Sprawlcast

In Calgary’s Chinatown, Teresa Wong Revisits A Family History Calgary cartoonist and author Teresa Wong is the author of the 2024 graphic memoir "All Our Ordinary Stories." Her great-grandfather came to Calgary more than a century ago—but the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1923 kept the rest of his family from following. Now Wong has created a new piece of artwork specifically to be printed on The Spraw...

The paper chase: How 4 Calgarians made their cities better with bookstores A trip into Western Canadian book culture. Featuring Don Stewart of MacLeod's Books (Vancouver), Céline Chuang of Paper Birch Books (Edmonton), Rodney Clarke of The Paper Hound Bookshop (Vancouver) and David Sidjak of Sigla Books (Calgary). All of them grew up in Calgary.

Paying For It: Calgary Developers Face New Scrutiny A slowdown on sprawl? New councillors consider it as Calgary city hall reckons with a looming $49 billion price tag for infrastructure over the next decade.

Why Calgary Said No To The 2026 Olympics A decade ago, under Mayor Nenshi, city council started work on a bid for the 2026 Winter Olympics. It went downhill from there.

How urban sprawl is stretching Calgary Transit to the max As the city grows in size and population, Calgary's new city council grapples with an old problem: how to pay for half-decent transit service.

What we learned covering Calgary’s 2025 election Can local journalism be... joyful? You bet it can. Sprawl editor Jeremy Klaszus catches up with roving election reporter Asad Chishti to reflect on Calgary's 2025 election and why we covered it the way we did.

2025 Funding Drive Episode Tune in to this special 2025 Funding Drive edition of Sprawlcast, hosted live at CJSW 90.9FM by Jeremy Klaszus and Lauz (host of Rock Bottom)!

Calgary at 150: The Forgotten Anniversary Fort Calgary's anniversary has traditionally been celebrated as the city's "birthday" but this time city hall isn't celebrating. Is this historical awareness—or amnesia?

The story and struggle of Calgary's urban forest Calgary’s urban tree canopy coverage is among the lowest in Canada. We dig into why—and what city hall is doing about it.

The Deerfoot Divide In the 1970s, a new freeway cut one side of Calgary off from the other. We dig into why the city remains divided when it comes to amenities and infrastructure on each side of Deerfoot Trail.

The Battle of Glenmore Landing We dig into a 60-year fight against density by the reservoir shores in southwest Calgary. It's a saga about class, conservation and community politics. History is repeating itself at Glenmore Landing—but with some new twists.

How The UCP Is Rejigging Calgary’s Next Election Will municipal parties strengthen local democracy or undermine it? We speak with some of the candidates and parties that will be on the ballot—and dig into how the 2025 election will be different.

The Politics of Property Taxes City hall's decision to close Inglewood's swimming pool left many Calgarians scratching their heads. We dig into why city council cut inner-city pools in the first place after oil prices crashed a decade ago.

2024 Funding Drive Episode A live episode of Sprawlcast hosted by Jeremy and Lauz (host of Rock Bottom on Tuesdays at 12pm on CJSW), celebrating the 2024 Funding Drive and The Sounds of Radiotown.

The Tycoons Reshaping Calgary-Area Transit When it comes to rail projects in Alberta, the Green Line is one piece of a larger puzzle. We dig into who's been setting the agenda when it comes to these projects—and to what extent they are complementary or competing with each other as Calgary city hall's Green Line plans collapse.

The Downsizing of the Green Line A week after the groundbreaking for the new Flames arena, city hall cut the Green Line nearly in half. We dig into the Green Line's delay-plagued history—and how one city megaproject has affected the other.

The Fragility of Calgary's Water Supply Where does our water come from—and how is climate change altering that water source? We zoom out from the feeder main that broke in June, following a drop of water from the Rocky Mountains and glaciers west of Calgary, into the pipes beneath our feet, and out the taps in our homes.

The Real Costs of Calgary's New BMO Centre City hall went big—and is feeling the pinch. We dig into what it really cost to build a new convention centre building and what it means for the city's finances.

Bill 20 and Danielle Smith's municipal 'power grab' It's not unusual for Alberta governments to tinker with municipal election laws. But Bill 20 is far more than the usual tinkering. We dig into the evolution of municipal elections in Alberta and look at what Bill 20 means for local democracy in Calgary—and beyond.

The Rumble Over Rezoning Should neighbourhoods set their own direction? Should city hall impose it from the top down? Or is there a role for both? We go to Inglewood, Calgary's oldest neighbourhood, in search of answers.

The Nuances of NIMBYism As the debate about blanket rezoning heats up in Calgary, we dig into the Sprawlcast vault for a deep-dive on NIMBYism.

Undermined: Canmore's Futile Attempt To Curb Sprawl Canmore town council nixed plans for two developments that would cut into critical wildlife habitat and nearly double the town's population. Then a court order forced the town to backtrack. We dig into what happened—and what it means for the Bow Valley's future. This episode is Part 2 in a Sprawlcast series. Read a full transcript of this episode...

Undermined: The Long Fight Over Canmore's Future A saga of coal, 'cronies' and courts. We dig into the decades of controversy around the Three Sisters Mountain Village development in Canmore. This episode is a collaboration with The Narwhal, an independent news outlet that dives deep to tell stories about the natural world in Canada. Drew Anderson contributed research and reporting. Read his artic...

Jeromy Farkas, Jyoti Gondek & Calgary’s Upside Down Politics Two years ago, progressives were rooting for Jyoti Gondek to defeat Jeromy Farkas in the race for mayor. But numerous Calgarians who voted for Mayor Gondek have found themselves in agreement with Farkas more recently—and disappointed by the mayor on files like the arena deal. We speak with both Farkas and Gondek, looking at what's change...

Episode 74 The Real Costs of Calgary's Arena Deal We dig into a deal that's less transparent—and far more expensive—than the 2019 one. We also follow up with with city councillors who campaigned against more subsidies for the Flames, but voted "yes" to hundreds of millions more.