Safety

Sidewalk setbacks

Extra separation between people walking and cars not only makes for a more pleasant pedestrian experience – it’s safer, too. If a nearby driver fails to pay attention, the treed planting strip makes injury far less likely than walking right ‘beside the road’.

Safety

Apparent street width

With trees planted alongside each road instead of sidewalks, roads feel less wide, despite being the same size, reducing the ‘natural speed’ with which cars drive.

Safety

Cars routed to back

With the majority of residents arriving home and turning down rear lanes to park into their garage, front streetscapes carry less daily traffic making roads safer for children wandering the community.

Safety

Pedestrian-only spaces

While reducing conflicts between people and vehicles is important, avoiding them altogether can make a dramatic difference, especially for children. Alpine Park’s interconnected green court system allows residents to walk throughout the community entirely off-street.

Safety

Curb bump-outs

Used throughout the community, bump-outs increase safety for people in the community by shortening distances needed to cross roadways, increase pedestrian visibility, and encourage vehicles making a turn to slow down.

Safety

Couplet entry road

Despite offering higher vehicle flow capacity than typical roadways, couplet designs like Alpine Park’s 152 Avenue also shorten distances to cross for people walking and results in fewer intersection conflicts between pedestrians and vehicles.

Traditional roadways (A) require full light cycles and can back up previous intersections. Pedestrians crossing the wider spans have a lower quality experience and are at higher risk. These create a significant barrier between the neighbourhood north and south of the road.

Median barrier roadways (B) attempt to prevent backup of smaller intersections stopping vehicles from crossing and provide pedestrians – particularly mobility challenged ones –  with a dedicated safe stopping point mid-crossing, but the experience remains underwhelming.

Couplet roadways (C) provide space of value on three areas of the roadway; north, south, and within the middle of the couplet. Crossings are kept shorter and made more pleasant for pedestrians, and vehicles do not have to queue in order to turn, keeping traffic flowing more readily.

Safety

Eyes on the street

With nearly all of the homes in Alpine Park featuring garages in the back as opposed to attached to the front, people are more aware what is going on in the community in front of them. Neighbours recognize when someone looks suspicious, and front doors are more visible.

Safety

Fire smart

Homes in Alpine Park feature James Hardie or stucco siding, greatly reducing the likelihood of ignition during a fire. Plus, with many homes offering rear detached garages, hazardous materials can be stored separate from your home, reducing risk to occupants.

Safety

Emergency navigation

With a permeable grid road layout and no dead-end cul-du-sacs or crescents hindering intuitive navigation, people simply get around easier. More importantly, emergency services do too. In the case of road closures or other challenges, rerouting is seamless and anyone in need of fire, ambulance, or police service can get help quickly.

Safety

Night lighting

With so many pedestrian-oriented spaces to enjoy ‘off the street’, nighttime safety requires more than just street lights. Thoughtful bollard lighting extends the usable time residents can safely enjoy their public park spaces well into the evening and is one additional peace of mind.

Interaction

Semi-public, semi-private spaces

Porches are the perfect middle-ground, a space where neighbours can say hello without having to be welcomed inside, and yet where you can spend time without feeling obligated to chat. In communities that lack these important spaces, you simply get fewer opportunities to engage.

Interaction

Cars in their place

People in Alpine Park don’t just pull into the garage and disappear – they spend time in front, with less traffic on the road and a more enjoyable place to walk or visit.

Interaction

Encounters

Having places to gather where others gather too is important. Kids meet other kids in the neighbourhood. New moms feeling overwhelmed meet other moms going through the same new experiences and learn to lean on one another. Alpine is built for the best kind of run-ins – at the community garden, sitting at picnic tables, along intersecting pathways, or while taking the dog to the park.

Interaction

Neighbours you know

A connected place with middle-grounds that let you break the ice or gathering spaces where you can run into those that live beside you lead to the greatest amenity Alpine Park can offer – neighbours you get to know and care about.

Destination

Shared interests

Common areas for common interests, like community gardens, or playgrounds where parents can meet while kids play.

Destination

Viewpoints

There’s nothing more rewarding than rounding the corner and taking in an incredible view. We can’t all have mountains out our windows, but with roads laid to maximize views of the city and open spaces like Skyline Pond offering views of the Rockies, these moments are available to us all.

Destination

Local parks

Places close to home to run into friends, throw a ball around, or have a larger family gathering than your own back yard can bear.

Destination

For the many, not the few

Alpine’s parks encircled by roadways and built for the enjoyment of the whole community, without the awkward spaces created when the rear yards of properties back onto them – a clash of private and public spheres where people using the park feel uncomfortable ‘intruding’ on the space of the owner, and owners feel overly ‘exposed’ to the pedestrian traffic behind them.

Destination

High street

Feel like a morning perk up? Walk to the Village Centre, grab a cup of coffee, and enjoy the morning air in the urban square. Or join friends for dinner on a patio.

Destination

Wilderness in the city

Take longer, more adventurous walks into Fish Creek Provincial Park and enjoy the natural forested state of Canada’s second largest urban park.

Beauty

Human architecture

Authentic and varied styles, premium materials, but most importantly – homes that focus on spaces and features for people first and foremost. Porches rather than pavement. Windows instead of flat garage doors.

Beauty

Outward expression

Without driveways consuming everything but a narrow strip of green sod, front yards in Alpine Park become extensions of each resident’s outdoor living space – styled to enhance the charm of each home and reflective of each homeowner’s personality. Flower or vegetable gardens, xeriscaping or prairie grasses, pine trees or aspens.

Beauty

Holiday celebration

Think of any classic Halloween or holiday movie, and images of pumpkins on the porch, string lights around columns. or a wreath over your door come to mind – not laser lights on the garage.

Beauty

Treed roadways

Nearly all roads in Alpine Park have at least two rows of 70+mm trees in planted strips between the sidewalks and the roadway, with greenway roads featuring three rows. This beautiful treescape will establish as the community ages and create a remarkable framing for community life under the canopy.

Connection

On road or off

Sidewalks set back by treed boulevards from the road make for more comfortable walks without the worry of cars whizzing by. Or disconnect yourself entirely from the roadway and stroll the string of pearls park system through pedestrian-only green court parks lined with the porches of beautiful homes.

Connection

Side-by-side

Walk shoulder-to-shoulder or stroller-to-stroller along wider pathways and enjoy higher quality quality-time while catching up with friends.

Connection

Follies

With something interesting around ever corner, from information markers, to rock formations, to a community fireplace, there’s always a reason to keep moving forward and mix up the paths you take.

Connection

Cut-throughs

Sometimes we run out of time for the scenic route. With pathways optimized for getting around on foot, you don’t need to go around entire blocks just to get where you’re going. Cuts through parks, or in the middle of blocks, are smartly placed to make walking as convenient – or as leisurely – as you want.