When Vancouver’s Charles Montgomery, a respected urbanist and author of the book “Happy City” recently called himself an “urban idealist,” I found the term intriguing. I have always struggled with the idealism of many urban planners and urbanists as we don’t live in an ideal world. But I also think we need both to create better cities.

While I might be called an urban idealist by some, I believe most of the time I am an urban realist. In fact, my mantra is “linking vision with reality.” I sometimes even wonder if I am too pragmatic.

In Calgary the urban idealist thinks “the +15 system destroys downtown’s street vitality” while the urban realist points out “downtown workers love the +15 system and that on weekdays both the +15 and streets are animated, while neither the +15 or the downtown core streets are vibrant on weekends or evenings as the office buildings are closed, so it isn’t the +15 that is cannibalizing the street vitality.”

Similarly, the urban idealist thinks “the best thing that could happen to Stephen Avenue and the other streets in the downtown would be to make them car free,” while the realist thinks downtown streets need to be multi-modal – cars, transit, bikes and people. In a recent chat with an experienced Calgary transportation engineer he told me it would be a mistake to remove traffic from Stephen Avenue year-round.

And when it comes to urban sprawl, the “urban idealist” thinks City of Calgary must stop building new communities on the edge of the city, to encourage (force) people to live in infill housing in existing neighbourhoods, while “urban realist” realize average infill housing today is too expensive and too small for the average Calgary family, which would mean more people living in edge cities like Airdrie, Cochrane, Okotoks and Chestermere, which are already growing faster than Calgary.

I thought it might be engaging to examine how urban idealists see “city building” dramatically differently than urban realists.

Murals / Public Art

The “urban idealist” thinks more murals and public art will attract more people to come downtown and stay longer, maybe even choose to live there. I wish that was true.

I love most of Calgary’s new murals and public art, but the “urban realist” in me says, “nobody, well maybe a few people, come downtown to wander around and look at the art.” I have travelled to 100+ cities and towns over the past 40+ years and I can probably count on one hand the number of public art pieces that have become “urban magnets,” i.e. attract people downtown.

My best example is Chicago’s Millennium Park with its two iconic sculpture: Cloud Gate (aka The Bean) by Anish Kapoor and Crown Fountain by Jaume Plensa. Yes, Calgary has its own Plensa sculpture, Wonderland, aka the White Head on the plaza in front of the Bow Office Tower. However, while there was a lot of excitement when it first appeared on the plaza in 2013, today it is now just part of the urban landscape, partly because it isn’t interactive like the two sculptures in Chicago’s Millennium Park.

Calgary’s BUMP (Beltline Urban Mural Project) with its 50+ murals, has been so popular with urban idealists, since it began in 2017, that it has expanded to become more city wide. This summer, BUMP will commission the creation of the tallest mural in the world, created by one of the world’s most famous graffiti artists. And while I love the murals, often stopping and taking pictures, I never (OK rarely) see anyone stopping to look at them.

Downtown Calgary is home to 100+ public artworks, there is one on almost every block. The downtown is literally an outdoor sculpture park, but I have never heard anyone say “I always take visiting family and friends downtown to see the public art.”

The “urban realist” knows that while public art helps humanize urban spaces and make streets pedestrian-friendly, but it rarely enough to attract people to come to them.

Iconic Architecture

The “urban idealist” says “if only we had better designed buildings, by famous architects, our downtown would be more interesting, attractive and vibrant.” Over the past 20 years, Calgary has added several signature downtown buildings and structures by internationally renowned architects.

The Bow office tower with Wonderland sculpture combines the work of two of the world’s most respected architect and artist.

Bow office tower was designed by one of the most famous architectural firms in the world – Foster + Partners. Its semi-circular shape was inspired by the curve in the Bow River as it passes through downtown.
National Music Center designed by Allied Works Architecture with its bold design that incorporates curvilinear shapes derived from the shapes of musical instruments.
Central Library designed by Snohetta, perhaps the world’s preeminent library design firm, also thinks outside the box with its curved wedge that looks a bit like a drift boat used for fly fishing on the Bow River and reflects the curve of the LRT tracks below it.
TELUS Sky designed by Bjarke Ingels Group (BIG for short) uses computer design software to create its tapered twisted shape that looks like a champagne bottle.
The vessel-like 707 Fifth office tower was designed by Skidmore, Ownings and Merill (SOM), who also designed the Burj Khalifa tower in Dubai, the world’s tallest man-made structure.

In addition, Calgary added two signature pedestrian bridges in the downtown over the Bow River – The Peace Bridge, designed by the world’s most famous bridge designer, Santiago Calatrava and The George C. King Bridge (aka Skipping Stone Bridge), designed by RFR.

Collectively, these projects read like a Who’s Who of modern architecture.

But the “urban realist” would ask, “Have these architectural gems put Calgary on the map of international design cities? Probably not.

Are Calgarians prouder of their city and its downtown because of these architectural gems? Probably a few, but not the many.”

Design cities have hundreds of people who come to the City Centre daily to enjoy architectural tours on foot, bus and boat. Unfortunately, this isn’t happening in Calgary even with the addition of several new “starchitect” buildings and public spaces.

Chicago’s architecture river cruises are very popular with tourists.

Calgary’s new Central Library is stunning inside and outside.

Calgary’s Peace Bridge is not only pedestrian friendly, but it makes for great photo shoots for wedding, grads etc. It is a must see for urban design nerds.

Parks / Plazas / Promenades

The “urban idealist” loves parks and plazas as a means of making urban neighbourhoods more attractive places to live, work and play – the more the merrier! They are always lamenting that we don’t have more streets without cars. Some might even go so far as to say, “urban idealists are anti-cars.”

The “urban realist” thinks it’s better to have a few signature parks and plazas that attract people of all ages and backgrounds. Better to have lots of people in a few public spaces, that are well maintained, programmed and full of a diversity of people who will feel safe to hang-out, rather lots of parks where many are mostly empty and apt to become home for undesirable activities.

The urban idealist would love to see more pedestrian promenades i.e., streets without cars. The realist also notes most of the great streets/districts are multi-modal i.e., they accommodate cars, pedestrians, transit and cyclists. Many North American cities experimented with downtown pedestrian malls in the past and most of them failed. Where they work best is along rivers, lakes and oceans, like Calgary’s Bow River Path between Shaw Millennium Park and Fort Calgary.

Heritage Preservation

When it comes to heritage preservation, the “urban idealist” thinks there are dozens of law and accounting firms, or restauranteurs waiting to occupy a new funky heritage building. On the flip side, the “urban realist” realizes many heritage buildings just don’t work for modern commercial uses. Look at how prime spaces on Stephen Avenue – Clarence Block and Alberta Hotel - have remained empty for years while the renovated Scotia Tower, now Stephen Avenue Place has gotten a major makeover at street level and attracted a major restaurant group to create for new food hub at street level.

The reason the developers of the proposed Stephen Avenue Quarters want to keep only the facades of the Stephen Avenue heritage buildings is they know that to attract prime new tenants, they need spaces with the infrastructure that meet the needs of modern retail and restaurant tenants.

Stephen Avenue Walk has been home to 30+ preserved heritage buildings for 20 years, but many of their tenants struggled to be viable even before COVID and high downtown office vacancy rates.

Commercial Spaces

When it comes to street retail and restaurants, the “urban idealist” thinks the more commercial space the better; every new City Centre residential, office and public building should have commercial space at street level for a potential café, restaurant, fitness studio, pub or boutique. They seek to think there is an endless number of local entrepreneurs and chain stores just waiting to open a new location. Talk to any commercial relator and they will tell you there is a limited number of local and chain stores looking for spaces in any city.

The “urban realist” agrees that there is only a limited market to support the commercial spaces and that not every building will support retail at street level. Therefore, commercial spaces at grade should be strategically placed to create a cluster that will succeed. The realist accepts and understands that good main streets have only two or three blocks of successful commercial spaces.

Many of the commercial spaces at the base of new condos in City Centres remain vacant for years before they attract a tenant. This one in Calgary’s Beltline has never been occupied. It has been vacant since 2018.

Last Word

As I said earlier, in some ways I am an “urban idealist” as I love the addition of murals and public art to our City Centre, I enjoy walking by historical buildings rather than bland corporate facades, and I love people watching in urban parks, plazas and promenades.

But the “urban realist” in me thinks, what is most important in terms of creating sustainable urban vitality is what happens inside the buildings and in the parks and plazas. It the quality and unique experiences of the exhibitions, performances, food, fashion, festivals and events that will keep people coming back - not the architecture, public art and urban design.

Circling back to the beginning, What makes for a happy city is different for different people! While some want to live in more dense transit-oriented communities with attractive and animated public spaces, others love the privacy their single family home communities and driving to the shopping mall. There is no ideal city or community that is going to make everyone happy!

If you like this blog you will like these links:

City Centre urban renewal is often just urban annibalism?

Do we really need all of this public art?

Embracing The Suburbs: Let’s Be More Proactive!

City Building: Urban Idealist vs Urban Realist