A Placemaking Journal

The International Avenue Design Initiative (IADI) was formed by a partnership between the International Avenue BRZ, the University of Calgary Faculty of Environmental Design, and the City of Calgary with a mission to create a vision and strategy for the redevelopment of the International Avenue corridor (17th Avenue SE).

 
In the spring of 2004, with the support of a number of local organizations, a week-long public design charrette was led by an interdisciplinary team from the Sustainable Design Studio at the University of Calgary to establish a broad vision and strategy for the Avenue. PlaceMakers principal, Geoff Dyer, served as charrette director and lead designer for the charrette.

During the charrette, a corridor study identified a number of focal points for redevelopment. These focal points were identified as established mixed use redevelopment centres and consisted of several neighbourhood centres (local, less intense) and two urban centres (regional, more intense). Each is envisioned to have a professionally-led charrette to identify a vision and implementation strategy for redevelopment. The results of this charrette and a subsequent charrette formed the foundation for a technical report completed by the University team, which received a prestigious Charter Award from the Congress for the New Urbanism in 2005.

Greyfield corridor redevelopment represents one of North America’s most significant urban sustainability initiatives. Single-use, underutilized strip-commercial corridors can be redeveloped into high density, mixed-use environments that utilize existing infrastructure.