News   GLOBAL  |  Apr 02, 2020
 9.6K     0 
News   GLOBAL  |  Apr 01, 2020
 41K     0 
News   GLOBAL  |  Apr 01, 2020
 5.4K     0 

It’s green space, but it’s not usable. From what I remember it’s all cemetery’ space. If I had it my way I would develop half of it, and convert the other half to park space.
It's fine to stroll or even jog or bike (sometimes) through a cemetery. They're great and unique urban spaces. Kids love looking for the oldest grave they can find. Goths love posing for Instagram photos there. Tourists like visiting the graves of famous people.

Most great cities have great cemeteries. Again, this cluster of cemeteries is only a fraction of the size of cemeteries found in other cities. Check out the cemeteries at the top of Mount Royal in Montreal. It is an absolutely massive sprawl of graves. And I doubt many Montrealers have ever said "think of how many soccer fields and condominium towers we could build if we ripped up all these cemeteries!".

In general though, the thing that makes cities so much more vibrant than suburbs is this juxtaposition of different land uses that have accumulated over time. Sure, we no longer use huge swaths of urban space to build cemeteries. Urban cemeteries are a legacy of a different time. But it's exactly because things like this have survived over the years and we're force to build around them that give cities their vibrancy. If we just bulldozed every land use that was out of step with current times and replaced it with whatever we consider to be the most efficient use of space today, we'd just have a homogeneous suburb.

And even if we really did want to do that, we're not even halfway through building out the East Village to say nothing of the Stampede grounds, the West Village, Westbrook, Currie Barracks, Eau Claire, North Hill, West Campus, etc, etc, etc. It will be generations before the city runs out of large stretches of vacant land that can be redeveloped into master planned TOD-style neighbourhoods.
 
It's fine to stroll or even jog or bike (sometimes) through a cemetery. They're great and unique urban spaces. Kids love looking for the oldest grave they can find. Goths love posing for Instagram photos there. Tourists like visiting the graves of famous people.
Are there some celebrities buried in that graveyard? Serious question, I have no idea.
 
It's fine to stroll or even jog or bike (sometimes) through a cemetery. They're great and unique urban spaces. Kids love looking for the oldest grave they can find. Goths love posing for Instagram photos there. Tourists like visiting the graves of famous people.

Most great cities have great cemeteries. Again, this cluster of cemeteries is only a fraction of the size of cemeteries found in other cities. Check out the cemeteries at the top of Mount Royal in Montreal. It is an absolutely massive sprawl of graves. And I doubt many Montrealers have ever said "think of how many soccer fields and condominium towers we could build if we ripped up all these cemeteries!".

In general though, the thing that makes cities so much more vibrant than suburbs is this juxtaposition of different land uses that have accumulated over time. Sure, we no longer use huge swaths of urban space to build cemeteries. Urban cemeteries are a legacy of a different time. But it's exactly because things like this have survived over the years and we're force to build around them that give cities their vibrancy. If we just bulldozed every land use that was out of step with current times and replaced it with whatever we consider to be the most efficient use of space today, we'd just have a homogeneous suburb.

And even if we really did want to do that, we're not even halfway through building out the East Village to say nothing of the Stampede grounds, the West Village, Westbrook, Currie Barracks, Eau Claire, North Hill, West Campus, etc, etc, etc. It will be generations before the city runs out of large stretches of vacant land that can be redeveloped into master planned TOD-style neighbourhoods.
I don’t think it’s a case of bulldozing every land-use that’s out of step, a cemetery no matter how you look at is 99% a waste of land, especially inner-city land. We have lots of Innercity land, it’s true, but not all of it is great for developers, otherwise it would already be developed.
 
The cemeteries could be improved so they have better recreational amenity (and bike connectivity) asides from their memorial use, but they are a large, grassed permeable area, which do have some natural benefits.

1678830017417.png


Remind me again which is a waste of inner city land? I suppose we have to keep our massive dirt pile somewhere.
 
As ugly as the dirt pile is, it isn’t a waste of land. The pile is gravel used for roads, which could be located somewhere on the outskirts of the city, but trucks would have to travel back-and-forth 3 times times as far to use it.

Cemeteries could have better recreational amenities but at that point it defeats the purpose of the cemetery, and still remains an unusable park. Keep it a cemetery or make it a full on park.

Cemeteries exist purely for sentimental reasons. They are inherently a waste of land no matter which way you slice it. Nobody would ever suggest taking land somewhere in the city to start a new one, so in the end it comes down to sentiment.
Me, I’m ambivalent. If they stay, I’m okay with it, if they ever got torn up and developed I'm okay with that too.
 
Last edited:
It’s green space, but it’s not usable. From what I remember it’s all cemetery’ space. If I had it my way I would develop half of it, and convert the other half to park space.
It would be nice if you could have all three, some cemetery space, some park space and some development. Some of those downtown views from the edge are killer.
 
Cemeteries could have better recreational amenities but at that point it defeats the purpose of the cemetery, but still remains a mostly unusable park.

Cemeteries exist purely for sentimental reasons. They are inherently a waste of land no matter which way you slice it. Nobody would ever suggest taking land somewhere in the city to start a new one, so in the end it comes down to sentiment.
Me, I’m ambivalent. If they stay, I’m okay with it, if they ever got torn up and developed I'm okay with that too.
You're not wrong that there's benefit to broadly central locations for things like road gravel storage and city vehicle lots, but there's also costs.

My reference point for recreational amenities is Queen's Park cemetery in the NW, which has a really helpful bike path connection from the north central city to Confederation Park (and then on to 24th Ave and 10th St). Not a big use of space, but a helpful connection that's a lot more pleasant than cycling along a road, even in a protected lane. Pass-through cyclists are a great second use for a cemetery.

Here's one set of nobodies taking land somewhere in the city to start a new cemetery, Nenshi at front centre:
cal090121-gyb-2_87276734-w.jpg

from Prairie Sky Cemetery opening, 2021. This one is located near Ralph Klein Park in the far southeast.

And here's the next one that's going to open up:

North_Calgary_Regional_Park_and_Cemetery.png


The engagement site has I think the most recent information.
 
Fair enough, there are cemeteries being built in the the city, just not in locations where land is valuable. Nobody would ever suggest building a new one in the places where they already exist.
I agree about the bike paths. If it’s a case of putting a bike path or ride oestrus walkway through a cemetery, I’m all for that.
 
Has anyone seen this yet? Seems like a terrible idea to me but I’m open to being convinced otherwise.


Calgary Looks to Demolish Aging Downtown Office Buildings

[The Demolition Program will provide financial incentives in the form of a $15 per sq. ft grant, based on the existing gross office floor area set to be demolished, with an additional $5 per sq. ft potentially available for projects that require asbestos abatement or hazardous material removal.]
 
I’m sure I’ve missed it somewhere but these buildings are all boarded up now just like the buildings further west and small house to the south. Anything down the pipeline on these?

 

Back
Top