Bridgeland, Calgary
Encyclopedia
The neighbourhood of Bridgeland (formerly known as Riverside) of Calgary
Calgary
Calgary is a city in the Province of Alberta, Canada. It is located in the south of the province, in an area of foothills and prairie, approximately east of the front ranges of the Canadian Rockies...
, Alberta
Alberta
Alberta is a province of Canada. It had an estimated population of 3.7 million in 2010 making it the most populous of Canada's three prairie provinces...
, Canada
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
, is located to the immediate northeast of downtown Calgary
Downtown Calgary
Downtown Calgary is a region of central Calgary, Alberta. It is not a single neighbourhood per se, but is actually a larger community containing three neighbourhoods and a number of districts....
. It is bounded to the south by the Bow River
Bow River
The Bow River is a river in the Canadian province of Alberta. It is a tributary of the South Saskatchewan River, and is considered the headwater of the Nelson River....
, to the east by Deerfoot Trail
Deerfoot Trail
Deerfoot Trail is a freeway section of the Queen Elizabeth II Highway in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. It was formerly known as Blackfoot Trail Freeway, but was renamed to honour the first Native American to win the marathon....
, to the west by Edmonton Trail
Edmonton Trail
Edmonton Trail is a major north-south arterial road in the north-east quadrant of Calgary, Alberta, Canada.The road connects Downtown Calgary from the Langevin Bridge and the 4th Street Bridge at Memorial Drive with north-central Calgary....
and to the north by the community of Renfrew
Renfrew, Calgary
Renfrew is a residential neighborhood in the north-east quadrant of Calgary, Alberta. It is located south of the Trans-Canada Highway, and north of the inner city community of Bridgeland...
.
Calgary Zoo
The Calgary Zoo is located in Bridgeland, Calgary, Alberta, Canada, just east of the city's downtown and adjacent to the Inglewood and East Village neighbourhoods. It is accessible via Calgary's C-Train light rail system, by car via Memorial Drive and by bicycle and footpath via the Bow River...
, Telus World of Science - Calgary
TELUS World of Science, Calgary
The Telus World of Science – Calgary is a science museum with interactive exhibits, multimedia presentations and educational demonstrations in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. There are three traveling exhibits every year and more permanent exhibits that are designed on-site. The Discovery Dome Theatre...
, The Bridges urban renewal
Urban renewal
Urban renewal is a program of land redevelopment in areas of moderate to high density urban land use. Renewal has had both successes and failures. Its modern incarnation began in the late 19th century in developed nations and experienced an intense phase in the late 1940s – under the rubric of...
development and access to the city's large network of pedestrian
Pedestrian
A pedestrian is a person traveling on foot, whether walking or running. In some communities, those traveling using roller skates or skateboards are also considered to be pedestrians. In modern times, the term mostly refers to someone walking on a road or footpath, but this was not the case...
pathways (the Bow River pathway
Bow River pathway
The Bow River pathway is a pathway system developed along the banks of the Bow River in the city of Calgary. It contains a network of pedestrian and bicycle paths connecting parks on both sides of the river....
) and parks are unique focal points for the community and surrounding region.
Bridgeland borders a natural environment composed of the confluence of the Bow River
Bow River
The Bow River is a river in the Canadian province of Alberta. It is a tributary of the South Saskatchewan River, and is considered the headwater of the Nelson River....
and Elbow River
Elbow River
The Elbow River is a river located in southern Alberta, Canada. It flows from the Canadian Rockies to the city of Calgary, where it merges into the Bow River....
. Tom Campbell's Hill park lies on the eastern edge of Bridgeland and overlooks the downtown, Bow River and northeastern part of the city. St. Patrick's Island and St. George's Island lie in the southern part of Bridgeland. St. George's Island is home to the Calgary Zoo
Calgary Zoo
The Calgary Zoo is located in Bridgeland, Calgary, Alberta, Canada, just east of the city's downtown and adjacent to the Inglewood and East Village neighbourhoods. It is accessible via Calgary's C-Train light rail system, by car via Memorial Drive and by bicycle and footpath via the Bow River...
, Canada's second largest zoo.
Bridgeland will be the site for the Telus World of Science - Calgary
TELUS World of Science, Calgary
The Telus World of Science – Calgary is a science museum with interactive exhibits, multimedia presentations and educational demonstrations in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. There are three traveling exhibits every year and more permanent exhibits that are designed on-site. The Discovery Dome Theatre...
. Construction broke ground on July 26, 2009. It will be Canada’s first purpose-built science centre in more than 25 years. The 153000 square feet (14,214.2 m²) facility is projected to cost $160 million and will open on October 29, 2011.
History
The community of Riverside was established by Russian-German immigrants during Calgary's first population boom in the 1880s, when Riverside was known as Germantown. At the beginning of the 20th century, immigrants were mostly of ItalianItalian people
The Italian people are an ethnic group that share a common Italian culture, ancestry and speak the Italian language as a mother tongue. Within Italy, Italians are defined by citizenship, regardless of ancestry or country of residence , and are distinguished from people...
and Ukrainian origin.
The name "Bridgeland" was coined in 1908 by the Dominion Bridge Company.
Riverside incorporated as a village on July 6, 1903, and was subsequently annexed
Annexation
Annexation is the de jure incorporation of some territory into another geo-political entity . Usually, it is implied that the territory and population being annexed is the smaller, more peripheral, and weaker of the two merging entities, barring physical size...
by the City of Calgary in 1910. A Red Light District survived in the neighbourhood until the First World War. In 1910, the Calgary General Hospital was built in this area. It was closed in 1997 and was demolished in a controlled explosion on October 4, 1998.
Parts of lower Bridgeland were popularly known as "Little Italy
Little Italy
Little Italy is a general name for an ethnic enclave populated primarily by Italians or people of Italian ancestry, usually in an urban neighborhood.-Canada:*Little Italy, Edmonton, in Alberta*Little Italy, Montreal, in Quebec...
" in emulation of similarly named enclaves in other cities of immigrants of Italian stock. The concentration of Italian bakeries, restaurants and groceries has diminished over time but the strip along 1st Avenue NE is sometimes still referred to by this name.
The Calgary Zoo
Calgary Zoo
The Calgary Zoo is located in Bridgeland, Calgary, Alberta, Canada, just east of the city's downtown and adjacent to the Inglewood and East Village neighbourhoods. It is accessible via Calgary's C-Train light rail system, by car via Memorial Drive and by bicycle and footpath via the Bow River...
was established on St. George's Island in 1929 with 36 mammals and 78 birds. By 2006, it had expanded to over 1,000 animals with 290 different species with exhibits from Destination Africa, Canadian Wilds, Australia, Botanical gardens, Eurasia, Prehistoric Park and South America.
Over 5,000 people participated in a public process that is underway in 2010 to develop a master plan for St. Patrick's Island.
In modern times, the community is recognized as a "distinct bobo (bohemian/bourgeois) residential neighbourhood" and having a high degree of walkability
Walkability
Walkability is a measure of how friendly an area is to walking. Walkability has many health, environmental, and economic benefits. Factors influencing walkability include the presence or absence and quality of footpaths, sidewalks or other pedestrian right-of-ways, traffic and road conditions,...
. In 2010, Bridgeland was shortlisted by Fast Forward Weekly magazine as being among five communities as the "most livable
World's most livable cities
The world's most liveable cities is an informal name given to any list of cities as they rank on a reputable annual survey of living conditions. Two examples are the Mercer Quality of Living Survey and The Economists World's Most Livable Cities .Liveability rankings are designed for use by...
neighbourhood" in Calgary.
Demographics
In 2008, the neighbourhood had a population of 5,251, a 16.3% increase from 2005. The City of Calgary adopted an area redevelopment planArea redevelopment plan
An Area redevelopment plan is an urban planning designation created by municipalities in Alberta, Canada for the purposes of facilitating development in specific geographic areas. ARPs differ from Area structure plans in that they apply to areas of a municipality that have already been developed...
for this community in 2006, which regulates construction of buildings and recreational areas, with the intention of increasing population density in certain areas, as well as development of a public transit oriented community.
At the beginning of the 21st century, gentrification
Gentrification
Gentrification and urban gentrification refer to the changes that result when wealthier people acquire or rent property in low income and working class communities. Urban gentrification is associated with movement. Consequent to gentrification, the average income increases and average family size...
was occurring in Bridgeland. This resulted in new residents and business moving into the community. In addition, household incomes rose in real terms by +22.3% within Bridgeland between 2000 and 2005. This compares against a real household income growth of +1.8% in the rest of Calgary over the same period.
Government
The community is represented in the Calgary City CouncilCalgary City Council
The Calgary City Council is the legislative governing body that represents the citizens of Calgary. The Council consists of two offices; Office of the Mayor and Office of the Alderman. Naheed Nenshi was elected to the Office of the Mayor in October 2010 as the city's 36th chief executive...
by Ward 9 Alderman
Alderman
An alderman is a member of a municipal assembly or council in many jurisdictions founded upon English law. The term may be titular, denoting a high-ranking member of a borough or county council, a council member chosen by the elected members themselves rather than by popular vote, or a council...
Gian-Carlo Carra. On a provincial level, Bridgeland is part of the Calgary-Mountain View constituency in Alberta's Legislative Assembly and is currently represented by the leader of the provincial Liberal party, and leader of the opposition party, MLA
Member of Legislative Assembly
A Member of Legislative Assembly, or MLA, is a representative elected by the voters of an electoral district to the Legislature of a State in the Indian system of government...
Dr. David Swann
David Swann
David Swann, MLA is a medical doctor and Alberta Liberal Member of the Legislative Assembly for Calgary Mountain View. He was until recently the leader of the Alberta Liberal Party and Leader of the Opposition in the Alberta Legislature....
. On a federal level, Bridgeland falls in the electoral district
Electoral district (Canada)
An electoral district in Canada, also known as a constituency or a riding, is a geographical constituency upon which Canada's representative democracy is based...
of Calgary Centre-North
Calgary Centre-North
Calgary Centre-North is a federal electoral district in Alberta, Canada, that has been represented in the Canadian House of Commons since 2004...
and is represented in the House of Commons
Canadian House of Commons
The House of Commons of Canada is a component of the Parliament of Canada, along with the Sovereign and the Senate. The House of Commons is a democratically elected body, consisting of 308 members known as Members of Parliament...
by MP
Member of Parliament
A Member of Parliament is a representative of the voters to a :parliament. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, the term applies specifically to members of the lower house, as upper houses often have a different title, such as senate, and thus also have different titles for its members,...
Michelle Rempel
Michelle Rempel
Michelle Rempel is a Canadian politician. She was elected to the Canadian House of Commons for the federal Conservative Party of Canada in the 2011 election, representing the electoral district of Calgary Centre-North....
.
Sports
Bridgeland is the start and finish point for the ScotiabankScotiabank
The Bank of Nova Scotia , commonly known as Scotiabank , is the third largest bank in Canada by deposits and market capitalization. It serves some 18.6 million customers in more than 50 countries around the world and offers a broad range of products and services including personal, commercial,...
Calgary Marathon, Canada's longest running marathon. In 2009, the Scotiabank Calgary Marathon was rated as Alberta's best road race and is a qualifier for the Boston Marathon
Boston Marathon
The Boston Marathon is an annual marathon hosted by the U.S. city of Boston, Massachusetts, on Patriots' Day, the third Monday of April. Begun in 1897 and inspired by the success of the first modern-day marathon competition in the 1896 Summer Olympics, the Boston Marathon is the world's oldest...
.
Public recreational facilities within Bridgeland include a soccer pitch, tennis
Tennis
Tennis is a sport usually played between two players or between two teams of two players each . Each player uses a racket that is strung to strike a hollow rubber ball covered with felt over a net into the opponent's court. Tennis is an Olympic sport and is played at all levels of society at all...
court, baseball
Baseball
Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each. The aim is to score runs by hitting a thrown ball with a bat and touching a series of four bases arranged at the corners of a ninety-foot diamond...
field, disc golf
Disc golf
Disc golf is a disc game in which individual players throw a flying disc into a basket or at a target. According to the Professional Disc Golf Association, "The object of the game is to traverse a course from beginning to end in the fewest number of throws of the disc." Of the more than 3000...
course, children's playground
Playground
A playground or play area is a place with a specific design for children be able to play there. It may be indoors but is typically outdoors...
and toboggan
Toboggan
A toboggan is a simple sled which is a traditional form of transport used by the Innu and Cree of northern Canada. In modern times, it is used on snow to carry one or more people down a hill or other slope for recreation. Designs vary from simple, traditional models to modern engineered composites...
run.
In 2010, based on an Ipsos-Reid
Ipsos-Reid
Ipsos Reid is a research company based in Canada and is the Canadian arm of the global Ipsos Group. Founded in Winnipeg in 1979, the company expanded across the country and became part of the Ipsos Group in 2000....
Needs and Preferences study, the Bridgeland-Riverside Community Association initiated a conceptual design for an ice rink
Ice rink
An ice rink is a frozen body of water and/or hardened chemicals where people can skate or play winter sports. Besides recreational ice skating, some of its uses include ice hockey, figure skating and curling as well as exhibitions, contests and ice shows...
.
Infrastructure
C-Train stations
The community is served by the Bridgeland/Memorial StationBridgeland/Memorial (C-Train)
Bridgeland/Memorial is a stop on the Northeast Line of the C-Train light rail system in Calgary, Alberta. The station is located in the centre of Memorial Drive Northeast. It serves St. Patrick's Island, which is only a short walk away, as is the Calgary Zoo, although it is also accessible via the...
and Zoo Station
Zoo (C-Train)
Zoo is a stop on the Northeast Line of the C-Train light rail system in Calgary, Alberta. The station, which is located in the centre of Memorial Drive Northeast, serves the Calgary Zoo as well as the community of Bridgeland....
of the light rail
Light rail
Light rail or light rail transit is a form of urban rail public transportation that generally has a lower capacity and lower speed than heavy rail and metro systems, but higher capacity and higher speed than traditional street-running tram systems...
C-Train
C-Train
C-Train is the light rail transit system in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. It has been in operation since May 25, 1981. The system is operated by Calgary Transit, a department of the Calgary municipal government.-Operations:...
transit system. As of 2007, there were 1,900 boardings per day at the Bridgeland/Memorial Station, and 1,700 boardings per day at the Zoo Station.
The Bridges
A major redevelopment dubbed "The Bridges" commenced in 2004 on land previously occupied by the General Hospital and is underway as of 2007. It is a 37 acres (149,733.8 m²) inner cityInner city
The inner city is the central area of a major city or metropolis. In the United States, Canada, United Kingdom and Ireland, the term is often applied to the lower-income residential districts in the city centre and nearby areas...
development, consisting of multi-family residential
Residential area
A residential area is a land use in which housing predominates, as opposed to industrial and commercial areas.Housing may vary significantly between, and through, residential areas. These include single family housing, multi-family residential, or mobile homes. Zoning for residential use may permit...
and mixed use buildings. The project includes 11.7 acres (47,348.3 m²) of parks and open space.
The Bridges is a transit-orientated development
Transit-oriented development
A transit-oriented development is a mixed-use residential or commercial area designed to maximize access to public transport, and often incorporates features to encourage transit ridership...
. The three phase project is located next to the Bridgeland-Memorial LRT station
Bridgeland/Memorial (C-Train)
Bridgeland/Memorial is a stop on the Northeast Line of the C-Train light rail system in Calgary, Alberta. The station is located in the centre of Memorial Drive Northeast. It serves St. Patrick's Island, which is only a short walk away, as is the Calgary Zoo, although it is also accessible via the...
which is on the 202 McKnight-Westwinds/City Centre line of the city’s LRT
Light Rail Transit
The name Light Rail Transit is used to refer to several light rail systems, as an official name or otherwise:* Please see List of tram and light-rail transit systems.-See also:* Light Rapid Transit * Light railway* Light rail...
, the C-Train
C-Train
C-Train is the light rail transit system in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. It has been in operation since May 25, 1981. The system is operated by Calgary Transit, a department of the Calgary municipal government.-Operations:...
. Early success of the project has seen it become an example development for cities interested in creating TODs.
St. Patrick's Bridge
A design competition was held in 2009, by the Calgary MLC for St. Patrick's Island Bridge, a new pedestrian bridge. The bridge will link Bridgeland and St. Patrick’s Island to the East Village in the south and the Bow River pathwayBow River pathway
The Bow River pathway is a pathway system developed along the banks of the Bow River in the city of Calgary. It contains a network of pedestrian and bicycle paths connecting parks on both sides of the river....
system. It will provide improved linkages to many different nearby communities including Bridgeland, Inglewood, East Village and Downtown Calgary
Downtown Calgary
Downtown Calgary is a region of central Calgary, Alberta. It is not a single neighbourhood per se, but is actually a larger community containing three neighbourhoods and a number of districts....
. The international design competition received 33 entries, with the winning design selected as RFR of France and Halsall of Calgary. The design is said to, "remind the public of a stone skipping across the river or an arch of clouds in the Calgary sky. The goal of the design was to have as little structure as possible in the river channel, to respect the context of the island and to provide a pedestrian and cyclists link." Construction is scheduled for 2010 at an estimated cost of $25 million.
Langevin Bridge
The Langevin BridgeLangevin Bridge
The Langevin Bridge is a bridge in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. It connects Downtown Calgary with north-central Calgary communities such as Bridgeland and Crescent Heights, by spanning the Bow River between 4th Avenue South and Memorial Drive....
was opened in 1910 and was named for Sir Hector-Louis Langevin
Hector-Louis Langevin
Sir Hector-Louis Langevin, PC, KCMG, CB, QC was a Canadian lawyer, politician and one of the Fathers of Confederation....
, one of the Fathers of the Canadian Confederation
Canadian Confederation
Canadian Confederation was the process by which the federal Dominion of Canada was formed on July 1, 1867. On that day, three British colonies were formed into four Canadian provinces...
.
In 2009, the City of Calgary set up 5,600 programmable lights on the bridge for Christmas, at a cost of $370,000, as a part of Downtown East Village re-vitalization efforts. The LED
Light-emitting diode
A light-emitting diode is a semiconductor light source. LEDs are used as indicator lamps in many devices and are increasingly used for other lighting...
, built by Montreal-based Lumenpulse, is composed of 5600 LED grouped in 156 programmable light assemblies, and is part of the RiverWalk project, an effort to improve the pathways along the Bow and Elbow rivers adjacent to the East Village.
Education
The community is served by the following schools:Elementary
- Delta West Academy (private)
- St. Angela School (Catholic)
- Langevin School (public; specialized science program)
Junior High
- Delta West Academy (private)
- Christine Meikle School (public; special needs)
High School
- Delta West Academy (private)
- Christine Meikle School (public; special needs)
Bridgeland is also served by the following schools in adjoining neighbourhoods:
- Stanley Jones Elementary School (public; RenfrewRenfrew, CalgaryRenfrew is a residential neighborhood in the north-east quadrant of Calgary, Alberta. It is located south of the Trans-Canada Highway, and north of the inner city community of Bridgeland...
neighbourhood) - Colonel McLeod Junior High School (public; RenfrewRenfrew, CalgaryRenfrew is a residential neighborhood in the north-east quadrant of Calgary, Alberta. It is located south of the Trans-Canada Highway, and north of the inner city community of Bridgeland...
neighbourhood) - Crescent Heights High School (public; Crescent HeightsCrescent Heights, CalgaryCrescent Heights is a neighbourhood in the northwest quadrant of Calgary, Alberta. It is located in the inner city, immediately north from Downtown...
neighbourhood) - St. Alphonsus Junior High School (Catholic; RenfrewRenfrew, CalgaryRenfrew is a residential neighborhood in the north-east quadrant of Calgary, Alberta. It is located south of the Trans-Canada Highway, and north of the inner city community of Bridgeland...
neighbourhood) - St. Mary's High School (Catholic; MissionMission, CalgaryThe Mission district is an inner city neighbourhood of Calgary, Alberta, Canada that originated as Notre Dame de la Paix, a Catholic mission, and was for a time the incorporated Village of Rouleauville...
neigbhourhood)