Long Range Urban Sustainability Plan for Calgary
The blueprint for the future
Calgarians began the process of shaping their city's future when The City of Calgary launched the imagineCALGARY initiative in 2005. More than 18,000 Calgarians added their voice to imagineCALGARY, with the goal of producing a long-range urban sustainability plan for the community. imagineCALGARY represented the largest visioning process of its kind anywhere in the world.
imagineCALGARY was developed as a City-led, community-owned initiative. The City of Calgary provided project staff and resources to support more than 150 active and committed stakeholders who were responsible for developing the Plan.
imagineCALGARY took an innovative approach to developing the Plan. Calgary was viewed as a whole system, of which all the parts are inter-related. People, buildings, commerce, roads, businesses, skills, government structures, incomes, plants and animals, history, churches, schools and countless other elements combine to make up our community. imagineCALGARY hosted a discussion about the whole community with the aim of making the whole greater than the sum of its parts.
Completed in 2006, the Plan includes a 100-year vision that reflects the diversity of aspirations and interests of the community for the future. It also includes a series of 10-30 year targets that provide useful reference points for organizations and individuals to determine what action can be taken to reach the goals.
There is no better time for long-term sustainability planning in Calgary. As the city continues to prosper and face unprecedented levels of growth, a plan that expresses the aspirations of the community is critical. Now, with a roadmap to get us to there, citizens, corporations, community agencies and the civic government of Calgary are working together to shape the city's future.
The imagineCALGARY Plan for
Long Range Urban Sustainability Plan is available for downloading.
Since 2007, the imagineCALGARY Partnership has been a catalyst for multisectoral action across the community, with resources provided by The City of Calgary, The Calgary Health Region and The Calgary Board of Education. Three Partnership Committees – Steering, Communications and Awareness, and Collaborative Action – have been developed to implement targets contained within the imagineCALGARY Plan and ultimately achieve the community vision.
The Committees' priorities for 2008 include:
- Environmental sustainability
- Economic well-being
- High school completion and transitions to education and work life
Today, 47 community leaders, including The City of Calgary, serve as members of the imagineCALGARY Partnership. Organizations across the community continue to use the imagineCALGARY Plan to help develop their own strategies related to sustainability and community development.
Many Partners, including The City of Calgary, have used the Plan to develop strategic, sustainability-focused priorities. At The City, the imagineCALGARY Plan has influenced the development of the Integrated Land Use and Mobility Plan (Plan It Calgary), and the development of the Eco Footprint Project.
To learn more about the imagineCALGARY initiative and the role it plays in our community, visit 
www.imagineCALGARY.ca.
For more information, call 3-1-1 from within Calgary or 403-268-2489 from outside Calgary, or 403-268-4461.
