Calgary

Car2Go Pulls Out of Five North American Cities
As the company plans to cease operations in a number of markets, carsharing’s future in the rapidly shifting world of mobility is unclear.

First Bus Rapid Transit Line Opens in Calgary
The MAX Purple Line has begun service on 17 Avenue SE.

Comparing Canadian Density to the Rest of the World
Canadian cities are expensive, but, according to a new report from the Fraser Institute in Toronto, they have room to spare for more housing .

Winnipeg Reckons With Parking and Place
Increasing the price of parking is among the initiatives Winnipeg is pursuing in an effort to make its downtown more livable.

Untouched Snow Reveals Street Usage
Those who promote safe streets often complain of streets that are too wide, wasting space and promoting reckless speeds. In chilly Calgary, undisturbed snow shows just how much street area is completely unused.

Professor: Good Planning Starts with Good Judgment
A Calgary researcher pushes for outcome-oriented planning.

Good News on Car Sharing
Car sharing networks that allow the vehicle to be returned to any location were found to have the impact of removing seven cars for each rented car in San Diego in a three-year study released July 19.

Calgary Ends the 'Sprawl Subsidy'
An op-ed by the mayor of Calgary, Canada celebrates the adoption of a new off-site levy that will change the financing formula for new development and the necessary infrastructure that comes with it.

Oil Town Feels the Pinch
The rise of shale oil in Alberta over the past decade has made Calgary one of the most vibrant cities on the continent. But with oil slumping around $50 per barrel, the fortunes of an industry town look less rosy.

Calgary: Model of Transit and Automobile Planning Success
Yonah Freemark writes about the remarkable success of the boomtown of Calgary, Alberta—a city described as "a lot more like Dallas or Phoenix than Copenhagen."
Collective Bike Rides Tell a New Story about Justice on the Streets
Stephen Snell explains how bike-riding collectives change the story about the use of public space.
Vancouver Could Remove Parking Minimums for Condo Developments
Vancouver’s Transportation 2040 plan allowed for the easing of parking minimums for residential developments in parts of the city, and now city planners are beginning to explore where and how condos can be built without parking.

Removing a Vehicle Lane? It’s Not the End of the World
Most members of the public are still very skeptical that removing a vehicle lane won’t cause terrible congestion—especially on already busy streets. A recent articles details some of the counter arguments to those concerns.
Young Candidates Ride Anti-Sprawl Rhetoric to Mayoral Victories in Alberta
On Monday, Calgary elected anti-sprawl crusader Naheed Nenshi to a second term as Mayor. And in Edmonton, 34-year-old Don Iveson, "an up-and-coming hot shot of the same vein of progressive politics", was elected to replace the city's retiring mayor.
Will Calgary Floods Deliver Canada's Climate Wake-Up Call?
Calgary found out the hard way that you don't have to be a coastal city to experience the waterborne ravages of a changing climate. For years, warnings from scientists and analysts have been ignored. Will the "Great Flood" achieve what they couldn't?
Downtown Calgary Evacuated as Flood Waters Inundate City
Record flooding along the two rivers that flow through central Calgary, the Bow and Elbow, have forced the evacuation of the city's downtown and forced at least 75,000 residents to seek higher ground.

Reining in Sprawl Won't Be Easy; One of Canada's Worst Offenders Shows Why
With its progressive mayor and recent examples of exemplary architecture and urbanism, you'd think alternatives to sprawl would be an easy sell in Calgary. Unfortunately, you'd be wrong, says Christopher Hume.
Toronto's Skyline Has High Ambitions Despite Housing Bubble Concerns
By a ratio of two-to-one, Toronto is far outpacing NYC in terms of high-rises and skyscrapers currently under construction. As other Canadian cities follow suit, Jim Flaherty, Canada's Finance Minister, is taking measures to cool the market.
Powerful Place-Making Meets Cowboy Culture
Returning home to Vancouver last week after taking in some of the 100th Anniversary world-famous Calgary Stampede, I find myself thinking about the relationship between city-defining events and place-making. I also couldn’t help remembering an unusual moment in my career that relates to the Stampede. In 2006 when I was 36, after 4 rounds of interviews, I found myself in a closed-door session with Vancouver's City Council. I was being recommended to Council to become the new Director of City Planning, replacing former Co-Directors Larry Beasley and Dr. Ann McAfee. Council was meeting me for the first time, before going in-camera to officially decide on my hiring.
Leveraging the Wisdom of Crowds through Participatory Platforms
New technologies are providing participatory platforms that allow individuals to share their ideas, interact with other's ideas, and work towards collaborative solutions to resolve problems or take advantage of opportunities. Kevin C. Desouza, PhD offers five guidelines to ensure that the use of such emerging technologies are maximized by practitioners.
Pagination
Urban Design for Planners 1: Software Tools
This six-course series explores essential urban design concepts using open source software and equips planners with the tools they need to participate fully in the urban design process.
Planning for Universal Design
Learn the tools for implementing Universal Design in planning regulations.
City of Albany
UCLA Lewis Center for Regional Policy Studies
Mpact (formerly Rail~Volution)
Chaddick Institute at DePaul University
City of Piedmont, CA
Great Falls Development Authority, Inc.
HUDs Office of Policy Development and Research