It’s not every day that I get to paint the pavement on a street! Read along, or watch the video to learn more about my first opportunity to work on a hands-on community focused project here in Calgary.

Have you ever used the intersection at Center Street S and 13th Ave SW?

Then, you probably noticed it was built for cars. With four surface parking lots catering to suburban commuters, “free” street parking, and large roads, this is a dangerous intersection for all road users, even for motorists.

Living by that area, I have risked my life every day simply by crossing that intersection as a pedestrian and a cyclist. Cars sped up and never saw me until they were too close. And I have seen multiple car crashes there.

This increasing road violence we’re experiencing in Calgary is not at the motorists fault solely. Our streets, like this intersection, were made for cars to speed as much as they want and not consider other road users. This is very sad and dangerous.

And that’s why about one year ago, I applied for the ActivateYYC’s microgrant by the Federation of Calgary Communities. I wanted to do something about this intersection. I didn’t know exactly what I was doing or how to accomplish what I wanted, which was to make that intersection safer and better for people.

ActivateYYC has done this several times and I am happy to share that together, we made this intersection a bit better.

On June 20th, 2026 (Neighbour Day), a team of volunteers got their hands dirty painting the sidewalks and the pavement. The design was created by Lucia Blanco, who also worked on The Connaught Open Street project.

My favourite part of this process was interacting with people stopping by and getting curious about what we were doing. They loved the colours, and the “public art” initiative. Someone even asked us if we were street artists! All of these interactions made my day.

It might seem insignificant since this is temporary, but every single person who slows downs, stops and notices their surroundings by checking the paintings, makes it all worth it.

“To whom does the space in the city belong to? Does it belong to people? Does it belong to the pedestrian and the cyclist, or does it belong to cars? That’s the real discussion. The democratic redistribution of the streets.”

That’s a quote from Filip Matteeuw that I got from the “Life After Cars: Freeing ourselves from the tyranny of the automobiles” book.

And that was the inspiration behind this project: to redistribute that street to people. I hope that all of us feel inspired to continue making our streets better, equitable, safer and pleasant for people.

Perhaps with this small intervention, someone will feel more joy walking/cycling there and leaves their car behind. Am I too idealistic? Maybe. But being idealistic doesn’t cost me anything. On the contrary, it makes me richer by forcing me to always look up for opportunities to change what is not working.

Next, I would love to see more permanent interventions here such as physical barriers to prevent cars from cutting into the pedestrian’s crosswalk, and have more trees and plants on the 4 sides of the intersection.

“Let’s make big changes at small scales” - that’s a quote that I love from Sustainable Calgary. Will you join me in making big changes at small scales here in Calgary? I hope so. Let’s reclaim our streets and have fun.

This dream came alive with the support from Adam Schwartz, Paul Carniglia, Sarah Larkman, and everyone from the Federation of Calgary Communities.

Thanks to Lucia Blanco for designing the vision, the Victoria Park Business Improvement Area for the support and for taking pictures, and to all the volunteers who helped out.

Special thanks to my partner in crime, Thiago Araujo. When I asked him "do you want to paint the pavement with me? ", I got an immediate yes. Thank you for getting your hands dirty and always supporting my ideas.