I live in Calgary. But when I was invited, a few months back, to contribute some graphic recording to a City of Edmonton initiative, I was really pleased to do so - and not only because it meant I'd be able to count on free babysitting from my in-laws. (That's my baby under the "welcome" sign!)

I was actually excited to learn about Evolving Infill, a City-led "collaborative project that is aiming to create an Infill Action Plan to shape the City’s plan to advance Infill." Infill housing is happening, whether people like it or not (and not just in Edmonton). The City of Edmonton is hosting a conversation between citizens from every different side of the story, gathering up as much information as possible from real people, in order to make the process better for everyone.

That's my short version of what the Evolving Infill team is doing - but you can find out much more about it on their website.

I happen to love this kind of project. I love civic engagement (one word: VoteKit!!!), and I love good urban design that makes for walkable and multi-generational neighbourhoods (if you actually make it through this whole post, you'll see a comic strip I wrote on this subject a while back - from which, a little snippet here). And, well, I love eavesdropping on interesting conversations.

And I have to say, speaking as a Calgarian who came to love Calgary by the long way around (here's a bit on that subject, in this post about Calgary books), I kind of love Edmonton, too.

I mean, it's cold, it's got a layout that's more messed-up than you'd think would be possible considering it's on a grid, it's full of all these passionate small-L (and big-L, I guess) liberal thinking artsy unpretentious educated culture-loving citizens, it's famous for its potholes, there's that insane bridge, and it's got the best Indian food outside of Bradford, UK (although its most beloved local dish is apparently the green onion cake). What's not to love?

Throughout the four days I've spent so far with Edmonton's Infill Action Collaborative (of whom more below), I found myself wishing I knew more about the nuances of Edmonton's city scene. A lot of what I heard sounds like what's going on in Calgary, too (although, interestingly enough, there are some big differences - for example, in Calgary there's still this ongoing debate about legalizing secondary suites (here's a passionate contribution to the debate by blogger Mike Morrison), whereas in Edmonton, these are accepted fare).

Anyway - here's my fly-on-the-wall view of this very cool Edmonton project.

In "Step 1" of Evolving Infill (last year), project leaders gathered "infill stories" from citizens. Right now they're in the middle of "Step 2," and here's what their website says about that:

That's City Planner Jeff Chase up there, speaking to the Infill Action Collaborative at their first workshop. Next, everyone introduced themselves, and while they were at it, mentioned their favourite kitchen utensil. I managed to catch most of them!

Dave Robertson, by the way, who's the principal at Calgary's Mistri Consulting, is leading these workshops, and he is the person who invited me to collaborate with him in doing so. Thanks Dave!

By the end of our second workshop, the group had worked through a lot of information. Here's Dave (above) leading a discussion about all of the stuff on the posters you can see behind him! Group participants discussed various "infill stories" (some that they came up with themselves, and others that had been contributed by Edmontonians during "Step 1" of the project).

They talked about challenges and obstacles for the infill process - from many points of view (i.e. speaking as neighbours, developers, realtors, architects, planners, builders, you name it!)

Oh, and another point of view that was pretty important in these discussions was that of "Community League" members. I had no idea that these neighbourhood organizations, which in Calgary are known as "Community Associations," are called "Leagues" in Edmonton.

I couldn't stop thinking of "The Adventure of the Red-Headed (Community) League" - ha ha.

Anyway, the group worked through infill stories, challenges and obstacles to the current process, and also listed their hopes and aspirations for the infill system. Plus, they drafted eight statements that they felt summed up what was happening in Edmonton infill currently. And all of this went on to a poster - details below.

I really love sketchnotes. As a total aside, I recently took a look at some other great sketchnotes by Dave Wittekind from Chicago. And take a look at these truly amazing sketchnotes by Vancouver-based Brad Ovenell-Carter! If you can believe it, I'm actually supposed to do a graphic recording of a talk he'll be giving in Calgary in May (at the InnovateWest Conference). Um, just a little intimidating!!!

But now, back to Evolving Infill for a few pictures from our amazing venue: the former McKay Avenue School in downtown Edmonton, which now houses the Edmonton Public Schools Archives & Museum.

Notes about the photos below: The golden-doored elevator reminded me of the elevator in the Calgary Public Building (there's a photo of it in this post). The pink couch was in the "powder room!" And what's with the painting in the hinged frame? Is it just so you can slide the picture into the frame? Or is it so that you can hide some classified document in there? (Shades of "The Secret Adversary.")

On my way to one workshop I listened to some glorious organ music on the radio (thanks, CKUA) and was delighted to find an actual organ at the venue when I arrived. The placard says it was donated by the grandson of William F. Puffer, Member of the erstwhile Alberta Provincial Parliament. I looked him up just because I liked his name (I liked the organ, too) - sounds like he was quite a progressive fellow. Ah, so much Edmonton history, so little time!

At the third workshop, the Infill Action Collaborative spent a lot of time in breakout groups coming up with strategies for supporting the evolution of established neighbourhoods through infill development.

Here is something else I noticed while drawing all these folks: almost all the women were wearing scarves. It seemed as though every time I turned around to draw someone, I'd see another scarf! And this was the case, not only on the three different days I worked with this group, but with all the women at the Infill Action Review (coming up below). What's the deal, Edmonton women? I know it's cold in your city (and yes, it was kinda chilly in the McKay Avenue School, too), but what about cardigans, turtlenecks, shawls? I have been to other cold cities, but I didn't notice anything like this.

Is the scarf a ubiquitous Edmonton winter fashion element I just didn't know about? A civic statement that says "Edmonton" just like the green onion cake? I'm kind of intrigued.

Anyway, here is the poster that came out of the group presentations about infill strategies.

By now, I was getting into the routine of these Evolving Infill workshops. My Edmonton day started with a drive downtown from my in-laws' home in the distant suburbs. These drives confirmed for me (yet again) an apparent fact about the Edmonton radio scene: namely, that CKUA is an oasis in a desert of heavy metal and dance mixes. Just sayin'.

The Infill Action Initiative organizers promised back at the beginning of the first workshop: "All of the work we're doing, we'll be sharing with the public!" And they have certainly kept their word. On March 22nd, they hosted a public event - the Infill Action Review - inviting Edmontonians to come in and see what they've been doing.

As before, the event was held at the wonderful McKay Avenue School building. I was too busy drawing during the event to take any pictures of the participants, or of the really great visuals the organizing team brought along to show what they've been up to.

Here's Kim of Dialogue Partners welcoming everyone to the event. (Notice: she too is wearing a scarf! See what I mean?!)

Participants sat around tables and talked about different aspects of the Edmonton infill situation. And I walked around with an easel listening in on their conversation. Here's what I came up with:

Now what? The Infill Action Collaborative is meeting again in April, and I'll be there to record what they come up with. After that, the project organizers will be working with all this material to (in their words) "develop an Infill Action Plan that identifies actions and priorities and serves as a road map for the City's work to support more new housing in established communities." That sounds great!

I'll put up pictures from the last workshop in April. For now, here's an insight that really resonated with me:

Here's to more workshops like this! Thanks for inviting me along for the ride, Evolving Infill team! (pictured above, with me: City of Edmonton Planners Jeff Chase, Lisa Larson and Yvonne Pronovost)

As it happens, I have some strong opinions about the importance of supporting community-friendly inner-city developments such as good infill housing. Here's a comic strip I wrote for my community newsletter last year on the subject. And if this piques your interest, here's a blog post I wrote that takes this subject a bit further (i.e. it's a rant). Ok - all for now!

After I wrote about multi-generational housing, I heard from all sorts of interesting people with different kinds of experience and expertise in this subject - either as caregivers for their own multi-generational families, or as urban thinkers who've given a lot of study to the subject of how we can make our living spaces work better.

My neighbour Fred Hollis lent me this book ("The Small House Book" by Jay Schafer). It is full of inspiring pictures and ideas - inspiring not only if you're trying to do a major downsize, but also if you only have a small space to start with. Tiny can still mean luxurious, liveable, and definitely cozy.



Then tonight I happened to read a story to my son: published in 1971, Peppino is illustrated by Sita Jucker and written by Ursina Ziegler. As far as I can tell (and I can't find out much... i.e. a link to put here!) they were (and still are, perhaps?) both Swiss. This book (like most of the zillions of children's books piled around my house) was mine when I was little. I remember loving this story of a boy whose dad was no longer able to work as a travelling magician; Peppino (the boy) helps by earning money - and creating hope - with his wonderful drawings. I loved all the pictures in the book, but I really liked this one, which shows Peppino's drawing of the house he dreams of living in with his father.

Peppino was ahead of his time! He was designing tiny houses long before they became trendy!

And, you know, this wasn't where I was going with this at all, but those pictures just make me think of another children's story: Roald Dahl's "Danny, the Champion of the World" in which another boy lives with his father in another cozy "tiny house" (a gypsy caravan - pictured here in one of the original illustrations by Jill Bennett). Tiny homes in children's literature - perhaps a subject for another day!

Here's my tale of a quest for inner-city multi-generational housing in Calgary.

This post has been simmering for a while, but it seems the more I think about this, the more there is to learn. (Also, I've been so crazy busy the last couple of weeks drawing stuff for the Calgary Comics Expo at the end of April, so I haven't had any time to work on this!) But I can't wait forever, so I think I'll just put it out here and see what happens.

Local housing options are a bit of a hot topic in Calgary right now, as it happens. Calgary entrepreneur W. Brett Wilson just wrote this editorial in the Calgary Herald adding his voice to the ongoing debate about legalizing secondary suites (Wilson - who, I just discovered, has quite a unique website, by the way - is in favour of doing so). "Density" is a popular buzzword in current discussions about housing options. But although I'm all for educating people about "density" - and the fact that it doesn't have to mean "condo towers" - this post isn't really about the stuff going on at City Hall. This is just about finding a way to live with my mom.

I made this the subject of my most recent Ramsay comic (which I usually post here at the beginning of the month; I delayed it this time so I could put it into this story). Here it is. But keep reading below if you should feel so inclined. Basically, what began as a search for a good plan to move my mom in with my family, has become a passionate inquisition into the local lack of what I'm seeking. Read on!

In the year-or-so I've been writing the Ramsay strip, which is distributed in our community newsletter to about 1000 households each month, I've had lots of general positive feedback (thanks everyone!), but hardly any specific comments. It's interesting that this one time when I wrote about something so close to home, it seemed to resonate with quite a few people! I've had comments and suggestions coming in from neighbours I've never met.

This subject - or some variation thereof - clearly hits close to home for other Calgarians, too.

Here are some of the suggestions I received:

And from my out-of-the-box-thinking neighbour Fred Hollis, some informative and inspiring thoughts about the possibilities of a so-called "tiny house" (if you haven't heard of these, check them out!):

Here are some pictures I found of tiny houses... Click on the images to see where they are from. (The last one, in particular, is from a really cool site: www.designboom.com. Note: many tiny houses seem to capitalize on their small area by building upwards, but there are quite a few bungalow-style options, too.)

Oh - and I love the term "grannex" (*grandma + annex).

So, I guess I should clarify: I wasn't really looking so much for advice about zoning and secondary suites and specific ideas for a house/renovation design (although I most certainly welcome it!), as I was wondering if there are any houses out there that are designed and built especially to accommodate multi-generational families (or at least, that have two suites, one of which is designed for accessibility, and one of which isn't).

I think the fact that so many of my neighbours were motivated to reach out and offer me feedback, says something about the degree to which all of us are affected by our living spaces. Many of us share a common struggle: how to force our lifestyles to fit into the shape of our dwellings? But shouldn't it be the other way around: shouldn't we be building our dwellings to fit our lifestyles? I read something recently about how it used to be common for people to move to a new city for a job, and then try to adjust to that new city; now, apparently, it's more common for job-hunters to check out the city first, see how well it suits their existing lifestyle, and then take the job only if the city's a good fit. Couldn't we approach housing that way, too?

Anyway - here are a few thoughts that I've been mulling over as a result of pondering my own family's situation over the past year or so. Let's start with two assumptions that seem to be commonplace, at least in this city... both of which I think are a load of hooey.

What's the cost to society when all these people have to adjust to new lives?
Transitions are harder for elderly folks and people living with mental illness or other disabilities.

It just sounds like a plan that will encourage depression, isolation, and accidents... or, at best, will put a strain on those family members who will have to work as hard as they can to help with the transition so these kinds of things won't happen.

Don't get me wrong - retirement homes can be wonderful places, and there's no question that they've improved vastly since the "old folks' homes" of a generation ago. But I always kind of feel like they're designed with the idea that residents' healthy, hale and hearty grown-up children would be able to drive over all the time to visit and help out. These days people are having children later (well, at least I did). If you're forty and you've got teenagers, chances are you've got free time to visit your aged parents at the home whenever you like. If you're forty and you've got toddlers, chances are you're just dreaming about being able to take a nap sometime. (Or you're awake at 1:44 AM wondering why you're writing a blog post instead of sleeping like a smart person. Oh yeah... because you won't have any free time to do so while your child is awake.)

I asked someone who works in the Calgary housing and development industry whether multi-generational housing, or at least housing that can be adapted to accommodate changing circumstances, would be a popular option, if only it were more widely available. "No," was the answer. "Unlike you, most people want their parents in retirement homes."

Really?



While writing this post, I couldn't help remembering a boat tour I once took through the St. Lawrence River's Thousand Islands. One of the spots that was pointed out on the tour was the so-called "mother-in-law island," on which tiny speck of land George C. Boldt had reputedly built a little cottage for his mother-in-law. (I found this photograph of the island here in a flickr photo gallery, although it looks like the photographer might have removed the picture since then.) So, yes, I get it - mothers-in-law are notoriously bad housemates for many.

But that's precisely why I'm suggesting a separate suite within the house for my mom. Even though we get along really well (and, even better: my mom & husband like talking sports, which takes the pressure off me!), my mother and I agree that no kitchen is big enough for the both of us. Until and unless she ends up needing more help than my family can provide, this seems like a good plan. At that time, a retirement residence, where she could receive care from qualified people, might indeed be the best option. That, or a caregiver who either lives with her or visits often. But that might not be for years!

However, even if it's just for a short time, we'd still like to have her nearby.

Here's a quote from "CreekLife," an Edmonton magazine about Creekwood Chappelle, a new suburban development that's marketing itself to young families. This does sound great - except that the house in question is probably something like 4000 square feet and about a forty-five-minute drive from the city's downtown. The concept works for me (and illustrates the fact that yes, there are families to whom this model appeals) - but the numbers don't compute. I don't need (and can't afford) 4000 square feet - and I like being able to walk downtown from where I live.

By the way, it looks like Amber Lee is part of a Chinese-Canadian family. This is one culture that definitely, in my experience, places a high priority on keeping parents nearby. One might argue that this doesn't represent enough average Calgarians to rethink our current housing model. But even if you argue that parent-house-sharing is more of an Eastern than a Western phenomenon, remember that Westerners are not the only folks in Calgary (developers take note: Chinese languages accounted for the largest number of immigrant tongues reported in Calgary, according to this 2012 article from the Herald), and that "the East" is a big place: I have friends from Tanzania to Tibet who co-habit with their parents in Calgary. And Calgarians from all over the world have parents who visit - or, at least, who would visit, if they could be assured of safe and comfortable accommodation!

And just in case you really don't believe me that this is any more than a recent trend - or that it's something that "Westerners" do: I can steer you back to 2001 when Lynn Johnston, capturer of Canadian culture in comics form ("For Better of For Worse"), wrote about the challenging process of moving Elly's father in with her family - a scenario which, I have no doubt, resonated with many Canadian readers.

So...

Luckily, Calgarians seem to be "getting it": a home should be designed to suit your own, personal, unique lifestyle - or, at least, a lifestyle that matches you pretty closely - not the other way around.

(Don't get me started on how silly it is for 800-sq-ft condos to have these obligatory "guest bathrooms". What the heck. If you know someone well enough to invite them over to your 800 square foot condo, you probably know them well enough to let them use your own private bathroom. Of course, if two people are living in the space, or if you use your space as a home office for visiting clients, you might not want to share - but many of these suites are inhabited by single occupants who'd much prefer to have some of their precious 800 square feet allotted to a work space or something else useful, rather than a redundant WC, when there's another one ten feet away! But, as usual, I digress...)

Of course, I'm not talking about custom-designing each feature of your home - if you can afford to do so, that's great, but most can't. I just mean that dwellings could be designed with a few more modular features that allow for easy adaptations to suit the inhabitants' lifestyles.

And there seems to be a trend in this direction. Although it may be a long time before mainstream developers are turning out versions of my particular multi-generational dream home, certainly there are some cool housing options in Calgary which indicate that quite a few people are not content with the status quo. A new one is Dragonfly Cohousing in Crescent Heights (get in while you still can!), Calgary's second such development to my knowledge (the other one - and it's also awesome - is Prairie Sky).

So - maybe this isn't really about my family's plan to co-habit with my mom. That's our issue, and there are lots of possible solutions. My point is that, despite the fact that there are many families who face this kind of situation, there is no simple "roadmap" that explains how to do this. Each family has to educate itself, navigate the red tape and figure out its own creative solution. But what if there was already a ready-made cookie-cutter solution in the offering - just like an infill, made according to a pattern that someone figured out based on a demographic? Instead of building a suburban house designed to contain two adults and 2.5 children, how about a house designed for two adults whose mobility may be compromised down the road? How many families would jump at this chance?

Maybe I'm just naive. But think about the savings to health care when elderly people and folks dealing with mental illness/mobility issues all of a sudden DON'T have to move. To say nothing of the family happiness.

How would Calgary profit from more multi-generational housing?
I'd like to find out.

P.S. You might not think it from reading this rant, but there are actually a whole lot of fabulous services and resources available for people who are hoping to alter their dwellings to accommodate a senior citizen or a person with a disability. This post is too long already, so I won't list them here, but I have been learning a lot about the options that are out there... maybe that list will be the subject of a future story.

P.P.S. In case you're thinking, "Why can't you just renovate your house? Secondary suites are legal in Ramsay, and you have enough room in your backyard!" - We might do so, but it's a weighty decision. Our 100-year-old house, sturdy though it is, still has (in part) 100-year-old wiring, plumbing, and windows. Doesn't it seem kind of dumb to put a modern addition on something like that? To gut the whole thing and update everything at once, would be, based on our previous renovation experience, just as expensive, if not more, than buying a new house. We're still on the fence about how long we should stay in this spot. So... we'll keep on thinking about this. I'll let you know what happens.