architectural Institute of Canada. His doctoral degree (University of Missouri) focused on an innovative holistic design + planning framework to improve quality of life for some of world’s poorest people. Scholarship includes professional practice, design methods, open building, agile architecture, ethnography, equity & ethics, human rights, indigenous culture, environmental psychology, international development, systems & sustainability, and the collision of science + spirit. He has authored a wealth of papers, journal articles, book chapters and books, including the CaGBC volume entitled ‘Culture, Context and the Pursuit of Sustainability’ and the contribution on ‘Spirituality and the City’ for Routledge’s International Handbook on Spirituality in Society and the Professions.
Panelists:
David Gordon, FCIP, RPP, AICP
Professor, School of Urban and Regional Planning of the Department of Geography and Planning at Queen’s University
David Gordon FCIP RPP AICP is Professor in the School of Urban and Regional Planning of the Department of Geography and Planning at Queen’s University. He received a Doctor of Design degree from the Harvard GSD. David was SURP Director for over a decade and has also taught at McGill, Toronto, Riga, Western Australia, Harvard and Pennsylvania, where he was a Fulbright Senior Scholar. Prior to becoming a full-time professor, David was a principal in an urban design firm and manager in a Toronto waterfront agency. He is a member of the National Capital Commission’s design review committee, Research Chair of the Council for Canadian Urbanism and a Fellow of the Canadian Institute of Planners, sharing their National Awards four times. Recent books include Town and Crown and Planning Canadian Communities (with Pam Shaw). His research examines planning histories, cities, waterfronts and suburbs in Canada, Australia and the USA.
Bev Sandalack, PhD, FCSLA, MCIP, RPP
Professor, School of Architecture, Planning & Landscape, University of Calgary
Co-Director, Urban Lab
Bev Sandalack is Professor in the School of Architecture, Planning & Landscape, University of Calgary and Co-Director of the Urban Lab, a research group interested in urban morphology, cultural landscapes, urban design, parks and open space planning, and walkability. Bev chaired the International Federation of Landscape Architects Student Design Competition 2004-2020, receiving the IFLA President’s Award in 2020, and was recipient of the CSLA Teaching Award in 2018. She is a member of Calgary’s Urban Design Review Panel and the National Capital Commission Advisory Committee on Property, Design and Realty.
Jean Trottier, CSLA / MALA, CIP /MPPI, RPP
Associate Professor, Department of Landscape Architecture, University of Manitoba
Jean Trottier is Associate Professor in the Department of Landscape Architecture at the University of Manitoba, where he has taught urban design seminars and studios for more than twenty years. Jean is Past-Chair of the Editorial Board of Landscapes | Paysages Magazine and currently serves on the Board of the Council for Canadian Urbanism.
* Jean is the chairman on the Board of Directors of the Council for Canadian Urbanism.
11:45-1:00pm
T10 - Lunch Presentation: Next Generation Public Realm 3.0
Michael von Hausen FCIP, RPP, CSLA, BCSLA, LEED AP, IAP2
Michael von Hausen is a Canadian leader in innovative development, urban design, and climate resilient communities. He runs a global practice, is the author of six books, and is an Adjunct Professor at Simon Fraser University and Vancouver Island University. He is a fellow of the Canadian Institute of Planners and a former president of the BC Society of Landscape Architects. He received his Master’s degree from Harvard University where he specialized in urban design and real estate development.
In 2021, Michael co-founded the Great Communities Institute with the goal of better connecting urban design and real estate development through mid-career advanced training.
This year, his firm, MVH Urban Planning & Design received two Gold Awards for Planning Excellence from the Planning Institute of British Columbia for the Garrison Crossing neighbourhood and the Grand Forks Official Community Plan, both in British Columbia.
1:00-4:30pm
T11 - Bus Tours: Urbanizing Suburbia, The Calgary Way
1. BUS TOUR SOUTH: BRIDGELAND / RIVERSIDE AND WESTMAN VILLAGE
South bus tour will cover two highly innovative new Neighbourhoods that emerged in the last decade in Calgary’s south-east area. Both are bringing density, diversity, and place-making to Calgary’s south-east - one urbanizing inner city and another suburbia far removed from Calgary’s Downtown core.
The Bridgeland / Riverside is one of the first large grey-field inner city sites planned by the City of Calgary after demolition of old hospital. Plan is result of international design competition and it offers a complete range of mid-rise/ mixed use housing types, great public realm and natural amenities, and services thoughtfully and sustainably planned around evolving Main Street.
Westman Village is latest addition to “new urbanism” inspired Mahagony neghbourhood. Village is evolving into one of the most livable suburban enclaves in Calgary and is noted for its urban design quality. Developed and planned by Jayman Build, it focuses on mid-rise built form, main street with local retail and exceptional community amenities organized on a grid of livable streets near Mahagony Lake. Mr. Wallace Chow, from Jayman Build will host us and highlight developer’s vision, design intent and implementation.
Tour Guides:
Sonny Tomic, Senior Urban Designer, City of Calgary
Sonny is an internationally recognized, award-winning urban design practitioner, policy maker and team leader with thirty-six years of experience in large scale planning and urban design projects in Europe, Canada, United Arab Emirates, and the Caribbean. He is currently utilizing wealth of experience gained as a former Manager of the Calgary Centre City Planning and Implementation and Urban Design Manager at the Abu Dhabi Urban Planning Council contributing to evolution of Calgary urban design policy and approvals for large urban projects. Sonny is known as “fusion” thinker, a visionary urbanist rooted in present, but enthusiastically embracing future in the most creative ways.
* Sonny is a board member of the Council for Canadian Urbanism.
Ali McMillan, Engage Planner, Customer Services/ Communication, City of Calgary
Ali was the Chair of the Bridgeland Riverside Community Association Planning and Development Committee from 2015- 2020. She was involved in the most recent evolution of the Bridges from the original masterplan to today’s new transit-oriented redevelopment by taking a pragmatic, community partnership approach to redevelopment. Initiating a community-led master planning process for East Riverside, adjacent to the Bridges, the community championed a lot of change that you can see today, and much more to come. Ali is passionate about grassroots community building and using tactical urbanism to be the change you want to see in your neighbourhood. She currently works as an Engage Planner at the City of Calgary.
Wallace Chow, Partner and Strategic Advisor, Jayman Built
Wallace Chow is a Calgarian with over 40 years of real estate experience in commercial, retail and multi-family development. He has been directly responsible for the development of over 3,000 residential units and 656,000 sq. ft. of commercial development. Starting his career as a structural engineer, he then went on to retail and warehouse development. In 1998, he founded and grew his multi-family development company from 2 employees to over 100. Joining Jayman’s multi-family division in 2011, some of Wallace’s notable accomplishments include:
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Gateway Garrison Woods, one of Calgary’s first of the modern mixed-use developments and featured for many years as the poster development for the City of Calgary’s Municipal Development Plan.
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Gateway South Centre, a 500 unit condominium complex with the largest geo-exchange system at the time.
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Westman Village, a comprehensively designed mixed-use community comprising 1,000,000 square feet of development, 800 residential units, and 45,000 square feet of retail. Housing options ranged from purpose-built rentals to conventional condominiums, luxury villa style apartments, and seniors living.
While no longer involved in daily operations, he is currently leading a team of professionals to develop Jayman’s next generation of complete, integrated communities.
2. BUS TOUR NORTH - UNIVERSITY DISTRICT, WEST GATE
This bus tour will cover two exciting and innovative new neighbourhoods bringing density, diversity and vibrancy to Calgary’s northwest, urbanizing suburbia far removed from Calgary’s Downtown core. University District is partially constructed as the first community in Alberta achieving LEED ND Platinum status, on 200 acres it offers a complete range of housing types, amenities, and services thoughtfully and sustainably planned and designed around nature. Travis Oberg, Director of Design with the University of Calgary Properties Group, will present the story of this ambitious development. West District, also currently under construction, is a fully master planned community just inside Calgary’s west ring road yet only fifteen minutes from Downtown. It offers a range of housing types, retail and amenities organized on a grid of livable streets around an 8.4 acre central park. Dave White of Civicworks, the Planning consultant who lead the challenging task of inserting this much density into Calgary’s westernmost suburbs, will lead the discussion.
Tour Guides:
David Down, Architect, AAA, FRAIC, LEED AP
Chief Urban Designer, Urban Design & Open Space, City of Calgary
David Down is an Architect and the Chief Urban Designer for the City of Calgary since 2005, guiding the Urban Design & Open Space team whose mandate it is to help realize the city’s objectives around the planning and design of liveable, walkable, beautiful communities and buildings which are held to a high standard of design quality. His team reviews and evaluates development submissions, creates design-focused policy, and guides Calgary’s Urban Design Review Panel and Mayor’s Urban Design Awards program. Advocating for architectural and urban design excellence has been a personal mission throughout a career which has included, prior to the City of Calgary, work for prestigious architectural firms as well as directing his own award-winning practice while serving as Adjunct Professor of Architecture at the University of Calgary School of Architecture, Planning and Landscape. A former president of the Alberta Association of Architects, Fellow of the Royal Architectural Institute of Canada, and former chair of the Calgary Architecture and Urban Studies Alliance, he has been honoured with the distinguished Contribution Award to the Architecture Program at SAPL.
David White, Principal & Founder, CivicWorks
David is the Principal & Founder of CivicWorks. Under his leadership, the CivicWorks studio has established a reputation for design integrity and great city-building across a range of development typologies and scales of planning practice. His work is centered on leading multi-disciplinary teams through complex projects — negotiating community, political, and regulatory processes to achieve celebrated outcomes for a variety of land use and development scenarios.
Travis Oberg, Senior Development Manager, West campus Development Trust
Travis has more than 10 years of experience in the development industry. His most recent was as Development Manager with Qualico Communities since 2007, and Project Manager with Stantec Consulting from 2001. In his role at Qualico, Travis was responsible for managing five prominent Calgary communities — both residential and commercial — with a total construction value of $132M.
Travis’ educational background in real estate development and geomatics complement his proven experience in all aspects of land development, with specific expertise in planning, project management, public consultation, and sustainability.
As a member of the Urban Development Institute — Calgary, Travis chairs the Environmental Committee and has consulted on the Calgary Municipal Development Plan (MDP), receiving commendation for exceptional service from within the industry and municipal partners. Travis is passionate about innovative problem solving, excellence in community planning, and sustainability.
Rick Michalenko, North Coordinator, Community Planning, City of Calgary
Jennifer Maximattis-White, Sr. Planner, City of Calgary
3. BUS TOUR CENTRE - The Evolution of Marda Loop: Emerging Main Streets, Missing Middle Housing, New Urbanism & Adaptive Reuse
In recent years, The City of Calgary has worked collaboratively with the development industry to create innovative infill policies and guidelines to support the development of Main Street corridors and various scales of gentle density in Calgary’s inner city and established communities. This combined bus / walking tour will showcase some of the latest and best examples of redevelopment in the Marda Loop area across a variety of scales, including the Garrison Woods New Urbanist redevelopment of the old CFB Calgary lands, mixed-use / mixed-scale projects along the 33rd & 34th Avenue Main Streets, and contemporary clustered examples of infill “missing middle” housing. In addition to a few other planning and design gems, the tour will conclude with a visit to cSPACE King Edward — one of best local examples of heritage preservation, historic school conversion and tri-mix adaptive reuse.
Tour guides Stephen Pearce and Boris Karn will provide planning and design insights from both a public and consulting perspective. Guest tour guides include Alkarim Devani, President of RNDSQR, one of the most innovative local development companies specialized for inner city change, along with Matt Williams and Andrew Palmiere, Principals at O2 Planning + Design, who shaped the planning, landscape and development framework for the cSPACE King Edward project.
Tour Guides:
Boris Karn, Associate & Senior Urban Planner, CivicWorks
Boris leads complex change propositions that contribute to the vitality and variety of Calgary’s urban fabric. Boris’ progressive, multi-disciplinary experience spans a wide variety of public and private sector projects in development approvals, master planning, municipal and regional land use planning Boris is driven by the real potential to make our cities better and more joyful places to live and move through. Always up for a design challenge, he sees constraint as the necessary frame for creative problem solving.
Stephen Pierce, Senior Urban Planner, City of Calgary
Stephen is an urban planner with the City of Calgary specializing in implementing policy and strategic direction in zoning regulation. He has developed a number of mixed-use and missing middle land use districts to support planning objectives for main street and infill areas. He is interested in building planning policy and regulatory systems that support mixed, adaptive and engaging urban spaces.
4:30-6:30pm
Down Time
6:30-9:00pm
T12 - Keynote Presentation & Closing Remark
DIALOG Calgary Studio
Suite 300, 134-11 Avenue SE Calgary, AB T2G 0X5
Lead with Design. City building in Denver.
For years, urban development in many North America cities has been characterized by the prioritization of the car, urban sprawl and the segregation of land uses and people. Today our cities are rethinking their approach to urban design, also thanks to concepts like the 15-minute city and the reinvention of Central Business Districts, with a new focus on the pedestrian experience and how the built environment can positively shape people’s lives as we grow. This session offers an insight into the practice of urban design and city building in Denver and its renewed commitment to elevating design and a people-first approach to development.
Eugenia Di Girolamo
Chief Urban Designer, Community Planning and Development, City and County of Denver
Eugenia Di Girolamo is the first Chief Urban Designer for the City and County of Denver. She is a trained architect and urban designer, with expertise in visioning, planning policy, resiliency, and community engagement. Eugenia served as the Deputy Director for Urban Design at the New York City Department of City Planning where she led urban design research and policy development, neighborhood studies and developed rezoning proposals. She has extensive experience in the review of public and private land use proposals, urban design analysis and direct interaction with development teams through New York City’s standardized public review process. Eugenia also helped found the Civic Engagement Studio, a think tank to improve the Department’s outreach practices and enhance community involvement in planning processes in New York City. Eugenia has been an instructor at Cornell University and a guest critic to Yale University, NJIT, Columbia University, Fordham University, and University of Colorado - Denver. She worked for the architecture and urban design firm WXY in New York City and was a member of the inaugural class of the Forefront Fellowship with the Urban Design Forum in 2016. Eugenia earned a dual master's degree in architecture and building engineering from the University of Bologna, Italy.
Day 3
Sept 29, 2023
Calgary City Hall
800 Macleod Trail SE, Calgary, AB T2G 5E6
8:00-8:45am
Registration Desk
9:00-6:00pm
T13- Bus Tours
8:00 – 9:30am Departure and Travel Time
9:30 – 10:30am Guided Tour Medicine Hill
12:30 - 2:00pm Guided Tour Banff
2:00 – 4:00pm Self Directed Exploration Time
4:00 – 6:00pm Travel Time and arrival to Calgary City Hall
PART 1: Tour to Medicine Hill
On our way to Banff, this bus tour will stop at the rapidly emerging urban development of Medicine Hill. The amendments to the Canada Olympic Park and Adjacent Lands Area Structure Plan (ASP) were approved by City Council on July 20, 2015. The development application proposed approximately one hundred acres of land on the Paskapoo Slopes, next to Canada Olympic Park and the Trans-Canada Highway into a mixed-use site with retail, office, and residential units to be called Medicine Hill. Due to historic, cultural, and environmental sensitivity of Paskapoo Slopes, the approved ASP amendments support policies that achieve higher design standards and incorporate various interpretive themes of the Blackfoot culture.
Tour Guides:
Sonny Tomic, Senior Urban Designer, City of Calgary
Sonny is an internationally recognized, award-winning urban design practitioner, policy maker and team leader with thirty-six years of experience in large scale planning and urban design projects in Europe, Canada, United Arab Emirates, and the Caribbean. He is currently utilizing wealth of experience gained as a former Manager of the Calgary Centre City Planning and Implementation and Urban Design Manager at the Abu Dhabi Urban Planning Council contributing to evolution of Calgary urban design policy and approvals for large urban projects. Sonny is known as “fusion” thinker, a visionary urbanist rooted in present, but enthusiastically embracing future in the most creative ways.
David Down, Architect, AAA, FRAIC, LEED AP
Chief Urban Designer, Urban Design & Open Space, City of Calgary
David Down is an Architect and the Chief Urban Designer for the City of Calgary since 2005, guiding the Urban Design & Open Space team whose mandate it is to help realize the city’s objectives around the planning and design of liveable, walkable, beautiful communities and buildings which are held to a high standard of design quality. His team reviews and evaluates development submissions, creates design-focused policy, and guides Calgary’s Urban Design Review Panel and Mayor’s Urban Design Awards program. Advocating for architectural and urban design excellence has been a personal mission throughout a career which has included, prior to the City of Calgary, work for prestigious architectural firms as well as directing his own award-winning practice while serving as Adjunct Professor of Architecture at the University of Calgary School of Architecture, Planning and Landscape. A former president of the Alberta Association of Architects, Fellow of the Royal Architectural Institute of Canada, and former chair of the Calgary Architecture and Urban Studies Alliance, he has been honoured with the distinguished Contribution Award to the Architecture Program at SAPL.
Sameer Remtulla, Vice-President, Real Estate & Project Development, Deveraux Group
PART 2: Tour to the Town of Banff – Bear Street Revitalization & Place-Making
The Town of Banff is an incorporated municipality located inside a Banff national park. Banff has a rich and vibrant cultural and natural history, recognized globally by the United Nations, which designated the area of the Canadian Rockies as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1984. The Town is also one of the premiere world destinations for tourism and winter sports.
On this tour, participants will meet with Darren Enns, Director of Planning and Environment to visit and learn about recent creative place-making efforts related to redevelopment of the Bear Street and seasonal downtown pedestrian zone.
Tour Guides:
Darren Enns, Director, Planning and Development, Town of Banff
Darren Enns is the Director of Planning and Environment at the Town of Banff and in this role has been the lead on multiple capital projects aimed at improving the pedestrian environment in Canada’s premier national park community. With a 4 square kilometre land base and approximately 4 million visitors per year the Banff townsite is at a critical juncture in its history with respect to land use and transportation, and has direction from elected officials to implement strategies to reduce reliance on personal vehicles to get to Banff and to move around town. Examples of the types of projects the Town has championed include the redevelopment of Bear Street into a shared street environment, implementing a seasonal pedestrian zone on Banff Avenue which was first proposed in the 1960s, and construction of a second pedestrian bridge across the Bow River which was envisioned by landscape architect Thomas Mawson in 1912. Prior to Banff Darren worked in policy planning in the Cayman Islands and helping develop resort destinations in British Columbia.
Lorna Crowshoe, Strategist, City of Calgary
Lorna Crowshoe is from the Piikani Nation in Southern Alberta, a member of the Blackfoot Confederacy. Her paternal clan are the Lone Fighters, and her maternal clan are the Buffalo Dung. She grew up on her reserve community, and left to attend local public schools. She is deeply rooted in her community, is well established in Blackfoot Ways of Knowing; the culture, language, customs and spirituality. She holds a Bachelor of Management Degree from the University of Lethbridge, and an Masters Degree in Business Administration from the University of Phoenix.
Lorna began her employment at the City of Calgary in 2009 in Community Services, moved to the City Managers Office in 2019, and to Planning and Development Services (PDS) in 2022. In 2014, she assisted PDS with an engagement session with members of Treaty 7, and initiated working with a group of Traditional Knowledge Keepers who provided guidance on the Medicine Hill Development until 2017. She lead and co-produced the City’s Indigenous Policy with members of Treaty 7, and Stantec as the consultant who undertook aspects of the policy. She also lead the consultation and assisted in drafting the White Goose Flying Document; a City Council response to Truth and Reconciliation Calls to Action.
Grant Michalcheon, Associate Planner, B&A
Grant is an associate planner with B&A, a consulting firm that specializes in planning, design and engagement. His background in community planning focusses on managing land use rezoning, sustainable community design and development permit applications on behalf of various clients from across Canada.
With over 30 years of private and public sector experience, his skillset offers an integrated understanding of development which he applies to all his projects. While navigating municipal approval processes, he recognizes the need to build strong trustworthy relationships with clients and municipal approving bodies. Grant understands the importance of listening to and balancing the needs of municipalities, the public and the development industry to help foster the creation of vibrant, livable communities that we can all be proud of.