Curb Magazine - Winter/Spring 2010

M AGA Z IN E

University of Alberta | Faculty of Extension | City-Region Studies Centre

PLACES | SPACES | PEOPLE Winter/Spring 2010

Transportation & Quality of Life Capital Region Capture Photo Contest Winning photos of places and spaces in the Capital Region

Is Graffiti Art? | Farmers Feed Cities Growing Forward? Co-operation in the Capital Region Understanding Partnerships | Lessons from Portland | Overflowing City

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An interview with Dr. Eric Miller, Regional Planning Speaker Series presenter

contents

M AG A Z I N E

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Letter from the Editor

by Tonya Davidson

Topics Public Spaces On the Graffiti Question

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Is Graffiti Art?

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by Ondine Park

by Amy Macdonald

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Sustainability Farmers Feed Cities

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by University of Alberta Researchers

Governance Growing Forward?

10 Co-operation in the Capital Region

by Barb McLean

FeatureS Transportation and Quality of Life 12 Howie Phung interviews transportation expert Dr. Eric Miller from the University of Toronto’s Cities Centre.

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Capital Region Capture Photo Contest Winners from our inaugural photo contest are announced.

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Campus University of Alberta Conducts City-Region Research

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by Howie Phung

Understanding Partnerships

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by Howie Phung and Amy Macdonald

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Lessons from Portland

by Howie Phung

Curb Appeal & CurbSide 22

Overflowing City

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Rob Shields provides closing thoughts on cities, regions, sustainability and creativity.

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Are Canadian Cities Unlovable? 23

by Tonya Davidson Cover photo: Spiral by Jeffrey Chin

Curb Magazine Publisher City-Region Studies Centre, University of Alberta Managing Editor Howie Phung Associate Editor Tonya Davidson Art Director John Smith, Artsmith

Contributors Amy Macdonald Barb McLean Ondine Park Howie Phung Rob Shields To submit articles, subscribe, or support Curb, please contact us for more information.

Contributing Art Editor Yvonne Lee City-region studies centre UniversitY of alberta

City-Region Studies Centre Faculty of Extension – Enterprise Square 2-184, 10230 Jasper Avenue Edmonton, AB, Canada T5J 4P6 Email: crsc@ualberta.ca Phone: (780) 492-9957 Fax: (780) 492-9596

www.crsc.ualberta.ca

Tonya Davidson

A curb is a frequent feature of cities, as the margin between the pedestrian and tricycle-friendly sidewalk and the fast-paced realm of the car.

This thin strip of concrete, easily tripped on or accidentally run over, can also be seen as a threshold, a boundary and a site of possibility. A curb is the place where you decide between joining the speed of the road or enjoying the safety of the sidewalk.

At Curb Magazine, we are interested in many in-between and hybrid spaces, including the material and conceptual places between cities and the country, city-regions, towns and suburbs. We hope to inspire you, our readers, to explore both sides of the curb, to play on the edge of traditional boundaries

between cities and regions and to reconsider what those boundaries mean.

Curb Magazine is published by the City-Region Studies Centre (CRSC), an engaged research centre in the Faculty of Extension, University of Alberta. Like the CRSC, Curb Magazine examines issues pertinent to the Alberta Capital Region and to city-regions around the world. It provides a way for the Centre to reach out to the community, showcasing not only its own research but also ideas and activities generated in its research space. We focus on some central themes: sustainability, public space, transportation, housing and governance. But our contributors will also examine public art, land use planning, architecture and just about anything that has to do with the public realm.

In this issue, you’ll find articles about

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LETTER FROM THE EDITOR

the rural, the urban and the urban-rural.

Ondine Park and Amy Macdonald offer insights into the philosophical, historic and esthetic dimensions of urban graffiti.

Howie Phung talks to transportation expert Dr. Eric Miller about the connection between transportation, land use and quality of life. In the exploration of urban-rural relationships, a team of researchers looks at the state of farmers’ markets in Alberta and their ecological, social and economic impacts. Barb McLean offers a take on Alberta’s Capital Region Board and considers the need for and the challenges of this type of collaboration among municipalities.

You’ll also find updates on CRSC activities by Howie Phung and insights from the Centre’s research director, Dr. Rob Shields, into how the complexity of cities has overwhelmed our conceptual capacity to understand them.

We look forward to any feedback regarding this issue, and we welcome articles, letters or other contributions.

We hope this issue of Curb inspires thought into the many ways that cities, regions, rural communities, academics, politicians and artists can come together, if even momentarily, on a thin slice of concrete.

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public spaces

Photo by Cristina Nunes

On the Graffiti Question Ondine Park

What does it mean

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that swastikas occasionally appear in public transit or on various surfaces in downtown Edmonton? Most residents of the

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Capital Region likely see them as clear examples of vandalism and blight. Many would probably agree that the graffiti should be eradicated immediately and that those who are responsible should be punished in some way.

If, as is often the case, someone comes along and scratches out the swastika or transforms it into a very different sort of image (for example, transforms it into the teeth of a smiling face or adds “= stupid”), should the same punishment be meted out to this person? Is this vandalism? What is the role or the duty of the individual to beautify or reappropriate the spaces of the city?

And if someone paints a mural of a forest on the side of an abandoned building in a community otherwise marked by dilapidated buildings and boarded-up windows, should this also

be considered blight? Should it be eradicated immediately? Would erasing the unauthorized mural erase its implicit critique or the hope it represents for something better?

Much public discussion about graffiti centres on the question of graffiti itself, in particular along the spectrum of whether graffiti can be justified or even appreciated. The question of what to do about graffiti is an even more prevalent, and often more pressing, discussion.

But these reactions focus on graffiti as something that already exists and has already been branded as a problem. A more fundamental question — one that, I might suggest, is more important to the public good — asks: what does graffiti tell us?

Part of the problem in trying to come up with a single “solution” to the question of graffiti is that it is not a single problem.

Not a Simple Problem Graffiti is produced for many different reasons and intentions. Some graffitists simply wish to proclaim their existence or make an account of themselves.

City-region studies centre UniversitY of alberta

Familiar examples include the ubiquitous “_____ was here” (perhaps most famously “Kilroy was here” from the Second World War era), declarations of love or scorn (“H.C. + B.R.” or “Fred is a loser”) or simply someone’s name, often etched onto historic landmarks.

Graffiti is an important and deliberate element of some subcultures, including hip hop, where it is a meaningful practice that requires a degree of skill. Graffiti tags (a writer’s characteristic signature, akin to a logo) are not dissimilar to rappers’ penchant for rhyming about themselves. This kind of graffiti is an exuberant and pointed demonstration of the author’s skills, creativity and audacity. Its primary audience is others in the community who can appreciate, interpret and possibly even respond to the work.

Street art is a type of graffiti that uses images, arrangements and slogans rather than tags. It’s usually directed at the broad public, so it lends itself to ready interpretation and provocation.

Many street artists look at blank spaces in the urban fabric as “free” canvases upon which to make art. Some think of their work as liberating art from institutions and other elite or private spheres. Many want to provoke thought or action on political or social issues.

While not all graffiti writers or street artists are trying to make a political statement, all do, by their very inscriptions, interpret and use urban space differently than prescribed by the dominant culture.

As a result, their work invites (or forces)

Graffiti Raises Complicated Questions Further complicating the issue are the arguments made against graffiti. They raise questions applicable not only to graffiti: questions of esthetic judgment (Is it beautiful? Is it ugly? Who gets to decide?), concerns over content (Is it offensive? Is it provocative? Is it boring?) and justifications for its presence (Should it be allowed? Does it have a place in the region?). The same kinds of questions

can be asked of anything in the public sphere, including people (Should people wear ugly clothes?), the built environment (Is sprawl harmful?) and advertising (Should ads be permitted in public spaces?). Graffiti raises philosophical

asking and what might be done.

Ultimately, those who control public spaces decide what will be allowed in those spaces. If there is such a thing as a public sphere, then the way those decision are made — the process of

Ultimately, those who control public spaces decide what will be allowed in those spaces. questions and concerns — esthetic, moral and ontological — that elude consensus.

If graffiti raises complicated philosophical questions, and even its reason for being defies narrow categorization, then the question of what to do about it must be considered from the perspective of who is doing the

coming to decisions about it — should also be public. Such decisions should involve a democratic process and a meaningful discussion of public space itself. Public space should be available to the expression of joys, woes and commentary by its citizenry. We, the citizens and communities of the Capital Photo by Morris Chirka

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passersby to experience or interpret space differently.

The diversity of graffiti resists a singular approach to understanding it.

And the meaning of graffiti can go far beyond the intentions of the writer or artist.

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public spaces

Region, must resist an apathetic drift toward abandoning the public sphere or allowing an aggressive appropriation of public space by private interests.

How Can We Heed the Messages?

How might we in the Capital Region pay heed to graffiti, beyond simply reacting when it appears, in order to look for the social commentary it may be making?

How can we take what is often understood to be destructive and see it as presenting

a challenge to improve our public spaces and, beyond that, our public sphere? How can we see graffiti as more than a visible affront to public space? Can we read it as being about unequal access to self-expression, about uneven presence in the public sphere, about a failure to connect communities, about competition for limited resources? Can we read graffiti otherwise?

Public programs that only deal with graffiti when it appears rarely attempt to address deeper social or political issues

that may be underlying its presence.

Does removing political graffiti and street art remove political dissent? Does erasing gang graffiti erase the gangs themselves? If we vigilantly erase swastikas, symbols of racism and hatred that have been drawn in our public spaces, do we also erase the deeper and perhaps more intractable issues that may be lurking within our public sphere?

Is a blank city a safe city?

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Photo by Emilio Pereira

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City-region studies centre UniversitY of alberta

Is Graffiti Art? Amy Macdonald

workers in London painted over a graffiti mural on the side of a building — not an uncommon occurrence in cities around the world.

However, this particular mural had been painted by Banksy, the notorious yet anonymous graffiti artist. The building owner had in fact given the artist consent for the mural to be painted and was reported to be in tears at the sight of the workers’ black paint covering up the mural. Although a councillor commenting on the incident claimed that “the council's position is not to make a judgement call on whether graffiti is art,” its action of ordering the mural to be covered may suggest otherwise.

In the scope of long-standing debates about what defines art, graffiti is a relatively new development. Nonetheless, it has inspired passionate arguments for and against classifying it as art (and, of course, arguments falling between those extremes).

Graffiti Is Art In the 1970s and 1980s, graffiti gained significant acceptance in institutional art circles, with artists who honed their skills in urban space such as Jean-Michel Basquiat seeking, and being sought by, high-profile galleries to exhibit their work. Interest in graffiti from this sphere waned into the 1990s, but recent works by famed graffitist Banksy and other in-demand graffitists have been exhibited, and their pieces sold at very high prices. Angelina Jolie is rumoured to have spent in the ballpark of $350,000 on his work.

In addition to some art critics and gallery owners, voices in favour of classifying graffiti as art include some graffiti artists themselves. Graffiti artists may find a lot in common with more traditional artists. Although graffiti began with a competitive focus on quantity of “tags” (signatures unique to different graffitists), styles of graffiti have since evolved with the intention to, in Banksy’s words, “make the world a better looking place.” Graffiti murals by many artists now involve intricate, detailed, creative depictions rather than

Angelina Jolie is rumoured to have spent in the ballpark of $350,000 on Banksy's work. solely signatures. However, not all observers agree that the esthetic goal is attained.

Graffiti has also been credited as an almost democratic assertion of power in the face of the increasing encroachment of private (corporate or commercial) interests into public space. As such, some consider graffiti to fulfill an esthetic and potentially transformative function in urban as well as institutionalized spaces.

These considerations could form a compelling argument to include graffiti among the ranks of art proper.

Graffiti Isn’t Art That said, not everyone views graffiti’s transformative potential in a positive light. Common complaints about graffiti address a range of factors, from contentious subject matter to esthetic judgments of ugliness, all of which may complicate its classification as art. The

other high-profile graffitists have been accused of “selling out” graffiti’s creative and critical potential by making large amounts of money from their work.

So … Is It Art? Just as the debate over the definition of true art has no clear solution, the debate over the status of graffiti may have no one convincing answer. Complex debates and uncertain definitions of private and public space, art and criminal activity, subversive commentary and commercialized popular culture are implicated in discussions of graffiti.

However, although we may not be able to firmly classify graffiti’s artistic status, the debate is valuable in itself as a means of fostering discussion about these terms in the context of urban space and esthetic experience.

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In September 2009,

fact that it is an illegal act in most jurisdictions has prompted many governments, including those of Chicago, New York City and Edmonton, to undertake systematic action against it although governmental and popular reception varies from city to city.

Graffiti’s illegal status, combined with its historical (and continuing) association with other illegal and (arguably) non-artistic uses of urban space (e.g. drug dealing and gang activity) may cause hesitation to accord it artistic merit.

While some find graffiti too subversive, for others it is not subversive enough.

Companies such as Nike and IBM have enlisted the help of graffitists in marketing campaigns, with varying degrees of success. As the lines between art and commerce blur, Banksy and

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sustainability

Farmers Feed Cities:

Farmers’ Markets as Social and Economic Drivers of Local Food Systems Bestselling books like The 100-Mile Diet and

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The Omnivore’s Dilemma have ignited widespread interest in local food systems. While a

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100-mile diet in Alberta might seem restrictively reliant on beet soup and potato pancakes, the boom in farmers’ markets in Alberta in the past decade indicates that Albertans are also passionate about local food systems. It’s no wonder, then, that farmers’ markets in Alberta are thriving. But beyond being a place to buy and sell locally produced goods, farmers’ markets are gathering places, educational and entertainment venues, and business incubators. They play an integral role in their communities and regions.

A Brief History of Farmers’ Markets in Alberta The current popularity of farmers’ markets in Alberta is not unprecedented.

Up until the 1900s, farmers’ markets were widespread in Alberta, serving as

gathering places for rural and urban citizens. Their popularity faded, however, during the 1950s and 1960s with the increased adoption of urban “lifestyles” that value the convenience and availability of exotic and out-of-season foods.

In 1972, there were only four markets in Alberta. But within the past 10 years this number has risen to 105 registered Alberta Approved farmers’ markets. According to Statistics Canada (2008), Alberta now supports the third largest number of farmers’ markets and other direct-sales agriculture ventures in Canada, after Ontario and British Columbia.

Local food systems refer to the region where food is grown, processed and sold, often within a 100-mile radius of an urban centre. Their current popularity can be seen in the proliferation of activities, organizations and businesses involved in the development of local food systems. Farmers’ markets are key to local food systems. They strengthen the demand for and supply of local goods and services within and beyond the market. In many cases, they also influence

City-region studies centre UniversitY of alberta

the social, economic and environmental dimensions of the communities they operate in.

Economic Impact According to a national survey conducted this year on behalf of Farmers’ Market Canada (www.farmersmarketscanada. ca), the direct economic impact of Canadian markets is estimated at $1.5 billion, with indirect economic spinoffs elevating this figure to $3.09 billion.

Demand for locally produced goods is strong, and vendors, market staff and local businesses are meeting this demand with innovative product development and creative marketing.

Markets foster entrepreneurship and collaboration. The Innisfail Growers (www.innisfailgrowers.com), a marketing co-operative, is a good example. It consists

The direct economic impact of Canadian farmers' markets is estimated at $1.5 billion. of five families who grow and raise products suitable for direct marketing.

Through the co-op, members work together to sell a wider variety and a larger quantity of fresh produce to more than 20 markets in central Alberta.

Farmers’ markets also contribute to healthier, integrated and more prosperous communities as a result of locally directed spending. Income is generated for those who “make, bake and grow” local food and other products. This

Social Impact People like farmers’ markets simply because they are places to interact with others and learn about their community.

Through this direct interaction, vendors learn how to adapt, expand and diversify their own product offerings. Customers learn about food, seasonality and agriculture as well as the importance of supporting local producers. Community market volunteers gain and enhance existing skills and add to the valuable social networks of their communities.

And for amateur entertainers, the market is not only a place to demonstrate their talents and promote themselves but also a venue to make a little money and add a little cheer to the atmosphere.

When a market is built by strengthening human relationships, it can become a powerful mainstay that affects planning, policy and citizen engagement.

Ecological Impact Farmers’ markets can also positively influence the environmental quality of communities by reducing the use of fossil fuels in the transportation of goods to the market, reducing packaging and reducing the use of agrochemicals in response to increasing demand for organic and low-input farming systems. Some markets ban the use of plastic bags, providing recycling and compost bins as well as reusable coffee mugs on site.

Perhaps the most important ecological impact of markets is their contribution to the preservation of farmland and more sustainable farming practices.

Through increasing demand for local, fresh and healthy food, farmers’

Farmers’ markets enable farmers to continue farming in ways that respect the integrity of the environment and the viability of rural communities. markets enable farmers to continue farming in ways that respect the integrity of the environment and the viability of rural communities. Growing awareness of the important role of community food security also puts agriculture and food systems on the agenda of city and town planners.

Opportunities and Challenges for Farmers’ Markets Great potential exists for farmers’ markets to strengthen and influence the social, economic and ecological development of an area. However, a number of challenges or barriers also exist, such as the lack of permanent infrastructure or tenure, limited venues for year-round sales, lack of agreement on market regulations, unrealistic policies that are unsupportive of small-scale local producers, high competition to vend in a few key urban markets and a dwindling number of farmers and vendors.

In Alberta and British Columbia, B.C.-Alberta Research Alliance on the Social Economy (BALTA) researchers are looking into how to address these challenges. BALTA is also exploring opportunities such as the increasing demand for local food and how vendors and markets can meet it. With such strong interest in a 100-mile diet, one thing is sure: farmers' markets will continue making a positive impact on their communities and regions.

This article has been adapted from an article published in The Market Express (Summer 2009, Issue 3). It draws from research currently underway in Alberta and British Columbia that is examining the current and potential role of farmer’s markets in developing local food systems. Members of the research team include (in alphabetical order) Dr. Mary Beckie, Eva Bogdan, Emily Huddart-Kennedy and Melisa Zapisocky at the University of Alberta; Paul Cabaj at the Canadian Centre for Community Renewal; and Herb Barbolet, Chris Hergesheimer and Dr. Hannah Wittman at Simon Fraser University. This study is part of BALTA, the B.C.-Alberta Research Alliance on the Social Economy, which is the westernmost node of a federally funded national research initiative on the social economy.

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translates into the creation of urban and rural jobs, more diversified or specialty products, and more opportunities for surrounding economic development.

The benefits of the “spillover” or “multiplier” effect of business transactions occurring in and beyond the marketplace are vital to community economic growth.

One study in Vancouver found that businesses surrounding farmers’ markets more than doubled their sales on days when farmers’ markets were open.

Furthermore, the presence of a farmers’ market enhances the area's desirability to prospective residents and businesses.

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governance

Growing Forward?

Co-operation in the Capital Region Barb McLean

The Alberta Capital

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Region encompasses 25 vibrant, growing municipalities. The

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municipalities that surround Edmonton are home to many of the region’s higher income residents as well as much of its manufacturing and industrial base.

Edmonton, as the largest municipality in the region, provides many of its recreation facilities, arts and business centres, and supports for lower income residents. As such, Edmonton has voiced concern over bearing a larger percentage of the costs related to infrastructure, affordable housing and recreation than its neighbours. Edmonton’s neighbours, on the other hand, have often accused it of trying to poach their economic resources. Over the years, this relationship has grown increasingly adversarial, and all attempts to arrive at collaborative regional governance have failed.

In response, the Government of Alberta amended the Municipal Government Act in April 2008. The new regulation

mandated the creation of the Capital Region Board, charged with developing and implementing a regional growth and development plan.

Creating a New Culture of Co-operation Co-operation among the 25 member municipalities is critical to the success of any regional structure. From the beginning, there was an understanding that, beyond the need to work together to create a plan, the CRB needed to create a new culture of co-operation.

The way it was structured and governed, then, would be critical to its success.

The legislation included mandatory participation from all municipalities involved. History had shown that voluntary participation, combined with an unwillingness to co-operate, would lead to failure. The hope was that mandatory participation would finally get all the municipalities to play together — and hopefully play nicely.

City-region studies centre UniversitY of alberta

The CRB regulation attempted to create a culture of co-operation through a “double majority” voting structure, which would be used in instances where consensus could not be reached or where deadlines were in danger of being missed. The voting structure requires both a minimum number of votes (17) and a minimum population percentage (75 per cent). Furthermore, if any municipality did decide to opt out by not attending the meeting, its vote would be cast in the affirmative on the issue at hand (Capital Region Board Regulation, 2008: S. 5). By focusing on consensus first, the voting structure was intended to create co-operation within the CRB membership. Having the ability to push an issue to a vote also encouraged timely decisions that would help the board meet its mandate.

The legislation also created a dispute resolution mechanism. It specifies a first step of attempting to resolve the complaint informally through discussions and negotiations between members. If that is unsuccessful, the matter advances to mediation, though the regulation does not outline a procedure. Finally, if mediation fails, the issue is referred to an arbiter for a ruling.

Growing Forward Meetings of the Capital Region Board began in May 2008. At its April 16, 2009, meeting, the Board presented Growing Forward: The Capital Region Growth Plan. The document includes 10-year plans for three of four priority areas:

transit, housing and geographic information system. An extension was granted for the land use plan, to December 31, 2009. The plan was passed by a 19-6 margin (with one vote cast in absentia). The details of the plan will not be explored here, but it is clear that regional co-operation and partnership will be key to its success.

Alberta’s Capital Region has been struggling to form some sort of regional governance partnership for the better part of the century.

Photo by Sandy Phimester

Future of the Capital Region Board

Photo by Artvet

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Alberta’s Capital Region has been struggling to form some sort of regional governance partnership for the better part of a century. A long history of acrimony and mistrust could be the biggest hurdle facing the Capital Region Board. While the CRB succeeded in producing the growth plan set out in its mandate, not all municipalities were supportive. It seems acrimony and mistrust still linger.

Parkland County mayor Robert Weideman, voicing his opposition to the Growing Forward plan, said: “Many months ago, I said this process will pit municipality against municipality, and it has. It has caused backdoor dealing and special meetings among some CRB members, but not all.” He did not elaborate on which members he thought were making deals, but his comments highlighted the continued mistrust within the CRB. Information about the CRB process was not shared widely with the public.

The decision was made to keep “the minutes to a minimum by recording motions and direction,” without making those recordings available to the public (Capital Region Board minutes, June 11, 2008). In addition, it was decided that 50 per cent of every meeting, and sometimes more than that, would be held in camera.

It is important to note that while in camera meetings, lack of public documentation and accusations of backroom dealing may point to an absence of democratic processes, they may also reflect the need for frank discussion and compromise. In a politically heated and acrimonious environment, negotiating outside the public eye may be critical to creating a culture of co-operation and trust.

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Transportation and Quality of Life An Interview with Dr. Eric Miller Howie Phung

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“It’s very, very simple,” says Eric Miller, a transportation

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expert from the University of Toronto. “Over 80 per cent of Canadians live in cities or urban regions. It is the place where we live; it’s the place where we go to work and where our kids go to school. So our economic viability, our environmental sustainability, our quality of life all have to do with how we design, build and operate cities. What’s more important than that?”

It’s hard to argue with the new director of the U of T’s Cities Centre, a multidisciplinary Dr. Eric Miller research centre with a mandate to facilitate research on cities and on a wide range of urban policy issues. Miller is also the chair of the International Association for Travel Behaviour Research and serves on a number of transportation committees in Canada and the United States. The City of Toronto uses his “GTAModel” modelling system to forecast regional travel demand in the Greater Toronto Area and to support transportation policy analysis and decision-making.

City-region studies centre UniversitY of alberta

CURB: The topic of your presentation, The Transportation-Land Use Connection, is very intriguing. Can you tell us a bit more about land use and how it is connected to transportation?

EM: First of all, land use is simply how we use land; it is the built form. It's buildings that we construct and how we organize them, so where we put houses, where we put stores, office buildings, parks and how we mix those things together, mix people and jobs together and stores and opportunities. It’s the

mixture and density of buildings of different types.

The relationships between land use and transportation are fundamental because it’s transportation that connects those land uses together, that connects people with jobs, people with stores.

How we design the city in terms of its urban form or its land use goes a long ways to determining what sort of transportation system we need and what sort of transportation system works. If you build low-density, suburban regions, which we’ve been doing for 50-plus years in North America — single use, so the houses are here, the stores are over there, all low density, very dispersed origins and destinations — the only way you can get from place to place is by car. By building the city that way, we are locking ourselves into car

Our quality of life all has to do with how we design, build and operate cities. usage. On the other hand, if we build with mixed density and with mixed use, and from moderate to higher densities so that stores and jobs and schools are actually within walking and biking distance of our houses and it’s an attractive environment within which to walk or bike, people will walk or bike.

Similarly, if we build in a way that our jobs and our stores are at nodes, centres that can be well served by transit, or built along corridors that can be well served by transit, transit will pick up, because transit needs a certain

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This fall Dr. Miller shared his expertise with a room full of planners, engineers and a few elected officials at the CRSC lecture The Transportation-Land Use Connection. Before his presentation, we had the privilege of chatting with Dr. Miller about this and other topics.

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level of trip-making along the transit line to be cost effective. So the fundamental transportation question, the first question in transportation, is: how are you going to build the city? You make that decision, and then you can decide how to optimize your transportation system.

CURB: There has been a lot of talk lately about nodes and corridors in the Capital Region. Can you talk a little more about that? Under what conditions does this concept work?

EM: Traditionally in a city, you have the city centre that was historically the focus of employment. Transit systems and transportation systems in general focused on that. Up to a point, that works very well because it does focus

downtown. These become their own focus for transit services because you’re concentrating enough trips in and out, and good transit services can be provided.

But also, it becomes a node in a larger regional network. You can start connecting the centres together with high-capacity transit so that if you want to go from one centre to another, you could do it by transit; you don’t have to get in a car on a crowded expressway.

In the Toronto region, I think there’s evidence that this works. I don’t think, quite frankly, we’ve taken the regional centre notion far enough. This is a concept that first emerged in the 1970s; we’ve started implementing it in North York city centre, the Mississauga Square One area of Mississauga and so on, but I

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How do we accommodate growth without either putting it all downtown or smearing it around through the suburbs?

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the travel in a way that can be used by transit. One of the problems we’ve been experiencing again over the past any number of decades is employment and attractions and reasons for trips have been dispersing in a very low-density, unconcentrated way out through the region. As I’ve already said, this can only be served by car.

So the idea is that not all development can go downtown. Maybe you don’t want all development to go downtown because there’s such a thing as too much density, too much concentration. Not everybody wants to live in lower Manhattan or Hong Kong, so the question is: how do we accommodate growth without either putting it all downtown or smearing it around through the suburbs? And the idea is you create, you identify regional centres or sub-centres, new nodes, new centres that can become a focus for growth but a growth in a controlled way, sort of replicating what goes on in the

think we have to, quite frankly, do a lot more to really realize the potential. But the design concept, I think, still is very viable.

CURB: Let’s talk a little bit more about the topic of your presentation this evening. What are some of your research findings into the transportation-land use connection?

EM: The argument I’m trying to make is that if you take the land use-transportation connection seriously, so that you are designing land use and transportation in tandem, then you can create situations in which people will use transit. Similarly, if you take local neighbourhood design seriously in terms of density and mixture of uses so that it becomes a walkable neighbourhood, people will walk. What often appears is that people won’t walk more than a few hundred metres; well, I think that people will walk up to a kilometre or perhaps even more, at least to work and these sorts of

City-region studies centre UniversitY of alberta

things under the right circumstances.

Now, maybe in Edmonton, with minus 30 Celsius, that’s a bit ambitious.

Much of our research has indicated that people will use transit, people will walk when it’s attractive. People are very rational, so if we want an alternative to the car, we have to create the conditions in which there is an alternative. The problem we have in all our cities is that too many people don’t have alternatives.

That leads to policy questions, and the policy suggestions are, you know: what can we do to make that happen?

CURB: What would you suggest to policy-makers regarding this transportation-land use connection?

EM: I think to a certain extent it’s not, as they say, rocket science. I mean, it’s taking seriously these propositions. As much as anything, I think we need to have the political and kind of social will to say: “You know what? We need to change the way we’re doing it.” In our design of every new neighbourhood, we need to be thinking transit first and walkability first. Right now virtually every new neighbourhood that’s built is automobile first: first, foremost and only.

You build parking lots to accommodate the car. You don’t build bus stops or streets in a way that you could run buses or make it attractive for people to take that bus. So the first thing is just to simply take transit and walking seriously where we can.

I think the second one is that we have to in-fill. We have sprawled out; even in our downtown areas we haven’t

the suburbs is, from a transportation point of view, a wasted opportunity.

CURB: Why do you think this movement of offices and people to suburban areas has happened?

EM: I think associated with all of this is having to rethink the economics of land

Much of our research has indicated that people will use transit, people will walk when it’s attractive. schools, stores, houses so that it’s walkable, first of all, locally. Second of all, you’re generating a potpourri of activities, all of which might generate transit-oriented trips.

I think a third issue is that when we start talking about density and so forth, people tend to think about housing.

That’s a key part of it, but at least as important is the question of employment because employment is the other end of many of our trips, particularly in the peak period.

As a destination for getting to work, concentrating employment into centres and along corridors is a major, major piece of the puzzle. And particularly what’s been happening over the last number of decades is we’ve allowed the employment to disperse in a willy-nilly fashion, particularly office employment and retail employment, which can be prime customers for transit if properly designed, particularly the office employment. Moving offices out into

development. People move out to the suburbs because they say it’s cheap land, but there is no such thing as cheap land. We pay for that cheap land in terms of increased air pollution, increased greenhouse gases, increased congestion and travel times. We don’t see all these psychic and tangible costs, but we do experience them. Part of the challenge to all of us is how to sort of make them more real and bring them into the cost accounting in terms of the full value of what that land really is worth.

CURB: Do you think, then, that with proper land use and transportation planning, we can wean ourselves off of the car?

EM: Well, whenever I talk about these issues, I always fear I come across as this flaming anti-car person and that I am expecting that everybody should be taking transit for all trips everywhere.

The automobile is the dominant mode

of travel for good reason despite all our misdesign of cities and so forth, because it does provide tremendous flexibility and tremendous mobility. So the challenge is not to get rid of the car but to tame it and to be not so reliant on it so that we’re still using the car for good purposes, quote unquote, for when we really do need the car. Transit can’t possibly cost-effectively address all our needs.

But with proper design, it could be taking enough trips off the road in such a way that the car users will benefit as well. We'll get better use out of our entire system and have a much more sustainable city and a much more enjoyable city and much higher quality of life.

CURB: And that’s what it’s all about, isn’t it?

EM: Well, at the end of the day we’re talking about transportation, we’re talking about land use, but what we’re really talking about is quality of life.

That’s what cities are all about. That’s

People move out to the suburbs because they say it’s cheap land, but there is no such thing as cheap land. why we build our economies. That’s why we build transportation systems.

It's quality of life. The fundamental argument is that we need to start building our cities differently and using our transportation systems differently if we are not only to preserve the quality of life we have but to actually enhance it. That’s certainly what motivates me in my research.

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built as densely as we might have. We have to look for opportunities to in-fill, redevelop areas and, again, develop that in a transit-oriented sort of fashion.

Associated with that, and in both cases, it’s not just a question of density; it’s a question of mixed use so that you’re interspersing wherever you can jobs,

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Capital Region Capture

Photo Contest Our inaugural photo contest invited people to submit photos of places and spaces in the Capital Region. We received stunning images — some of more well-known places like the High Level Bridge and the Hotel Macdonald and others of obscure

locations such as an abandoned parking lot and a backyard full of flamingos. The entries were judged on originality, composition and relevance to the theme places and spaces.

Many photos could have also been chosen, but the following are our top three. To see if you agree with our choices, go to www.flickr.com/groups/capitalregioncapture.

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Prizes were sponsored by Uniglobe Travel, Delta Edmonton Centre Suite Hotel, McBain Camera and M.A.D.E. in Edmonton.

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City-region studies centre UniversitY of alberta

First Place

In Transit

by Taylor Bradshaw http://www.flickr.com/photos/tibs1/3961814300/ in/pool-capitalregioncapture

1

2 Second Place | Spiral by Jeffrey Chin

3 Third Place | City Scene by Manfred Zeuch http://www.flickr.com/photos/22781088@N02/2319647205

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http://www.flickr.com/photos/jeffreychin1/3864204348/in/ pool-capitalregioncapture

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campus University of Alberta Conducts

City-Region Research Howie Phung

What exactly is city-region research? And for that matter, what’s a city-region? A city-region is generally understood as a metropolitan area and its surrounding suburban and rural communities. But as any good academic would tell you, “city-region” is actually a much more complex concept.

City-regions are areas that are territorially and functionally bounded by economic, political, socio-cultural and ecological systems. A study of commuting patterns, for example, may reveal an area that is bounded by how citizens travel to work or play. These functional boundaries often diverge from municipal ones.

CRSC endeavours to serve as a portal between the university community and the greater community.

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As urban and rural areas grow, they become increasingly interconnected with their surrounding communities.

As a result, housing, transportation, recreation, economic development and environmental sustainability — to name only a few — are issues that can no longer be adequately addressed in isolated communities. The City-Region Studies Centre at the University of Alberta explores these and other issues through the city-region lens.

Since its establishment in 2006, the CRSC has been working with elected officials, government administrators, community organizations and the private sector to develop its research agenda. This community engagement accomplishes one of its primary goals: linking community concerns and academic research. An equally important

objective for the CRSC is to facilitate dialogue and collaboration in the city-region, achieved primarily through its events and other knowledge- sharing activities. Ultimately, the CRSC’s aims are much loftier: to promote vibrant and sustainable city-regions in Alberta and elsewhere.

City-region studies centre UniversitY of alberta

Aligning With the University of Alberta and the Faculty of Extension As the University of Alberta enters its second century, it is guided by Dare to Discover – the university’s vision document and blueprint for success.

Dare to Discover sets out a bold vision that seeks to inspire students and faculty to realize great achievements through learning, discovery and citizenship. It includes a directive “to engage with communities near and far.”

In response, the Faculty of Extension has adopted a new Academic Plan titled Engaging our Communities.

Housed in the Faculty of Extension, the City-Region Studies Centre strives to contribute to the vision of the Faculty of Extension and the University of Alberta.

As an engaged research centre, the CRSC endeavours to serve as a portal between the university community and the greater community. Its research projects and events bring together university researchers and community and government leaders for collaboration on city-region issues. Through its work with elected officials, it is building strong partnerships with the City of Edmonton and the surrounding municipalities, as well as with provincial and federal government. Its recent research has also allowed the CRSC to foster relationships with rural communities throughout Alberta.

The City-Region Studies Centre is a University of Alberta research unit that engages with communities to explore the nature of towns, cities and regions. CRSC is one of the only centres to focus on regional research in North America. To do this, we undertake both engaged and theoretical activities, work with clients, sponsor events, host visiting experts and public lectures, and maintain a global set of links with planners and academics, and cities and institutes. We are the portal to urban and regional teaching and research at the University of Alberta.

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About the CRSC

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campus

Understanding

Partnerships

An Update on the Urban-Rural Interdependencies Research Project

by Howie Phung and Amy Macdonald

The complex interaction between urban and rural areas is a topic of increasing interest, both academic and policy related.

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Understanding such relationships can inform a variety of regional endeavours, including economic development efforts, land use plans, agreements for service provision and many others.

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In the search for greater understanding, the City-Region Studies Centre launched an Urban-Rural Interdependencies research project in 2008. The first step was a pilot study in Flagstaff County, Alberta. Researchers sought input from community, business and municipal representatives through interviews and surveys. Following the pilot study, the project expanded to encompass three other Alberta regions: east-central

crsc project profile URBAN RURAL INTERDEPENDENCIES RESEARCH PROJECT This is a research program that explores urban-rural interdependencies in Alberta communities and their impact on economic prosperity and socio-economic development. It will engage public leaders and businesses in order to better understand the costs and benefits of urban-rural interdependencies.

Financial Supporters We are grateful for support from Alberta Agriculture and Rural Development, Alberta Municipal Affairs, Alberta Sustainable Resource Development and the County of Flagstaff.

City-region studies centre UniversitY of alberta

Alberta, the Calgary region and southwest Alberta.

The findings identify some of the common benefits of partnerships — pooling resources, reducing duplication and sharing knowledge, for example — as well as some drawbacks or barriers to successful partnerships, including the difficulty in making decisions, insufficient resources and protectionism.

Our research also gives insight into some interesting dimensions of partnerships. Identity and autonomy emerged as a theme, with individual communities wishing to preserve their unique characteristics while fitting into an overarching regional identity.

Community involvement, informal social interaction and volunteer work often contribute to and strengthen partnership activities. Environmental sustainability, being a relatively new area of collaboration, could function as a “laboratory” for partnership best practices. For the most part, participants in all regions of the study seemed eager to develop partnerships but felt they could use additional guidance and resources to help sustain their collaborative activities.

The results invite further exploration.

They also suggest an opportunity to broaden community involvement. To this end, the CRSC is writing a report and laying the groundwork to broaden the scope of the research into other regions. By exploring issues of urbanrural interdependencies, the CRSC aims to support sustainability, growth and vibrancy in communities throughout Alberta.

An Event Summary from the Regional Planning Speakers Series Howie Phung

Cities across North America are investing in transit systems and alternative modes of transportation. Light rail, commuter rail, streetcars, bus systems, and bicycle and pedestrian networks are helping people reduce their reliance on the automobile, reduce energy costs, spend more money in their local economy and live healthier lives.

On May 5th, George Crandall and Don Arambula of Crandall Arambula PC spoke at the City-Region Studies Centre's Regional Planning Speakers Series. Their presentation focused on the history of planning in Portland and Oregon, and the Portland metropolitan area’s transit planning lessons learned.

The presentation reinforced that planning is never easy. According to George Crandall, “creating pedestrianfriendly, vibrant urban centres with efficient transit systems takes determination; there will always be hurdles.”

The presentation focused on the region’s transit corridor alignment and

station area planning lessons learned.

George and Don reinforced that transit goals must be well defined to ensure that citizens receive the best return on their transit investment. Regional governments can play a role in establishing these goals and ensuring that each city meets the needs of its citizens and the region. Once these goals are established, it is essential that city leaders hold fast to accomplishing these goals in light of the always present opposition.

crsc project profile REGIONAL PLANNING SPEAKERS SERIES This is an educational program that helps Alberta communities learn how to manage growth in a way that promotes sustainability, supports a robust economy, encourages collaboration and improves the quality of life of its citizens.

Sponsors We are grateful for support from Alberta Municipal Affairs, the City of Edmonton (Planning and Development Department), the University of Alberta, the Alberta Real Estate Foundation, Brownlee LLP, Leduc County, the City of Spruce Grove, AECOM, and the Alberta Association, Canadian Institute of Planners.

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Lessons from Portland

The path of least “engineering” resistance is not the best route to take when planning for transit. The ability to sustain long-term investment, create walkable, pedestrian-friendly neighbourhoods and improve the overall quality of life for residents and visitors alike must be considered early in every transit planning effort. The best alignments are often the more challenging to design. Engineers and urban designers must work together to create transit systems that increase ridership and create healthier communities.

Throughout all planning efforts, the public must be informed and engaged.

When citizens and stakeholders are educated on key urban design principles and given detailed information on which to base their decisions, they always make the right choices. When people “roll up their sleeves” and have an impact on the plan itself, they take ownership and become plan stewards who lead the effort from planning through to the implementation.

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curb appeal

Overflowing City Closing thoughts on cities, regions, sustainability and creativity Rob Shields

Cities are objects of

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fascination. At times, they have been reviled as sites of the most challenging social ills. More recently, they have been celebrated as crucibles of collective achievements — so celebrated that even corporations want to be associated with their complexity and creativity. Endless

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City, a lavish 510-page coffee-table book showcasing the “global” cities of New York, London, Shanghai, Mexico City, Johannesburg and Berlin, was sponsored

by Deutsche Bank through its charitable Alfred Herrhausen Society. While not for the serious reader, it’s a beautiful photo essay of the glories and challenges of the megacity.

Percentage of population that is urban in select American states California

94.4%

Washington State 88.2%

Utah

Colorado Idaho Montana

84.5%

66.4% 54.1%

North Dakota

55.9%

Minnesota

City-region studies centre UniversitY of alberta

70.9%

82%

More of the world is becoming “urban” every year, increasing the degree of sprawl, density and pollution. Some 3.3 billion people in the world live in cities; that number is expected to climb past 5 billion by 2030. The World Bank’s Annual Development Report says that cities and towns grow because they generate vast economic advantages. They are not “too big, too chaotic, too polluted or too unequal,” it argues. Producers cluster where skills are concentrated and infrastructure can be had. People migrate to where their skills are in demand and where there is opportunity.

Consumers are attracted by a broad range of goods and services. Cities are nodes that focus transportation and communication networks, and that channel the dissemination of new ideas, cultural trends and economic information.

But world cities have grown beyond our comprehension, our understanding of how they should be governed and our ability to make them environmentally sustainable. The dense and diverse nature of today’s cities overflows our conceptual repertoire and our vocabulary. Cities are urban yet must address nature and the environment.

They are megalopolises, yet they are more human when they feel like collections of villages. Cities have become both rural and urban “city-regions.”

Lines Blur between Urban and Rural The 2006 Canadian census listed 82 per cent of Albertans as “urban,” though almost 30 per cent live outside large cities, lending the province a country-

focused ethos anchored in small cities, towns and rural properties. Yet most of the province’s 3.63 million people live well within an hour’s drive of metropolitan regions or cities over 20,000. Of these “metropolitans,” 11 per cent are urban-rural residents who live, and may even farm, in areas that are practically suburbs of the two largest cities, Calgary and Edmonton. Many urban residents also maintain family ties to rural life. It is hard to make simplistic divisions: it is the tension between a rural ethos and shared urban consumer habits that gives the province its particular culture and politics.

Yet similar figures for British Columbia (85 per cent urban) are misleading because of the concentration of population around the Lower Mainland and Victoria, with only a few other far-flung centres such as Kelowna and Prince George. Manitoba, at 72 per cent urban, has a similar concentration around Winnipeg. Using a definition of urban as “densely populated,” Washington State is considered 82 per cent urban, Utah 88.2 per cent and Colorado 84.5 per cent. Idaho is 66.4 per cent urban , Montana 54.1 per cent, North Dakota 55.9 per cent, and Minnesota 70.9 per cent. California’s urban concentration is high, at 94.4 per cent.

The U.S. approach allows areas with rural densities and land uses to be

discerned even within U.S. cities and for policy to move beyond the traditional city-countryside divide.

Rethinking the City The City-Region Studies Centre was founded to offer a new paradigm: to rethink the city in terms of regions that are not only urban but also suburban

and costs. However, they make manifest at a local level the very different ways in which towns and rural areas are treated in policy terms. This requires a better, stronger set of problem-solving and leadership skills for local elected officials and municipal officials.

Inspired by this vision of regional collaboration — and its challenges — the

World cities have raced beyond our comprehension, our understanding of how they should be governed and our practices of making them environmentally sustainable. and rural. It’s a question of taking a more nuanced approach that goes beyond defining people and places as simply urban or rural, and acknowledges the diversity and variety of every city, town and county.

The Centre has established partnerships and coalitions that cross the traditional divides and offer an alternative framework to forced amalgamation into megalopolises or to simply dissolving small towns. These urban-rural alliances are especially effective when fuelled by regional visions of shared growth and strengthened by commitments to share both benefits

Centre’s research aspires to bring a new perspective, a perspective that redefines dilemmas of identity, sustainability and resources not as irresolvable paradoxes but as problems that can be solved.

Rob Shields is Henry Marshall Tory Research Chair at the University of Alberta and the academic director of the City-Region Studies Centre. His books include What Is a City? Rethinking the Urban after Hurricane Katrina, co-edited with Phil Steinberg; Building Tomorrow: Innovation in Construction and Engineering, co-edited with André Manseau; and Places on the Margin: Alternative Geographies of Modernity, which won the Library Choice Outstanding Book Award.

He is the founder and editor of Space and Culture: International Journal of Social Spaces.

“I would not wish to say anything disparaging of the capital, but it is hard to say anything good of it. Ottawa is not a handsome city and does not appear destined to become one either.”

– Wilfrid Laurier “Vancouver is the suicide capital of the country. You keep going west until you run out. You come to the edge. Then you fall off.”

– Margaret Atwood “This part of the country seems to have all hell for a basement, and the only trap door appears to be in Medicine Hat.” – Rudyard Kipling

Cert no. XXX-XXX-XXXX

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curbside

Are Canadian cities unlovable?

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UNIVERSITY OF ALBERTA Faculty oF ExtEnsion continuing studies | professional development | lifelong learning

winter spring

10 Inspired by learning and discovery

For almost a century, the Faculty of Extension has served as a bridge between the community and the University of Alberta. Our Faculty and staff are committed to providing lifelong learning activities that encourage and promote leadership, discovery, reflection, communication and service.

Beyond the classroom, the Faculty of Extension is a downtown hub of research in the fields of university-community engagement, regional development, governance, children, youth and families, second language acquisition, public alerting, and communications and technology.

Whether you want to supercharge your skills on the job, or get more satisfaction in your leisure time, Extension can be your personal bridge to a lifetime of learning opportunities. Whether it’s a seminar or short course, a Certificate Program, or even a post-graduate degree in Communications and Technology, we know you’ll find the time and effort well-spent.

Most of our programs and classes do not require a degree or previous post-secondary education– just a desire to learn and to explore the possibilities of a commitment to lifelong learning.

For your free Course Guide, call us or visit our website:

780.492.3109 or 780.492.3116

www.extension.ualberta.ca