Estela Nadege plays bump with Adam Schwartz in the new public park outside the Christian Life Assembly church in Calgary's southwest. In bump, if the second player in line sinks the ball before the first player, the first player is eliminated. (Elise Stolte/CBC) As more people move into Calgary's inner-city neighbourhoods, community leaders worry they'll put pressure on park spaces and amenities.
That's one reason Adam Schwartz is trying to help build new ones. He works for the Federation of Calgary Communities, approving grants and helping volunteers navigate city bylaws to create 30 small park projects a year. On a recent summer afternoon, he played bump at a basketball court at one such project — a court, picnic area and playground outside the Christian Life Assembly church in Calgary's southwest.
It was just a parking lot last year. Now, it's a place where residents can grab sushi or won ton soup at the nearby restaurants, and then meet neighbours and sit on patio furniture as others come out to shoot hoops. "This project hit my inbox over the winter and then it's up mid-summer.
Like, that's a quick turnaround to get a brand new community park space. So I think that's the beauty of tactical urbanism," said Schwartz, amazed at how fast a project can come together outside a government bureaucracy. "We're seeing our city growing .
.. there's obviously concerns around how packed parks might get, or how overrun infrastructure and amenities might get.
It's super important that.