Building Community in the Downtown Core

Building community is tough in ideal conditions – but how do you build community in the middle of dozens of highrise towers? With 9000+ people living in the community the city calls “Downtown Commercial Core”, how can we best foster a sense of neighbourliness? Is it even possible without a community hall in an area that much of the city thinks of as a vertical office park?

Join us on this tour of some important community spaces in downtown Calgary, facilitated with the support of the Downtown Core Neighbourhood Association (DCNA), one of Calgary’s newest community associations serving one of Calgary’s first neighbourhoods, to talk about some research into best practices for building community in environments like this, learn about the some of the successes and challenges of the DCNA so far, and share your thoughts about what we can all do to best to do build community in Calgary’s Downtown Core.

WALK NOTES: busy sidewalks.

MEETING SPOT: Century Gardens (park just behind 8th St LRT station), 826 8 St SW, Calgary, AB - meet at the corner of 8th St SW and 8th Ave SW

WALK LEADER: Paul Fairie, a researcher at the University of Calgary, and has served on the Board of the Downtown Core Neighbourhood Association since its inception in 2021.