With the help of the University of Calgary, the City of Lethbridge has honed in on its underutilized spatial assets, from empty buildings, undeveloped lots, unused office spaces and parking lots.
On Thursday, they presented findings of the Civic Commons Catalyst (CCC) research project to the Civic Works Standing Policy Committee.
“What this really allows us to do is understand a little bit more what are the forward-thinking opportunities that we could do as a city to help transition something into being more economically productive,” explained urban revitalization manager Andrew Malcolm.
In other words, turning them into positive assets that can revitalize the community.
Alberto de Salvatierra told the Civic Works SPC these could include turning parking lots into temporary night markets or other business opportunities.
The first phase of the project began in Calgary; Lethbridge is part of phase two.
“What it did in Calgary in particular was really focus on their downtown, which is dealing with high levels of vacancy,” Malcom said.
“Within phase two in Lethbridge, we obviously have a little bit of a smaller downtown urban core, so we were able to apply that same lens to the entire city.”
And so, 3D models of the city and categorization of every building were developed. More than 1,000 spatial opportunities for catalyzation were identified.
“We can make better use of assets we already have.”
While the project started out with a focus on economic benefits, several other positive impacts were identified, including community wellbeing, arts, culture, heritage and recreation, and environment and ecology.
Malcolm added the report will be shared with outside stakeholders and partners, as well as the rest of administration, to help inform future processes, policies and operations.
The Civic Commons Catalyst has no connection to the Civic Common Master Plan and is entirely independent.
It was funded entirely by the Alberta Real Estate Foundation.