Geography Reference
In-Depth Information
expansion, which is surely the opposite of SG principles that are against sprawl.
However there are some useful initiatives related to conservation and a regional
transportation plan, although the latter is still very limited.
Despite these depressing conclusions, there is a unique community in Calgary
that does contain several, but not all, of the SG principles. Quarry Park is unlike the
other new urbanism designs since it is a
real
mixed use development, although in
some ways it is more like an office park with houses (Fig.
2.3
). The area is being
developed on a site of an old river gravel quarry that has been subsequently built up
to a metre above grade as a flood precaution measure, together with a berm along
the river bank. When complete, it is expected to contain 1.7 million sq. ft. of offices
and 2200 residential units, split between single family units, town houses and apart-
ments. Many of these are designed with what are claimed to be French countryside
and Georgian influences, with steep pitched roofs, brick facades and timbered ac-
cents. In addition it has a large commercial area, with distinctive streetscapes based
on the use of mansard style roofs and various pastel shades, together with symbolic
centre-pieces, such as a building with a distinctive 'town' clock and a fountain en-
closed by a complex sculpture imitating an old iron-work lattice design (Fig.
2.3
).
The colour and design co-ordination of the shopping centre buildings is in complete
contrast to the usual suburban shopping centres in the city, where each unit has a dif-
ferent design and colour, producing a confusing and inharmonious visual m￩lange.
The development also includes a central lake and canal that acts as a storm-water
system, for in heavy storms the run-off from all the parking areas for offices and
shopping centre can be considerable. So the lake has a water lift pumping system
that drains the excess water into the nearby Bow river, rather than depending upon
a cutting to the river which could back-up in times of flood. In addition there are
many green areas with 15 km of pathways planned. Unlike neo-traditional designs
it has extensive parking, needed for the offices and the large supermarket that pre-
dated the development of the rest of the commercial area. The community is bor-
dered by suburbs built in the 1980s, which presumably means that children from the
area will go to schools in these surrounding areas as there is no school planned for
Quarry Park although there will be a large day care. The distinctive feature of the
development is the large number of office buildings in the area. Hence, it will act as
a subsidiary office employment core in the city, which is the main headquarters of
oil and gas companies in Canada, enabling people to live close to work, one of the
failures of most neo-traditional designs since few contain much employment. The
area has attracted major tenants such as the headquarters of major companies, such
as Imperial Oil and Canadian Pacific Railroads, which will move from the central
city, as well as a number of regional firms.
2.5.3
Urban Villages (UV)
Urban Villages are a variant of NU design that Grant (
2006
) claims is predomi-
nantly European in origin. The roots of these ideas are mixed (Franklin and Tait
2002
). The concept was first promoted in the 1980s by the Urban Villages Group in
