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On July 8th, we transformed a parking lot in Cooksville, Mississauga, into a vibrant community gathering and pop-up market in collaboration with TAS Developers, Heart Comonos, The Cooksville Community Hub and Indus Help. This market was full of fun activities, food, and community togetherness and attracted neighbours from around Mississauga. It was a wonderful opportunity for local vendors and small business owners to showcase their work and for the Cooksville residents to partake in the diverse products and services the local vendors provided. We witnessed new community friendships being formed, the strengthening of community networks and lots of enthusiasm from the participants in this pop-up market who have expressed that they would love to see more of these events. Hats off to all the vendors and Cooksville community members!
Check out some images...
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In its third year, the 8 80 Cities's Ontario Community Changemakers program kicked off with a three-day Studio that took place in late June, in a mixed format: one online session and two days in-person in Toronto, packed with city tours, workshops and presentations on leadership, creating cities for all, project management and more! We had the opportunity to share with the 20 incredible 2023 Changemakers and learn about their projects and plans for the upcoming year of implementing their winning projects in their communities. We look forward to what comes next for them!
Ontario Community Changemakers is a leadership and micro-grant program for young civic innovators with bold ideas to activate public space, enhance civic engagement and foster social inclusion. This program is powered by 8 80 Cities and funded by Balsam Foundation.
Watch a recap of the Toronto Studio in images...
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How are playgrounds becoming one of the major features of the design and activation of public spaces? From conversations around building spaces for children to constructing climate-resilient park spaces, this article by Caitlin Gibson has it all. As we delve deeper into this reading, we learn from many park space enthusiasts such as Robin C. Moore, a specialist in urban and landscape design, that playgrounds are intended to bring "freedom" as a guiding design principle and as a medium to ensure physical and playful expression.
Continue reading...
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Diana Lonescu's article discusses the increasing demand for parks and trails to be easily accessible through transit. Lonescu mentions that "too often, national parks and other recreational spaces in the United States are difficult or impossible to access without a car". This makes us question current park systems and why their public spaces have been designed without proper and efficient access to transit. A number of possible solutions such as improved "transit connections" and "in-park accommodations" can assist in bridging the access gaps between park spaces and public transit users.
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STEPS Public Art has delivered a research project entitled "Shaping Space" which seeks to "collect and share learnings around health equity related to public space access". With the launch of this report, STEPS Public Art believes that there are four major ingredients to cultivating culturally responsive public spaces: collaboration and representation, designing public spaces- activations, designing public spaces- physical elements and funding. As we read further, we learn about how these major themes can be practiced and can help to build and expand public space around us.
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Photo: Mark Raymond Jr. via Instagram/@markraymondjr
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This article by Seairra Sheppard is a conversational piece with Mark Raymond Jr., a disability advocate in Louisiana who, living with a disability himself, has continued to use his personal experiences to discover where people with disabilities struggle the most in his hometown of New Orleans, Louisiana. From his advocacy, resilience and passion for raising awareness about accessibility, Raymond was able to "create an inclusive gym for people of disabilities". This has further sparked his interest in creating more accessible public infrastructure, particularly in accessible transportation and a more inclusive street design.
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Construction in progress at the Turtle Mountain Recovery Center (Photo courtesy of the Turtle Mountain Recovery Center via Next City).
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With the help of Native American Bank, a North Dakota tribe is building a culturally relevant treatment facility — and piloting a funding model other tribes could follow. In this article, James Finley writes about the experience of this tribe that supports their community members who are in need of opioid recovery treatment.
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With summer and the weather at its optimum level for outdoor activity, parks are increasingly becoming the topic of conversation within cities. In this article, Mark Wessel discusses the "power of parks" within an urban context, their role in maintaining a great quality of life for people and their ability to maintain and upheld Indigenous philosophies. As a recent attendee at the Park People Conference, Wessel speaks about his visit to Canoe Landing Park and how this public space has paid "homage to the land's indigenous roots". The author shares some of his favourite park spaces within Canada.
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South Bend: From Rust to Resurgence
Nobody is coming to save your city. So South Bend decided they were going to do it themselves. Citizen developers are bringing about a resurgence, one step at a time. It hasn't been easy, but these community members have learned some lessons every North American city should pay close attention to. By Strong Towns.
Watch the trailer...
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Cities for Everyone, The Webinar.
August 8th: Exploring Toronto. A City Reveals Itself In Its Special Public Space. Guests: Ken & Eti Greenberg. Register here.
August 22nd: Climate Resilience for an Aging Nation. Guest: Danielle Arigoni, Author. Managing Director, Policy and Solutions, National Housing Trust, USA Former AARP head of Age Friendly Communities. Register here.
Photo credit: Phil Stanziola / Wikimedia Commons
100 Most Influential Urbanists Past & Present
Congratulations to our always-inspiring Founder and Chair, Gil Penalosa, for being voted as one of the most influential urbanists past and present, an award by Planetizen.
The 2024 AIPH #WorldGreenCityAwards acknowledge cities with outstanding urban nature initiatives. Think your city should be one of them? Then submit your projects by September 15, 2023! Apply here.
Access Alliance: Take Our Seniors Out (TOSO) program!
Congratulations Salisbury, New Brunswick, winner of Participaction's Community Challenge, as Canada’s Most Active Community!
The fourth edition of the ParticipACTION Community Challenge, a national physical activity and sports initiative that encourages everyone in Canada to get active throughout June, ended with Salisbury, New Brunswick, being crowned Canada’s Most Active Community and winning the $100,000 grand prize to support local physical activity and sports initiatives.
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Welcome to the 8 80 Cities Team, Tennesha!
We are so excited to welcome Tennesha Joseph to the 8 80 Cities team as our new Project Coordinator! Tennesha is an urban planner and nighttime safety advocate. In 2021, she was selected to participate in 8 80 Cities’ 2021 Ontario Community Changemakers (OCC) program and has since created her own public space initiative, Are You Afraid of the Dark T.O?, where she explores how to create public spaces that are welcoming and safe for women & girls at night using LED-lit seating installations.
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