As a city planner, citizens often tell me they’d like to live in a community that offers a wide variety of amenities and services, located close to where they work and go about their lives. Urban planners call this a “complete” community, and we’re currently planning one.

Situated along the city’s southwestern edge, Providence is bounded by farmland to its west, the Tsuu T’ina Nation to the north, the future Southwest Ring Road to the east and Spruce Meadows Trail to the south. Our vision for Providence is that it will function as a type of mini-city, such that it will be able to offer most of what a city can but within just one community. While most of Providence will be residential, its additional features will make it “complete” on a scale we have not yet seen in this city.





Providence’s access to the future Southwest Ring Road gives us the opportunity to locate businesses in the area for residents of southwest Calgary to access. Currently, much of southwest Calgary is residential and many who live there have to commute to other parts of the city for work. In Providence, we are planning 300 acres (approximately 20 per cent of the area) to be dedicated to employment, which will create the opportunity for approximately 11,000 people to work in Providence. Some of the people who will work in Providence might live in other parts of the city, but many of the 32,000 projected Providence residents will be able to work in the same community they live in. The types of jobs we envision for Providence include a full mix of office, institutional, retail and light industrial jobs.





Locating so many jobs in a new community in Calgary is something new for our city. Traditionally, new communities may be home to about one job for every seven residents. In Providence, we







Go to A draft land use concept has been developed and the project team would like your input.Go to calgary.ca/providence to provide your thoughts (click to expand image).

In addition to the employment area, Providence will also feature new amenities for residents. A new Regional Athletic Park is planned that will include playing fields and a track-and-field facility, and may also include a field house and indoor soccer centre. We anticipate nine schools for the area, and residential density will be concentrated along a central corridor that will function as a “main street” for residents to access local goods and services.





With the employment area, the Transitway and the recreational amenities planned for Providence, I’m excited to see Calgary’s first truly “complete” community take shape.





Learn more about Providence and have your say at Calgary.ca/providence





About the Author

Jill Sonego is a Planner with The City's

Planning, Development and Assessment

department who is leading the team for

Providence's area structure plan.

anticipate one job in the area for every three residents – that’s a vast improvement. Part of the reason Providence can accommodate significant employment is due to the transportation investments planned for the area. In addition to its direct access to the Southwest Ring Road, a bus rapid transit service is planned for Providence. The bus will run along the Transitway (a dedicated bus-only lane in the middle of a main roadway in the area) and will provide quick access to the Somerset/Bridlewood LRT station. Buses in Providence will also connect to the South Hospital.