New Video: 7 (not so easy) Steps to Turn a School Street into a Park

What happens when a group of kids decide they want to transform a street near their school into a park?

This video interviews key team members that helped bring Connaught School student's ideas to life, from initial traffic studies, to design and engagement, to approval of the Connaught Open Street’s re-zoning to be a permanent park.

Featuring collaborators key in every step of the project including:

Step 1. Understand the Location: Tracey Coutts, Active School Travel Lead, Ever Active Schools
Step 2. Let the Kids Inspire You: Celia Lee, Executive Director, Sustainable Calgary
Step 3. Design a Prototype: Lucia Blanco, Prototype Designer, Landscape Architect
Step 4. Engage and Iterate with the Community: Srimal Ranasinghe, Project Lead, Sustainable Calgary
Step 5. Collaborative City Planning: David Kowel, Project Manager, Sustainable Calgary
Step 6. Design Permanent Solutions: Kelsi Hurlbut & Julian Warring, Landscape Architects, The Tula Project
Step 7. Inspire Others and Scale Up: Courtney Walcott, Former Ward 8 City Councillor

Fundraising is underway to permanently transform this space with trees, furniture, and modal filtering to create much needed public green space in one of Calgary’s densest urban neighbourhoods.

Learn more about the Connaught Open Street

Would you like to see more projects like this in Calgary?

We aim to raise $8,000 to sustain our operations while prototyping more projects like the Connaught Open Street in the coming year! 

This spring we are working on two more school streets, and planting the seeds for future projects, but to keep working with communities we need your help. With support, we can:

  • Support more communities to re-imagine their neighborhoods

  • Share what we learn

  • Make the case for city-wide investment in safe, healthy streets

DONATE to support our Schools Streets work

Project Partners & Funders:
Beltline Community Investment Fund
Beltline Neighbourhood Association
Calgary Board of Education
Calgary Foundation
City of Calgary
Everactive Schools
Federation of Calgary Communities
SAIT
SPECTACLE Bureau 
The TULA Project
University of Calgary (Department of Biological Sciences and Schulich School of Engineering)

Film by:
Bryce Baker

Motion Graphics:
Leetia Lyons

Design Work By:
The TULA Project
SPECTACLE Bureau
Lucia Blanco

 
Fran Motta