Calgary: Putting the PARK into PARKing!

COVID-19 has been a good thing when it comes to enhancing urban living in Calgary’s  city centre. With the decreased demand in parking, it made it easier for Calgary Parking Authority to convert underutilized parking spaces into temporary (maybe permanent) park spaces. Technically they are more like plazas than parks as they have hard surfaces, but we won’t let facts get in the way of a good story title.  Finally, we have learned to share spaces between vehicles and people.  Let’s hope these experiments work and we can put more PARKs into PARKing lots. 

Inglewood’s PARK PARK

On Inglewood’s main street (aka 9th Ave SE) at 11th St. S.E., the Calgary Parking Authority’s surface parking lot #43 was converted into playful, colourful, cheerful, multi-user space. The entire parking lot - from the asphalt to the new structures - is painted green, yellow, pink and red. It reminds me of a package of Sweet Tarts. There is seating for picnics, a place to charge your phone and even a reading spot with a Little Free Library.  

At the same time, PARK PARK is still a parking lot for vehicles, but it is also a playground for the community. You can even rent the space for a special event – it would be a great place for a kids birthday party – of course this might have to wait until to post COVID.   

PARK PARK is very cool; you can’t help but smile when you walk by.  It is a great addition to  Calgary’s original main street. It is too much FUN!

PARK PARK, opened in late August, is a two-year placemaking experiment.  Let’s hope it works and can become permanent and expanded to other surface parking lots in other city centre communities.

Beltline’s High Park

In early October, High Park opened on the roof of the Calgary Parking Authority’s City Centre Parkade along 10th Avenue from 2nd St to 4th St. SW.  Like PARK PARK, the old parking surface has been painted bright colours and various “stations” have been created for people to interact with.  It has become a popular place for taking photos, not only of the unique views it offers of the downtown and Beltline, but also for weddings, engagements and modelling photos.  It is has also a popular place for birthday parties and for young kids to run, ride and play.  Kids love to run along the 200-metre long boardwalk, while other use the outer perimeter as a running track.   

While plans for the creation of High Park happened before COVID-19, the pandemic increased the demand for more outdoor places in the Beltline (Calgary’s densest community) where people could get fresh air and social distance.  And the decreased in demand for downtown parking made it easy for Calgary Parking Authority to create this funky new park. 

Parkade Facade Becomes A Canvas

In many ways, the City Centre Parkade’s rooftop has been transformed into a huge horizontal mural, complementing the those on the side of the parkade as part of BUMP (Beltline Urban Mural Projects). 

On the west side of the parkade is Kevin Ledo’s, depiction of a Cree woman in traditional dress painted, while Guido Van Helten’s abstract painting of what looks like folds of a blanket, or maybe an elephant’s ear adorns the east side. And this past summer, Ankh One created a colourful flower garden mural at the 10thStreet S.W. entrance to the parkade that has been a two-block long blank wall for far too long.  

We all know blank walls create an uninviting and for some an unsafe pedestrian experience.  

Thanks to BUMP organizers for recognizing this and rectifying it with its ambitious project to convert blank walls into murals, and in the process transform the Beltline into a huge art park.

There are 40+ new murals to date, with more in the works.   

Park City Architecture

Both of these projects were designed by Winnipeg’s PUBLIC CITY ARCHITECTURE a firm known for its pursuit of winter urbanism, pleasure, and a driving commitment to the quality of multi-seasonal public realms. They have a long list of designs that are colourful and playful.  Park City Architecture have been identified by Azure and the Globe & Mail as one of Canada’s most exciting and distinct emerging design practices. 

Last Word

These new playful parks in parking lots will definitely help make urban living in Calgary’s city centre more attractive not only for existing Beltline and Inglewood residents, but for those looking at moving into the many new residential developments in the immediate area - Park Central, SODO, UPTEN in the Beltline; and AVL on Atlantic, Irvine, South Bank and in Inglewood.  

Kudos to Calgary Parking Authority (CPA) for working with the Inglewood and Beltline community and business associations to pilot new ideas. Let’s hope they are both successful and we can create more unique places for people to meet, play and hang out in our city centre.  And yes practice social distancing for the time being.

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