We must leave room for the city's soul
Institutions of faith belong at the centre of cities and not physically and metaphorically on their fringes.
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The City of Calgary's Centre City project is one of the most dynamic urban planning documents I've read in a long time.
It defines the heart of one of North America's great cities; one of the world's cleanest cities and Canada's emerging centre of economic and cultural influence. It clearly outlines the future infrastructure of a downtown core that is, in its own words, "a livable, caring and thriving place within a first-class urban living environment and a national and global centre of business."
Economic, social, cultural and environmental sustainability is a core objective for a plan that in the short run will see 25,000 additional people living in the newly defined city centre, while in the longer term as many as 70,000 people will settle in the area that for many years has been the hole in Calgary's residential doughnut.
Last fall, having completed our Toronto the Good project, we at Cardus used the Centre City initiative as the foundation for the beginning of our examination of Calgary's social architecture and how it is expressed through the urban planning process.
What we came across was what could be a rather unique omission. Within all of the plan's detailed and admirable initiatives, there is no mention of or accommodation for new institutions of faith. Yes, there are a great many existing faith institutions in the downtown area and some such as the old Wesley United Church have become secular institutions such as the Arata Opera Centre.
So we know there is some existing capacity to serve the social and spiritual needs of the population influx the Centre City plan will inspire. But we also know intuitively that existing infrastructure represents a different Calgary than the one that exists today. There are no mosques or temples within the Centre City, which means that while there is some existing Christian and Jewish infrastructure downtown, Muslims, Sikhs, Hindus and other members of Calgary's multicultural mosaic must travel to the suburbs or fringes of the city to pray and engage with other members of their faith community. If existing capacity is not sufficient to meet their needs, the same will be the case for Christians and Jews.
Institutions of faith belong at the centre of cities and not physically and metaphorically on their fringes. These are places of community care and emotional healing. They can and are used for girl guide and boy scout meetings, day cares, seniors centres, AA meetings, choirs, concerts and more. One in three Calgarians attends worship at least once a month and each imam, rabbi, priest and pastor has at his or her fingertips the names, phone numbers and e-mail addresses of hundreds if not thousands of good-hearted citizens ready to step up and volunteer in the event of disaster. When all the hotels were full and all those people were stranded at Calgary airport on 9/11, it was the airport chaplain's office that triggered the calls that opened up homes and found people in distress a safe place to stay.
Last month, Cardus outlined its plan for a next step in addressing this issue by gathering 50 community stakeholders, including several aldermen (who have been very supportive) at the Ranchmen's Club. Our proposal is to conduct an audit of the Centre City's existing faith infrastructure and report back on its capacity to serve the needs of the additional tens of thousands of Calgarians who will be moving to its core. And, as we work with funders, we will also propose innovations to meet needs that are identified.
Current parking bylaws, for instance, make zoning for institutions of faith problematic. In fact, if the current parking bylaw had been in effect during the past and previous centuries there wouldn't be any churches at all in Calgary's core. But that doesn't mean a project as innovative as the Centre City plan couldn't create space, for instance, for churches built right into condominium buildings, or mosques within the plus-15 network or even shared-space venues available for Muslim worship on Fridays, Jewish Sabbath on Saturdays and Christian worship on Sundays. Whether you care about faith or even have one is not the point. The good work that is done by these institutions is vital to sustaining any community's social capital. Centre City may give Calgary a new heart. It's important that it also cares for its soul.