Random art can be found in Suburban parks all around North America. If the artist who designed this was a little more famous (Convergence – Haddad|Drugan) then this could be a world class piece. It cost about a million dollars, if the art cost 100m it would be world famous. This is only half the art, see it all and read about it here.
Art pieces surround this Shane Homes YMCA, the largest YMCA in the world. Is suburbia so boring when one can find a 200 million dollar, 26,400 m2 community sports facility in what most would call the middle of nowhere? There is a hockey rink, a few gymnasiums, a theatre, a running track, gyms, studios, a climbing wall, a wave pool, a competitive swimming pool and a whole bunch of other things.
This is the walking entrance to the YMCA, it's a boardwalk over a swamp. While row housing can be seen in the background, they have incorporated a lot of natural space in the community making it more livable for all. Dozens of species of ducks and birds live here, I've seen muskrats and there are probably lots of fish and amphibians.
Behind the YMCA somewhere is a campus of the University of Calgary for studying wildlife and farm animals. It's probably a veterinarian campus. It's sort of neat seeing llamas and other farm animals next to the city.
Ravines or Coulees criss cross the city, draining the prairies into the Bow and Saskatchewan River System. These parks are surrounded by mostly dethatched single family houses but one often finds moose, deer, foxes, coyotes, rabbits, and all sorts of wildlife here.
There are paved and natural trails all around the city, with over 1000 km of bike paths and many more miles of walking paths these networks are what elevate Calgary to being one of the most livable cities on Earth.
We go for walks almost every night and as you can see it barely looks like we are walking around a city.
Here's a view from the fall when the Aspens turn golden yellow. This time of year they are filling the skies with fluff.
This is one of the other ponds that dot the area, there are thousands of ponds throughout the city and suburbs providing natural space for humans, animals and plants.
Winter isn't quite as attractive except due to the lack of fires, the skies are generally very clear. Those mountains are 50-60 kilometers away and this is a phone camera. They are as clear as day.
This area is called the Rotary / Mattamy greenway, it's a transit and utility corridor which makes up the Calgary Ring Road. While highways are ugly, keeping a 500 foot or 150m buffer not only provides a wide open prairie landscape for various critters, it also keeps down noise and pollution. Highways are essential to get around and a great road system keeps traffic down and is another reason why Calgary is one of the most livable cities. The move to kill major roads ruined some cities where now the outer residents suffer in hour plus commututes and constant traffic jams...not here.
Here's another view from the ring road, it was just completed, all 101 kilometers at a cost of 4 billion dollars. This photo was taken in the middle of the day, note the light traffic. Before you say it's going to get backed up, more lanes means more traffic, no it won't. There's a large Tsuu T'ina Nation 145 community here that will never become a city between here and the mountains. There is also a lot of protected farmland and a lack of water permits which makes large suburban expansions to the west almost impossible.
One city west of Calgary, is called Cochrane, here's a nice bench someone donated placed near the Bow River. This is one of the fastest growing cities in Alberta, but due to water permit restrictions, it's going to be capped at under 50,000 people which will help it keep a lovely small town vibe.
I'll leave you with one last photo from the early Spring here. This is overlooking the intersection of two major highways. You can barely notice them since the wide park hides the roads. There is also a train station below which can get one anywhere downtown in less than thirty minutes. While the walkability to shops or stores isn't great here, walking around for leisure sure is.
Thanks for reading
All photos taken with an s22 or iphone 13pro and are unfiltered.
