Adam Legge is Vice President and Chief Economist, Research and Business Information, with Calgary Economic Development. He was also one of the key architects in the development of the Calgary Economic Development Strategy released earlier this year.

Adam shared his thoughts on the role of imagineCALGARY in the creation of the Calgary Economic Development Strategy in a recent interview.

1. How did the imagineCALGARY Plan influence the development of the Economic Development Strategy?

imagineCALGARY was well under way when the Strategy was proposed as a project by the Mayor's office. imagineCALGARY played a significant role in the formation of the Strategy from two key perspectives. First, the concepts of sustainability proposed in imagineCALGARY were very important in the Calgary Economic Development Strategy process and outcome, ensuring that a 30-year plan for sustainability, particularly around the economic needs, was applied to a 10-year plan for economic development. That is the only way Calgary can be effective in turning policy into action — by having successive/hierarchical plans supportive of each other and their goals.

Secondly, imagineCALGARY had already undertaken a significant public engagement process so it was valuable to utilize the already excellent work of the imagineCALGARY project and apply it to the Calgary Economic Development Strategy. We looked at the public input, particularly around the economic needs, and incorporated those into the information that we were collecting from our input process.

2. What was the key benefit of using the imagineCALGARY Plan in the Economic Development Strategy?

Using imagineCALGARY was very important because it set the framework for where the community wants to be in 100 years, and 30 years. This helped us to position actions for a 10-year plan that would work incrementally towards achieving 30 and 100-year outcomes. Additionally, much public consultation had been done to support the imagineCALGARY Plan and that was beneficial to gaining access to support our outreach efforts.

3. Where there any challenges to using the imagineCALGARY Plan?

The challenge is in trying to bring something so big down to something actionable. Many Calgarians still can't grasp imagineCALGARY because of its size, breadth and timeline. That was challenging in terms of being able to determine, within a 10-year horizon, what might be tangible enough that people could rally behind it and support it, yet still begin to move towards the path of the imagineCALGARY goals.

4. Would you encourage other organizations to use the imagineCALGARY Plan as part of their strategic planning processes?

Major visions, plans and goals such as those articulated in imagineCALGARY will only be realized through collective action amongst government, the private sector, institutions, not-for-profit organizations, and most importantly, individual Calgarians themselves. It is critical that as we begin to undertake work in the community, in business and in government that will achieve the kind of city and region we want, that we reflect upon the concepts and goals of imagineCALGARY. It is also imperative to reassure organizations that being part of working collectively towards achieving the imagineCALGARY goals does not mean that they have to address every area or take action in every domain. It is about doing what they can towards achieving the vision of imagineCALGARY and that of our community. Every little bit helps and I think that is important to remember.

5. Any specific lessons learned that you'd like to share?

I think the key point is one I made earlier, that as we develop plans for Calgary, it’s important that they all inter-relate. imagineCALGARY was a key input and shaping force for the Calgary Economic Development Strategy, as well as the Centre City Plan, and the forthcoming PlanIt. If our plans don't support each other, and leverage the great work that is being done across the city, then little will work in a holistic manner. Being strategic, linking these plans together and providing the policy and strategy guidance for action is critical to success.

The ultimate win would be to see other levels of government, private sector, institutions and the not-for-profit sector all begin to align their strategies towards these public plans.