Calgary_EN

1.

CITY PORTRAIT · 2026
Calgary
Where the prairies meet the Rockies
51°03′ N · 114°04′ W · 1,045 m above the sea
ALBERTA, CANADA

2.

01 · THE PLACE
Between prairie and peak
Calgary grew up in a wide valley where the Bow and the
Elbow rivers meet, on the eastern edge of the Rocky
3 000
Mountain foothills.
TWO RIVERS
Bow and Elbow braid through the valley — the city’s green spine
and its first reason to exist.
2 000
FOOTHILLS
Prairie to the east, mountains to the west. Both are a twentyminute drive from downtown.
1 000
HIGH GROUND
1,045 metres above sea level: thin, clear air and a horizon that
never closes in.
CALGARY
·
ALBERTA
PRAIRIE
CITY
ROCKY MOUNTAINS
02

3.

02 · THE CITY IN NUMBERS
Big, young and bright
Four numbers that explain why Calgary feels different from the rest of Canada.
1.4 M
#3
2,400
800
RESIDENTS
IN CANADA
HOURS OF SUN
KM OF PATHWAYS
Third-largest city in Canada — and
the fastest-growing big city in the
country.
After Toronto and Montreal, in a
metro area of about 1.6 million.
A year. More than any other major
Canadian city.
Paved and gravel trails inside the
city limits alone.
CALGARY
·
ALBERTA
03

4.

03 · THE STAMPEDE
Ten days that define July
Every July the city hands itself over to the Stampede — the rodeo, the parade and
the pancake breakfasts that have been running since 1912.
1912
“The Greatest Outdoor Show on Earth”
CALGARY STAMPEDE, SINCE 1912
RODEO
·
STAMPEDE PARK
10
1 M+
1
1,000s
days every July
visitors each year
parade, downtown
free pancake breakfasts
CALGARY
·
ALBERTA
04

5.

04 · THE OLYMPIC LEGACY
The Games that built a sports city
1988
Calgary was the first Canadian city to host the Winter Olympics. Thirtyeight years later the venues have never closed — they still train
athletes and still open to the public.
XV OLYMPIC WINTER GAMES · FEBRUARY 1988
THE OVAL
CANADA OLYMPIC PARK
NORDIC CENTRE
A 400-metre speed-skating track that became a yearround training and community centre.
Ski jumps and a downhill run, fifteen minutes from
downtown.
Cross-country and biathlon trails in the mountain
park at Canmore.
CALGARY
·
ALBERTA
05

6.

05 · THE ECONOMY
Energy headquarters — and much more
Calgary is Canada’s energy capital, with one of the highest concentrations of corporate head offices per
person in the country. The same engineering talent now also runs tech, logistics, finance and film.
01
02
03
ENERGY
TECHNOLOGY
THE HUB
Head offices for the oil and gas sector, and the
One of the fastest-growing tech labour
Airport, rail and the highway west: the
engineering firms that serve it.
markets in North America — data, software,
distribution centre for western Canada.
clean energy.
Diversification is not a slogan here — it is the last ten years.
CALGARY
·
ALBERTA
06

7.

06 · THE WEATHER
The Chinook: twenty degrees in a few hours
A warm, dry wind comes over the Rockies and can lift a −20
+20
14:00 +15 °C
°C January morning to +15 °C by the afternoon. Calgarians
call it the snow-eater.
+10
0
−10
Same week: skiing on Saturday, golf on Sunday.
CALGARY
·
ALBERTA
−25
06:00 −20 °C
07

8.

07 · THE OUTDOORS
A city that lives outside
Two river valleys, a hundred parks and a trail network that reaches every corner of the city — and a
national park ninety minutes west.
800+
KM OF TRAILS
2
RIVER VALLEYS
Fish Creek and Nose Hill: wilderness inside
the city limits.
Commuter paths along the Bow, singletrack in the foothills.
90
·
MIN TO BANFF
A national park in the backyard — ski, hike, paddle.
CALGARY
·
ALBERTA
08

9.

08 · CULTURE AND ARCHITECTURE
A young city with a strong silhouette
Calgary built its landmarks in the last sixty years — and never avoided colour.
1968
Calgary Tower
191 metres; the city’s compass and its first skyline icon.
2012
Peace Bridge
Santiago Calatrava’s red arc over the Bow — a crossing
that became a photograph.
2016
Studio Bell
The National Music Centre, tuned like an instrument.
2018
Central Library
Snøhetta’s crystal in the East Village; a public room, not a
monument.
2024
BMO Centre
Western Canada’s largest convention centre, next to the
Stampede grounds.
CALGARY
·
ALBERTA
09

10.

09 · THE PEOPLE
Newcomers and volunteers
Calgary is one of the youngest big cities in Canada — and almost one in three residents was born outside the
country.
1 in 3
37
#1
RESIDENTS BORN ABROAD
MEDIAN AGE
VOLUNTEER RATE AMONG BIG CITIES
“In Calgary, the answer to ‘can I help?’ is usually ‘yes, come in.’”
CALGARY
·
ALBERTA
10

11.

10 · IN CLOSING
Onward
Calgary’s motto, and its operating instruction.
A young, educated city in the most beautiful setting in Canada; an economy that keeps
reinventing itself; and a population that still believes the next chapter is the good one.
YOUNG
ENERGETIC
Thank you · Questions welcome
Photos: Wikimedia Commons — Tamsintj, Gnosis, Surrealplaces, Sergey Pesterev, Ron Cogswell · CC BY -SA 4.0 / 3.0, CC BY 2.0
OUTDOORS