The Connaught Open Street
The Connaught Open Street is a collaborative, community-led project that provides a safer way for kids to get to school. This half block of 10 Street between 12th Ave and 13th Ave SW, located next to Connaught School was a place kids previously described as busy, noisy and dangerous.
After identifying the problem, the kids of Connaught school proposed a solution: turn the street into a park! We are excited to announce that the temporary Open Street has gained funding and approvals to be transformed into a permanent greenspace!
Keep reading to learn more about the project, and plans for the future!
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Project News
Project Background
What We’ve Heard
Project Timeline
What’s Coming?
Get Engaged
FAQ
Acknowledgements & Project Team
What’s an Open Street?
Open Streets are programs that temporarily open streets to people by closing them to cars. There are numerous benefits to open streets, including reducing traffic and speeds, and creating new public gathering and green space.
PROJECT NEWS
The PERMaNEnT OPEN STREET is taking shape!
We are excited to share the proposed concept design for the permanent Connaught Open Street, designed by our Landscape Architecture consultant, the TULA project. The Connaught Open Street schematic design will permanently support safe routes to school for children by removing traffic adjacent to the school and playground along the southern half block of 10th St SW.
The proposed schematic design considers years of public engagement with the local community, children, teachers and parents of Connaught School, City of Calgary, and Sustainable Calgary.
The plaza will provide much needed greenspace within the Beltline by providing community amenities such as seating, outdoor gathering space, and programmable space. The schematic design supports sustainable initiatives through additional tree planting, pollinator friendly planting beds, and stormwater infiltration opportunities.
This design is at a conceptual level, and subject to change based on permitting, consultation, and funding requirements.
Proposed Permanent Design
Concept Key
Bike parking
Modular triangular seating element
Seating with permeable screening and overhead element
Metal planter accent
Visually permeable accent screening with integrated benches
‘Outdoor room’ overhead feature
Programmable space with integrated one meter height water feature
Light feature within planters at park entry
All at grade planters to have naturalized grasses, wild flowers, and tree plantings
Seating platforms that will dually serve as breakout nodes for outdoor classroom and learning opportunities
PROJECT BACKGROUND
Ever Active Schools and Sustainable Calgary worked with kids at Connaught School to evaluate their environment for safety and comfort, and develop ideas to improve their routes to school.
The students - and others in the community - identified the intersection as hazardous due to high-speed cut-through traffic. They proposed an “Open Street” to mitigate traffic and meet the greenspace needs of the community.
The first prototype of the Connaught Open Street was installed from June to October 2022, with a grand opening in June. The temporary intervention returned in June 2023 and was extended into the winter. In both instances, community engagement and feedback led to project tweaks and improvements.
2024 Updates
The Open Street has a brand new look!
In collaboration with the Beltline Urban Murals Project, the Open Street has been given a fresh coat of paint thanks to muralist Ben Johnston.
The creativity and the safety of kids inspires everything that happens at the Open Street. The mural captures what this project is about: the power of a community to make our kid's dreams into a reality, and the community-wide benefits of caring for our smallest citizens.
In addition to the mural, volunteers helped decorate new curb bump outs at the south end of the street. These new barriers will encourage slower traffic speeds through the school zone, as well as temporarily absorb C02 from the area with a lime-based paint! This mural was made possible by Bloomberg Philanthropies for their Asphalt Art Initiative.
PROJECT RECeives NATIONAL AWARD!
The Connaught Open Street, as part of the Kids Reimagine School Streets project is a 2024 National Urban Design Awards recipient this year. Through this program, students in three neighbourhoods worked with Ever Active Schools, Sustainable Calgary and SPECTACLE Bureau for Architecture and Urbanism to prototype walkable, safe and fun school streets.
Celia Lee, Executive Director of Sustainable Calgary and Lucia Blanco, landscape designer of the Connaught Open Street prototype accepted the award on behalf of the project team in May.
In conjunction with Connaught School, the Calgary Foundation, and many volunteer We have:
Hosted 40+ block parties and other events in the space
Received and reviewed over 280 of survey responses
Conducted 4 workshops with students of Connaught School
Created 10 design iterations and refinements based on feedback (Including removing a loud ramp feature, and adding picnic tables, signage, firepits and lighting.)
Helped the 230+ students who walk and wheel to school get there more safely on a daily basis!
WHAT WE'VE HEARD
Throughout this project, the community has shared their feedback on the project through numerous online and in-person surveys and feedback sessions.
From that feedback, we have revised and shaped the programming and design of the Open Street. You can read more about what the community had to say in our “What We’ve Heard Reports” .
Survey Says!
When asked, “How safe do you feel in the Connaught Open Street?” 60% of respondents responded 8 or higher out of 10. (2023 stakeholder survey)
91% of parents want to see the Open Street become permanent in its current location (2024 Parent Council Survey)
90% of parents saw the greatest purpose of the street to be improved safety for children and families walking to and from school. (2022 Parent survey)
70.4% want to see the Open Street become a permanent installation. (2023 Public Online Survey)
WHAT'S NEXT
The design of the space is progressing in conjunction with a stakeholder working group composed of students, parents and teachers of Connaught School, adjacent residents to the street, the Beltline Neighbourhood Association and the City of Calgary.
At this stage, we have gathered feedback and are working with our team to prepare the design for city approval in Spring 2025!
Stay in the Know!
Please visit this section for project updates, or sign-up for our newsletter below to stay up to date on the project!
WHAT'S COMING
As part of the design process, we’re taking inspiration from Landscape Architecture projects across the globe, here are a few of our favourites.
Into the Woods by Forge Landscape Architecture
Chaumont-sur Loire, France
Photo: Forge Landscape Architecture
Delfland Water Authority Landscape by Mecanoo
Delft, NetherlandsPhoto: Mecanoo
The Meadow at Elephant Park by B|D Landscape Architects
London, U.K
Photo: B|D Landscape Architects
Igral Baikal Playground by AFA Landscape Architecture
Ulan-Ude, Russia
Photo: Roman Kolechenkov
Glassfields by B|D Landscape Architects
Bristol, U.K
Photo: B|D Landscape Architects
Restorative Ground Streetscape Installation by WIP Collaborative
Hudson Square, New York City, USA
Photo: WIP Collaborative
GET ENGAGED
FEEDBACK WELCOME
Please sign up for our newsletter updates and visit this page for progress on the project. On-site signage will also be installed by the City of Calgary during the development application process soliciting public feedback.
If you’d like to get in touch with us, please reach out at info@sustainablecalgary.com. We have a small, but dedicated team that is working hard on this precedent-setting project. Please be assured we are reading all feedback and ensuring we engage with it all as meaningfully as possible through our evolving design process.
Stay in the Know
The best way to stay up-to-date on the project is to sign-up for our Connaught Open Street newsletter!
Upcoming events at the Open Street:
Stay tuned for more events coming soon.
FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
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The goal of this project is to increase health and safety for local school children. The students - and others in the community - identified the intersection as hazardous due to high-speed cut-through traffic. They proposed an “Open Street” to mitigate traffic and meet the greenspace needs of the community.
In ParticipACTION’s 2022 report, children in Canada received a D for physical activity. Children walking and biking to school are in the minority in Calgary, and few live in walkable places. Walking is the most popular commuting mode in Beltline, given nearby amenities and transit.
Active school travel can improve health, academic achievement, concentration, classroom behaviour and stress management. Conversely, vehicle drop-off and pickup zones at schools are increasingly hazardous due to unsafe driving behaviours, and high concentrations of pollutants. There is a need to develop safe and active routes to schools.
In addition, currently parks make up only 4.3% of the Beltline’s total area, far below The City’s benchmark of 10%. To meet this target, the area of approximately six more Central Memorial Parks would need to be added. Beltline’s current lack of greenspace is exacerbated by the unique demands of it being a high density community. As 98% of Beltline residents live in apartments, the vast majority of residents do not have access to private outdoor greenspace.
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The main purpose of the open street at the moment is child safety. Our partners at Ever Active Schools worked with the students of Connaught School to identify their concerns around walking to school; then we worked with them to develop solutions to those concerns. Cut-through traffic and speeding was the primary concern, and they thought the road closure would address that, while also providing more greenspace to the community, and a walking route with less pollution. The nature of the street being used for play is just another benefit of this street closure, and not the primary purpose.
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The Connaught Open Street up to this point has been a temporary prototype aimed at experimenting with the streetscape which included benches, ramps and other planters designed to be built, moved, and removed by volunteers. We will be drawing on the last two years of data and feedback collected from visitors to and around the site, proximate residents, and other community members to inform the proposed designs moving forward. The permanent design is being created by an experienced team of Landscape Architects, Civil and Transportation Engineers, in close partnership with the City of Calgary. It will include several elements, such as greenery and permanent seating. Stay tuned for a first design concept for feedback in the early Summer of 2024. In the meantime, we encourage you, if you’re interested, to sign-up to our mailing list to receive regular project updates via our newsletter.
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Emergency Vehicle access is a key design consideration and was prioritised during the pilot phases of this project over the last couple years. As we move into making the Open Street permanent, we have a team of transportation engineers working with the City of Calgary to ensure that it remains so. As the site designs evolve, there will be further opportunities to view, and provide feedback on how this, among other key factors, is addressed.
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Traffic counts are being performed as part of the permitting process, and we have transportation engineers doing a transportation impact assessment, the results of which will be shared on this website.
Evidence shows that when roadspace is removed, traffic on nearby streets reduces. This is called “traffic evaporation” and it has been evidenced in school street closures globally, with Ontario researchers noting around a 60% reduction in traffic on adjacent streets. Read more about this in our report Safer & Healthier Streets for Children.
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In a parent survey we conducted, over 90% of respondents said that the open street made the intersection safer for students and families walking to and from school. We’ve also heard from teachers that school drop offs and pick-ups have been safer due to reduced traffic. As part of the final design, we will be removing a road crossing for students headed East - further reducing potential conflicts at a busy pedestrian intersection.
We will be collecting data on traffic speeds, air quality and other public health metrics before and after construction of the project. In addition to feedback from the community, there is robust research that shows that safer streets are those that slow down traffic and reduce conflict between pedestrians and vehicles.
Curious to learn more? Here’s work on Safe Routes to school from Sustainable Calgary, partner organisations and other groups around the world:
Safer & Healthier Streets for Children, Kids Reimagine School Streets, Stepping Towards a Greener Tomorrow Project, Designing Neighbourhood Street, Why did Kids Stop Walking to School?, National Association of City Transportation Officials “City Limits” report.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
Thanks to our partners, funders and collaborators on this project:
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
University of Calgary (Department of Biological Sciences and Schulich School of Engineering)
PROJECT TEAM
Sustainable Calgary is a grassroots non-profit organization that works at the intersection of public health, equity, active transportation and urban design. Our mission is to promote, encourage and support community level actions and initiatives that move Calgary towards a sustainable future. We define sustainable development as the process of working towards the long-term health and vitality of our city and its citizens through the lens of the 7 domains in our State of our City reports: economy, governance, resource use, community, wellness, education and natural environment.
Connaught School is a Calgary Board of Education elementary school located in the Beltline. Students come from multicultural backgrounds and speak 40 languages. This project has been conducted in close collaboration with the students, parents (Friends of Connaught Community School Association), teachers and administrators.