Why move council—into a circle

The Circle

I am turning the Municipal Building into Calgary City Centre University, with the world's most innovative programs in health care and human learning.

Alongside this, I am turning the historic Old City Hall into a National Truth and Reconciliation Museum.

I am moving City Council to The Concordium on top of James Campbell's Hill, where it will be for the next 400 years. This will be part of the newly amalgamated Confluence Park that contains the Civic Corridor.

The Concordium a top James Campbell Hill

Democracy

Democracy deserves a room that disciplines behavior. The Concordium is that room: a circular chamber where every member faces the centre and, crucially, the public. The circle flattens hierarchy, shortens speeches, and clarifies responsibility. No one hides in a corner—because there are none.
Where should it sit? On high ground with sky and city in frame—Tom Campbell’s Hill Natural Park, a place with long views and short excuses.

The Concordium’s design brief is clear:

• A council in the round, with the public seated shoulder‑to‑shoulder around.

• Daylight and fresh air as first principles; trees and prairie grass outside, not parking lots.

• Ceremony without pomp: a room that invites listening and makes grandstanding costly.
  
  

  Today, council sits in a semi‑circle, with unequal heights, within a blue cube on the ground floor of the Municipal Building—an arrangement born of another era’s needs. The next era deserves a different geometry.
  
  MayorGus.ca/concordium