Ward 11 Alderman Brian Pincott | City of Calgary Office of the Aldermen

On May 3rd I had the pleasure of leading a Jane’s Walk through Windsor Park, Britannia and Elboya. It was a beautiful sunny afternoon and about 30 people from across the city came out to discover some of the gems of Ward 11. I am incredibly proud of my communities and take any opportunity I can to show them off to Calgarians.

The Walks are a celebration Jane Jacobs’ life and her contribution to cities. The intent of a Jane’s Walk is first and foremost to talk about community. I wanted to show the great things that are going on in the area, the wonderful examples of good urban design how that affects how people live. I also wanted to talk about some of the local opportunities that Plan It Calgary presents for community renewal and improvement.

We started at the Windsor Park Community Centre, an old building that is getting a significant facelift. The community association is revitalizing the building, putting a substantial addition on the front, creating a central hub for Windsor Park. The renewed building, combining the old Quonset structure, with a modern and open façade, will provide a wonderful central meeting place for Windsor Park.

We then moved on to 50th Avenue, in Elboya, which currently is a wide, almost empty, stretch of roadway. Plan It Calgary has identified this stretch of roadway as a “neighbourhood corridor”, which will allow for a mix of uses along the corridor. The streetscape will be pedestrian-oriented, meaning wide sidewalks, street furniture and any retail would be small in scale and geared towards people walking. This significant section is a prime opportunity for sensitively adding density, retail and jobs to established communities.

Wandering over to Britannia Plaza, we had a look at an existing, wonderful small retail node. This shopping plaza offers is a great mix of small retail that is within walking distance of the surrounding communities. A great mix of stores here means that nearby residents can get most of their needs filled, without having to get into their cars! This is a great example of the start of an urban node.

Continuing on through south Elboya and north Windsor Park we talked about how neighbourhoods and streetscapes could be made more pedestrian friendly, how transit could be better incorporated into our communities, how – especially important in inner-city neighbourhoods it is important to ‘find’ opportunities for claiming greenspace, and how community-building projects such as Paint the Pavement can help foster resilient communities.

A wonderful thing about Jane’s Walks is that being about community, the walk itself fosters discussion and triggers the exchange of ideas and vision. In walking, and talking, we become more engaged with our neighbourhoods, with the things that we value about where we live, and about how we can make it better. We see the great things that exist and we see the great opportunities to be seized.

Jane Jacobs would be pleased.

www.janeswalk.net