Photos by Corbin Design
By Graham Gerylo and Mark VanderKlipp
The goal of a recent urban wayfinding project was nothing less than to show the way for Calgary to become a world-class city. This ambitious effort required a high degree of collaboration between multiple stakeholders from the outset.
An ‘integrated design’ model proved successful among these stakeholders, who included designers, signmakers and the municipal government’s communications department. They knew the project would extend well beyond the scope of a traditional wayfinding sign system, so they also engaged further stakeholders representing tourism, business revitalization zones (BRZs), cultural venues, parks, transit and roads, along with accessibility advocates and the city’s design, planning and administrative teams. They all collaborated to plan and implement the signage rollout.
In the hub
Calgary’s city centre is bordered by two rivers and two major transportation corridors. Within these borders is a mix of commercial and residential developments ranging in age, from 100-year-old buildings to recently completed landmarks.
The 100th anniversary of the Calgary Stampede was one of the factors that motivated the development of the program.
Home to more than 6,000 businesses and 159,000 workers, the city centre serves not only as Calgary’s ‘economic engine,’ but also as a major hub of commerce for much of Western Canada. It touts many world-class visitor destinations, including special events and festivals that draw millions of tourists each year.
When many potential visitors think of Calgary, for example, they think of the Calgary Stampede, an annual 10-day event hosted in the city centre. And indeed, the celebration in 2012 of the stampede’s 100th anniversary was one of the factors that motivated the development of the new wayfinding program.
A new plan
In 2007, Calgary’s municipal council approved a new plan for the city centre. The direction was to implement a new vision for the downtown area, “to create a more livable, thriving and caring core.” Some of the key objectives of the plan were to solidify and reinforce the role of the area as a centre of arts, culture, recreation, tourism and entertainment. The plan contained more than 300 ‘action items’ for improving the city centre, one of which involved developing a new approach for urban wayfinding.
This particular action item was referenced in multiple chapters of the plan, since the wayfinding program would need to address a variety of objectives, including promoting and enhancing pedestrian movement, facilitating transit and vehicular modes of traffic, highlighting tourism-related opportunities, supporting street-level activity and encouraging further economic development.
‘Stakeholders’ in Calgary’s new wayfinding sign system represent tourism, business revitalization zones (BRZs), cultural venues, parks, transit and roads, along with the city’s design, planning, administrative and communications teams and advocates for the disabled.
Strategy
Meeting the aforementioned objectives required an understanding of the expectations and needs of various internal groups and eventual users of the system. This called for a comprehensive strategy to gain broad input across the city centre and, thus, support for a wayfinding sign system that would be consistent with the area’s language, logic and culture.
The collaborative process was designed to ensure key players were involved at the most appropriate stage of the program’s development. While such a drawn-out process of engagement may seem time-consuming and onerous, it was also viewed as a worthwhile investment in the project. In the end, time spent on the strategy phase would pay dividends by clarifying expectations and paving the way to a smooth process for designs and approvals.
Through discussions of objectives, it became possible to identify the shared interests for the program across a broad spectrum of city centre representatives. As each group could voice its concerns and desires for the program, they ended up educating each other and aligning their expectations before sign design even began.
So, the strategy involved balancing viewpoints and making sure all of the contributors would see their ideas incorporated into the final result. This fostered a sense of ownership of the program and, hence, a strong endorsement of the project whenever any issues arose. The same groups lobbied for funding and political support and provided space on their property for the installation of the signs, as they knew doing so would allow them to reap greater benefits from the program.
