Calgary

As of last month, it costs more to buy a home on the sprawling edges of Canada's third-largest city.

Michael Andersen blogs for The Green Lane Project, a PeopleForBikes program that helps U.S. cities build better bike lanes to create low-stress streets.

In many ways, Calgary, Canada's third-largest city, is very much like a sprawling American city. But in one way, it's very different: It's a huge transit city. Despite being composed mostly of sprawling single-family homes, in this Canadian energy boomtown, 50 percent of downtown workers arrive by transit and another 11 percent by bike -- way higher than what you see in its American counterparts.

Every city has places where the buildings present a blank face to the sidewalk. A dark, recessed arcade deadening the pedestrian environment or a soulless concrete wall fronting a windswept plaza.

Finally, there is a light rail line connecting the Twin Cities. The Green Line, running 11 miles from Union Depot in downtown St. Paul to Target Field in downtown Minneapolis, cost $957 million and took decades to build. The process of choosing stations was contentious but eventually incorporated the proposals of low-income communities that wanted them, and the line is already being held up as a model. It's not the fastest way between the two downtowns, but it might be the best way. Jeff and I discuss.

Parking Madness has gone international. Today we welcome our first parking crater contender from outside the United States, as Canada's third largest city faces off against the home of the Gator Bowl. It's Calgary versus Jacksonville.