Winter Placemaking At Nelson Square Pocket Park
8 80 Cities, in partnership with the City of Brampton, celebrated winter with two family-friendly events -Family Day (February 19) and Warm Up The Night (February 24)-, held at Nelson Square Pocket Park in Downtown Brampton featuring storytellers, musicians, games and winter-oriented activities. The Nelson Square Pocket Park aims to leverage the community engagement data and learnings from our Activate Downtown Brampton collaboration that began in 2022.
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8 80 Cities At The Winter Cycling Congress In Edmonton
Last week, 8 80 Cities spent some time in Edmonton, presenting at the Winter Cycling Congress in Edmonton. We met amazing cycling enthusiasts worldwide, including the Finnish Cycling Embassy and Paths for People. While having a busy schedule, we engaged in a few tours and enjoyed and learned a lot from our peers and participants. Thank you for having us!
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In the fall of 2023, four municipal teams from Canada (Brandon, Saskatoon, Oshawa, and Guelph) attended the Implementing Healthy Urban Policy Workshop in Copenhagen hosted by 8 80 Cities and funded by the Canadian Institutes of Health Research Healthy Cities. In this article, Dr. Linda Rothman and Jennifer Juste, members of the Guelph team, reflect on their experience and discuss the lessons they learned and their thoughts about addressing challenges of designing infrastructure to make cycling and walking safer and more connected.
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Jedwin Mok, a researcher at the Urban Cycling Institute in Amsterdam and a former transportation data analyst at the City of Toronto, shares his thoughts on how street experiments can assist in the planning process of cities. Engaging with the community and conducting low-cost experiments allows validating data collection, understanding the community's needs, and exploring new possibilities to create better and more inclusive cities for all.
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Creating healthier and more equitable cities faces various challenges. It is not only because of a lack of understanding of population needs or planning processes that are only sometimes well-informed. The challenges this new study by authors Akram Mahani, Joonsoo Sean Lyeo, and Nazeem Muhajarine reveals go beyond. This article summarizes four of the identified barriers that are preventing Canadian cities from taking steps toward meaningful change.
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Hennepin County, Minnesota, has made remarkable progress in reducing chronic homelessness. According to Randy Shumway's article, the county has achieved a 28% decrease in chronic homelessness since 2021, and they have set an ambitious goal to reach zero homelessness by 2025. The author suggests that to address this crisis effectively, municipalities should prioritize building supportive relationships with individuals experiencing chronic homelessness. One key step is to understand their needs on an individual basis to offer personalized and more human care.
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A few years ago, Colin Ellard, a cognitive neuroscientist at the University of Waterloo, Canada, conducted research in New York City to understand the relationship between public health, urban design, and mental health. In this article, he summarizes his findings and highlights the importance of human-scale design allowing urban landscapes and realms that prioritize comfort, happiness and functionality avoiding boredom, and disease-related stress.
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What We Are Watching & A Book
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Adventures On The Streets Of Paris
Check out this tour of the 12th arrondissement by City of Paris Urban Planner Priscilla Benedetti and learn more about how Paris is transforming its streets and policies at a fast pace to re-prioritize safer places for people.
Watch the video...
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Human Transit, Revised Edition
In his updated book, "Human Transit, Revised Edition," transportation expert Jarrett Walker provides tools and critical questions for making smarter decisions when designing and implementing transit services.
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Special: Black History Month Resources & Organizations
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Cities For Everyone with Gil | The Webinar
March 5th - Flourishing Families and Resilient Cities. Guest: Ankita Chachra, Senior Fellow at Capita. Register here.
March 19th - Parks, Streets, and Everything In-Between: Making a Civic Impact. Guest: Gia Biagi, former Commissioner of Parks, then Transportation. City of Chicago. Register here.
AARP Livable Communities Grant
One week left to apply to the AARP Livable Communities 2024 Community Challenge grant program for the new grant cycle. The program aims to spark change and improve the quality of life for people of all ages in communities nationwide. In 2024, the program will accept applications across three different grant opportunities. Visit AARP.org/CommunityChallenge to learn more. Deadline: March 6th.
Urban Minds 1UP Conference
Urban Minds will host their 8th annual 1UP Toronto Conference, a great opportunity for all high school students to attend and learn more about city building. 1UP Toronto Conference is on Saturday, March 23rd and Sunday, March 24th, in downtown Toronto at 80 Cooperage The 1UP Toronto Conference is a free event open to all high school students within Ontario. Learn more here.
My Main Street is a $15-million investment to foster the stabilization and revitalization of main streets across southern Ontario. The program will offer streamlined direct-to-business support and complementary programming for community projects to encourage growth and economic prosperity. The application deadline is March 31, 2024. Learn more here.
If you are in Toronto, join our friends at the Reset Living Room this March for their Human Library, where 36 incredible local business owners, leaders and community members will be "books" that can be "borrowed" for a 25-minute, 1:1 conversation to share their passions, perspectives and projects.
Join public space leaders from around the world for a week of experiential learning, networking, and inspiration at the Project for Public Spaces’ 4th International Placemaking Week conference on June 5–8, 2024, in Baltimore, Maryland, USA, co-hosted by the Neighborhood Design Center. Early rate ends on March 28 at 11:59 pm E.T. Register now.
Registration for Greater & Greener 2024 is officially open! Join an unforgettable experience in Seattle this June 21-25. To secure your spot, visit the registration portal and take advantage of early bird rates before prices increase on April 8.
The 2024 #AIPHWorldGreenCityAwards Ceremony will take place on 25th September 2o24 at the Royal JAarbeurs in Utrecht as part of the official programme of the first Future Green City World Congress. Learn more here...
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