City measures progress towards 60-year vision

The population in Calgary’s older neighbourhoods is starting to grow again and Calgary is 10 per cent denser, according to a report by The City of Calgary. The report is the first monitoring report released on the progress being made towards the 60-year goals outlined in the Municipal Development Plan and Calgary Transportation Plan.

There are 14 indicators used in the report to track The City’s progress towards the vision for Calgary that was shaped through the PlanIt Calgary process five years ago. Of these, eight indicators have shown that The City is moving in the right direction, three have not changed since they were last measured and three have moved farther away from the goals of the Municipal Development Plan and Calgary Transportation Plan.

“We have made some good progress on important aspects of how we plan new communities over the last few years,” said Michele Broadhurst, Manager of City Wide Planning & Design in the Planning, Development & Assessment department. “New communities are denser and have a better mix of development so that people can live and work in the same neighbourhood, and can also have their daily needs met closer to home.”

Another area where the report shows good progress is transit access. The Municipal Development Plan and Calgary Transportation Plan have identified major transit routes across the city where frequent and rapid transit options will be available. The City’s goal is to have 67 per cent of Calgarians living within 400 metres of this network, and the report shows that Calgary is already over halfway there.

“It is important that we give Calgarians multiple options for getting around without needing to use cars,” said Chris Blaschuk, Manager of Transportation Strategy in the Transportation department. “The better access people have to transit, the more likely they are to see it as a good alternative to driving.”

The report also identified some areas where improvement is needed if Calgary is going to realize its 60-year vision. The car is still the most popular way of getting around and auto use has actually increased as a percentage of all transportation options used. The percentage of Calgary covered by hard surfaces has also increased, which can have an impact on the health of our waterways.

It is important to note that while this report is a good first picture of The City’s progress, many of the things the Municipal Development Plan and Calgary Transportation Plan aim to change take several years to actually show. Since the gap between when new development is planned and when it is fully built is often several years, most of the trends shown in the 2013 Monitoring Report are actually the result of decisions made before the Municipal Development Plan and Calgary Transportation Plan were complete.

For more information or to read the full report, please visit www.calgary.ca/MDP.

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