The Lost Spaces 2015 Ideas Competition asked designers to produce projects that would restore Calgary, Alberta‘s forgotten or neglected urban spaces.
The 20th Century lest many cities with mean streets, rusting bridges, crumbling roads, abandoned buildings, and left us with decimated city blocks, dangerous pollution, and spaces that seem untamable and uninhabitable.
Enter Calgary. This Alberta city of skyscrapers—fueled by the oil industry while nurturing its roots in farming culture—puts on a really big show every July.
“Cowtown,” as this chunk of Western Canada’s prairie is known, hosts the massive Calgary Stampede.
Another show that should have an equally long-lasting and dramatic influence on city planning was organized by a group of concerned citizens, artists, designers, and public officials.
They came together this past spring for a public discussion about the ideas presented in the Lost Spaces competition.