The Touch the Water Promenade is an ambitious placemaking project for a central stretch of the North Saskatchewan River on its north bank between Government House Park/Groat Road and Rossdale (east of the Walterdale Bridge).
Placemaking is an approach to public spaces that considers spaces holistically, taking into account not just the physical environment, but also their social context, including Indigenous perspectives. Placemaking seeks to create public spaces that work for their communities, and are accessible, vibrant, and creative.
The Touch the Water Promenade project does not currently have a budget and is in the process of developing a vision through community engagement. It is seeking feedback on two concept design ideas: Gateways and Threads.
The Concept Options
The Gateways design features three large outdoor gathering spaces at Government House Park, High Level Bridge and Rossdale. It includes improvements to the shared-use path but largely focuses on creating three public square-like spaces along the project area.
The Threads design features seven smaller gathering sites spread out along the river’s edge, integrated with the promenade. It prioritizes connectivity and movement through a widened continuous pathway, with additional, separate pathways and lookouts nearer the river.
The Threads design is a better fit for this section of the river valley as a place for active transportation, recreation, and meeting. Smaller public spaces are more human-scale: a place you might linger with a friend for a few minutes or a few hours, rather than only when an organized event is occurring. Parallel pathways in the Threads option, especially at current chokepoints like under Groat Bridge and east of the High Level Bridge, also reduce conflict with trail users.
The Gateways option offers some appealing designs, in particular the remarkable daylighting of Groat Ravine. But its focus on larger, planned activities at the other two sites fails to allow for more organic and spontaneous interactions: pausing for a few minutes on your walk or bike ride, or meeting a friend for a picnic. The Rossdale design in Gateways also leaves less space for sitting near the water: most of the best areas for lingering are farther away from the water than the existing paths. The Threads design creates more gathering spaces right on the river’s edge.
Climate
A major failing of the draft concepts is a total lack of consideration for weather: both options lack any representation of winter (excepting the skating oval), and both are lacking in shelters from wind, rain, or sun. However, the Threads option, with its greater emphasis on movement rather than stationary attractions, at least creates places that facilitate movement with the potential for short breaks, enabling use throughout the year.
Challenges
Both options will have to deal with variable water conditions, including flooding, ice heaves, mud, and spring runoff debris. Year-round maintenance, safety and accessibility, and minimizing impacts on natural areas are challenges that either design will need to address as the project moves into its design phase.
Feedback
Give your feedback to the City by November 30.
You can visit the project website to learn more about it. Scroll down to the "Draft Concept Options Design Package to see the full concept design options.
You can give feedback in quick polls, share ideas or questions, and complete a more detailed survey, which closes on November 30.