Sam here!

What’s your name?

Samuel Agostini-Sarabia, I go by Sam! [He/Him]

What’s your background?

Culturally, I’m a Venezuelan-Canadian! I have lived in Calgary since 2013, and it quickly became a welcoming place to call home. :slight_smile:

Academically, I’m a UofC alumnus with a Bachelor’s in Urban Studies and Sustainability Studies. After working in the field for 2 and a half years, I went back to SAIT this September for a Bachelors in GIS.

Industry-wise I have worked at the Federation of Calgary Communities, the Dalhousie Community Association, and an environmental company called Fuse Consulting.

What perspectives do you bring to Unsprawling?

Hopefully lots! I am passionate about urban mobility, cycling, transit and other active modes of transport. I am a big city and GIS nerd, and I would like to advocate more for housing affordability, responsible densification, transit expansion and 15-minute cities.

I was also born and raised in Caracas, a city of 5 million people (at the time) and experienced living in a vibrant, densified complete community that I miss and love.

Cool fact - I have never lived in a single-family home, and I would like others in Calgary to have the choice to discover the benefits of density and complete communities!

What do you love about Calgary, and how would you like to see it improve?

Like I said before, Calgary is a super welcoming place to call home! We also have one of the most extensive bike networks in North America, and a fair degree of wonderful neighbourhoods with engaged residents.

What inspired you to join our movement?

I wanted to re-engage with urban planning advocacy and to continue to learn more about urbanism and resident engagement. Hopefully make friends along the way!

What are you hoping to achieve with us?

Join events, share ideas, learn, build a network and to help improve our city for all Calgarians!

I will do my best to stay connected and attend events when possible, but I’m also a full-time student that likes to prioritize work-life balance. Also I have ADHD, so please forgive me if I miss dates or seem scattered!

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Welcome Sam! UBST x SUST is some really great undergrad experience, happy to have you here!

Don’t worry if you miss events, but find the ones that work for your schedule in the Events calendar if you haven’t already.

I’m working on a project that you might be able to help with actually, as a GIS nerd :eyes:
Park(ing) Day 2024 — the Strong Towns Calgary installation I’m working on is looking for some maps or infographics to use as decorations for our space. Have you made any maps or designs that you could print off?

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Hey @biz ! Thanks for the welcome! I would love to help out with the installation where I can! I was also planning on virtually attending to the Strong Towns Thursday Throwdown on the 19th, but the Discord link I clicked on shows no chats available for me. Maybe I need to be added? My Discord is: samago, formerly Samago#8524. If that fails my phone is 403-829-3035, we can troubleshoot through text if necessary.

I’ve switched out the Thursday Throwdown to be an in-person construction session up at Protospace in the NE – you should be able to join the Discord with the link from our website?

We have some onboarding features that hide channels until people agree to the rules and such, hopefully nothing is broken. Let me know how that goes. I’ll add you in the meantime anyway!