Global Lessons in Urban Diversity

The second installment of LARC's Dialogues Series on June 2 Global Lessons in Urban Diversity, Revitalization and Growth joined 3 esteemed panelists to compare and discuss lessons and experiences in urban growth in Mexico, USA and Canada: 

• Ing. Cuauhtémoc Cárdenas has played significant roles in municipal, state, and federal politics and is one of the most distinguished figures in Mexican politics.  Like his father former president Lázaro Cárdenas he served as Governor of the State of Michoacán. He ran for the presidency for the first time in the 1988 election, and again in 1994 and 2000. He became the first democratically elected mayor of Mexico City in 1997, a position which he held for well over a decade. He founded the Foundation for Democracy in 1995 and continues to serve as its president.

• Rollin Stanley is the City of Calgary's General Manager, Urban Strategy. He previously worked in the suburbs of Washington DC, transforming the face of a predominately suburban county by creating opportunities around subway stations for higher density. In St. Louis, Rollin worked closely with the Mayor to help turnaround the city that lost over 500,000 people in 50 years. Working in Toronto for 21 years, he was instrumental in negotiating development throughout the downtown and in transforming the entertainment district.

• Dr. Byron Miller is currently Associate Professor of Geography and Coordinator of the Urban Studies Program at the University of Calgary.  He is the author of Geography and Social Movements (2000) on the University of Minnesota Press, co-editor (with Walter Nicholls and Justin Beaumont) of Spaces of Contention: Spatialities of Social Movements (2013) on Ashgate, and co-editor (with Andrew Jonas, David Wilson, and Kevin Ward) of the forthcoming Handbook on the Spaces of Urban Politics on Routledge.  

Moderator Jim Brown of CBC Radio facilitated an in depth exchange of experience and knowledge between the panelists on the interconnected challenges related to growth. Audience members addressed issues ranging from urban growth and management, to recycling initiatives and cultural urban diversity. The emerging discussion identified ways in which Calgary can learn from experiences and strategies in Mexico and beyond despite differing interpretations of what a city could and should be.