As one of ULI Alberta – Edmonton’s largest event of the year, we partnered with NAIOP Edmonton to bring Tom Murphy to town.  With the many parallels of Pittsburgh and its once predominant steel town and Edmonton tied to the oil and gas industry, it was a great opportunity to have Tom come to Edmonton to share his ideas and experiences on economic diversification, university hub cities, and more.

The day began with a lecture at the University of Alberta, where both undergraduate and graduate students from the Planning and Urban Geography Departments had the opportunity to hear Tom speak on the future of cities and how to ensure economic sustainability. The lecture was followed by a lunch with Mayor Don Iveson and our major event sponsor Brookfield, where Tom Murphy, Mayor Iveson and Trent Edwards of Brookfield Residential were able to discuss more in depth the conversation for the evening fireside chat. After lunch, a tour of ICE District was set up by ONE Properties.  The tour began with an overview of the development and was followed up by a tour of the JW Marriott which is currently under construction and the Stantec Tower.  We travelled to the top of Stantec Tower, 66 storeys above the City of Edmonton, making it the tallest tower in Western Canada.

The evening ended with a dinner where Tom shared with us his experiences and knowledge from rebuilding and transforming Pittsburgh and Mayor Iveson shared his vision for Edmonton. The presentations were followed up with a fireside chat where discussions on public private partnerships, cultural trusts, investments in our city, innovative financing tools, and the role of post-secondary institutions provided a platform for all those in the room to rethink how we can all work together create a better Edmonton.

Understand what you want and go for it! ~ Tom Murphy