We've all heard that Rome wasn't built in a day. Neither was Calgary, which continues to undergo an urban renaissance. Over the next five days, CREB®Now will present a series where it has sat down with five influencers who have helped develop the city as we know it today.

The lure of lasting value

He leads a Calgary-based company with assets of $3.2 billion and 1,100 employees in 12 different North American markets.

In its 57-year history, the company has developed and built in 62 Calgary neighbourhoods in all four quadrants of the city.

But while Alan Norris's Brookfield Residential Properties has been successful developing communities throughout North America, the president and CEO also leads what may be his biggest task yet: to end homelessness in Calgary.

New vision for Paskapoo Slopes area

A controversial mixed-use project slated for west Calgary has revealed its development plan.

Located along the Trans-Canada Highway, Trinity Hills would bring 700,000 square feet of retail space, 250,000 square feet of office space along with 1,500 residential units to the East Paskapoo Slopes area adjoining Canada Olympic Park.

The plans for site, which had been met with fears of over-development from some local residents, calls for nearly three million square feet in total development which would consume roughly one-third of the existing green space.

Has "not in my backyard" become Calgary's unofficial slogan?

The cry "not in my backyard" has been heard in this city over many topics. From secondary suites to skateparks to special needs schools and even bottle depots, objections have arisen on projects both public and personal.

Having even spawned its own Twitter handle, Calgary's long-running history of NIMBYism has seen residents object to special needs schools on the basis that they would lower property values, social housing based on an increase in population density and skateboard parks based on the "racket" created by budding Tony Hawks.

For those tasked with moving projects forward in the face of such criticism, it can be a delicate balance.

"Obviously there is NIMBYism in Calgary, as there is in every city. Whether or not there's more, I don't know," said RESOLVE spokeswoman Amy Hurst.

We've all heard that Rome wasn't built in a day. Neither was Calgary, which continues to undergo an urban renaissance. Over the next five days, CREB®Now will present a series where it has sat down with five influencers who have helped develop the city as we know it today.

CMLC boss follows his heart

Through several significant career changes, Michael Brown has always taken to heart his mother's advice growing up: "I don't care what you do; just make a difference."

As president and CEO of Calgary Municipal Land Corp. (CMLC) since 2011, Brown is doing just that as he leads the rejuvenation of the massive 20-hectare, mixed-use, inner city community of East Village, one of the largest urban re-developments in North America.

So how did this political science university graduate, who jumped into economic development and then helped build one of Calgary's iconic corporate headquarters, get involved in urban renewal?

We've all heard that Rome wasn't built in a day. Neither was Calgary, which continues to undergo an urban renaissance. Over the next five days, CREB®Now will present a series where it has sat down with five influencers who have helped develop the city as we know it today

The man with the plan

In Grade 12, a university professor spoke to Jeff Fielding's class about cities and how they are planned.

"I had no idea what I wanted to be at the time," said the man appointed city manager just over a year ago to lead Calgary's 15,000 municipal employees.

"He (the university professor) was so passionate about what he was doing and what the future held for cities that I thought, 'wow, I have to get into that.'"

We've all heard that Rome wasn't built in a day. Neither was Calgary, which continues to undergo an urban renaissance. Over the next five days, CREB®Now will present a series where it has sat down with five influencers who have helped develop the city as we know it today.

'Sink or swim' for housing titan

At the age of 17, Jay Westman was thrown by dad, Al, into the housing industry's version of 'sink or swim.'

The self-described "average" student had no "big idea" about what he wanted to do after high school: "I think my parents would have liked me to be a lawyer or a doctor but school was not my strong suit," said the chairman and CEO of Calgary-based Jayman Built, one of the largest homebuilders in Alberta.

So Al Westman — through his own housing company — plunged Jay into project management, and life in a motorhome on a multi-family site in Lethbridge.

"I learned a lot of life lessons. I made a lot of mistakes and cost my dad some money. But I paid him back later," he said.

Plans for a new cemetery in the southeast aims to bring burial into the 21st century, serving as more than just a repository for the departed

Stretching over rolling hills, a 65-hectare plot of land adjacent to Ralph Klein Park is an idyllic refuge from the frenetic energy of urban life.

Yet the parkland on the edge of Calgary's southeast quadrant is intended to be much more than a place to take the dog for a walk amongst spectacular mountain vistas. It's the site of the city's newest cemetery, the first to be constructed in more than 75 years.

Yet to be officially named, it represents a 21st century approach to death, aimed at making an important-but-often-underused public space in a rapidly growing urban environment into a vital hub for the communities it serves.

"It certainly will have a more multi-purpose use," said Jim Klimes, the lead architect for the City of Calgary on the project. "We don't want it cut off from society; we want it integrated into the community."