One More Week To Apply to Ontario Community Changemakers!

You have one more week to apply to Ontario Community Changemakers, our brand-new leadership and microgrant program for Ontarians aged 19-35! Have an idea to activate public space, foster social inclusion, and/or enhance civic engagement in your community? Apply now!
 
Have questions about the Ontario Community Changemakers program? Watch this video where Jiya Benni, our Project Manager, and Lanrick Bennett Jr., our Managing Director, answer some questions about the program.
 
For more details visit the program's website. The program is powered by 8 80 Cities with support from Balsam Foundation.

The Bike Brigade: Cyclists Helping During COVID-19 in Toronto

It’s bike month and what better way to celebrate the power of the bicycle to build community than to share the story of the Bike Brigade. Coming into existence in March 2020, The Toronto Bike Brigade is a 900 (and growing)-strong volunteer cyclists group spearheaded by human rights and personal injury lawyer David Shellnutt @TheBikingLawyer. The Brigade works with community organizations that are helping to serve isolated, vulnerable people including seniors by delivering food and supplies during the COVID-19 pandemic. 
 
8 80 Cities' Managing Director, Lanrick Bennett Jr., has been volunteering with this group and was recently highlighted on CBC’s The National news program. Volunteers crisscross the city providing an essential service to hundreds in need.   “I want to make sure that I’m here to see us help as many people as possible in every way and every situation. The most vulnerable need our help and I can’t say no to that. I won’t say no”, he says. 
 
Lanrick also knows how important cycling infrastructure is to the Bike Brigade and the community at large. From kids to parents, for leisure or for work, you can do a lot on a bicycle. 
 
You can volunteer with The Bike Brigade here.

Watch the brigade in action...

A Sense of Belonging: How The Public Realm Can Support Diverse & Inclusive Neighbourhoods

It takes intention to connect people to the public realm in meaningful and inclusive ways. Today, in reports from four Reimagining the Civic Commons cities (Detroit, Chicago, Akron and Memphis), we learn about making those connections to encourage people from all backgrounds to feel a sense of belonging in public space. That sense of belonging is supported by revitalizing the built environment in ways that work for current users and change old perceptions to welcome others into shared space. These teams have found success in creating a sense of belonging through local hiring, through art and through strengthening the physical pathways for connection. Via Reimagine The Civic Commons.

Continue Reading...

The Queer City: How to Design More Inclusive Public Space

Public spaces are not neutral. Design failures can make marginalized groups feel intimidated or make them avoid open spaces altogether. The public realm should be enjoyable for all, no matter your gender, socioeconomic status, or race. 
 
In this article via The Conversation, Pippa Catterall and Ammar Azzouz discuss the ideal guidelines and what it means to queer a public space in the context of predominantly white male cultures, based on their research and interviews with over 120 academics, designers and activists. 
 
Our takeaway? Always keep in mind the right we all have to public space, participation and mobility when designing, planning and programming public spaces.   

Continue reading...

The Cycling Debate: Is It About Lycra, or Power? 

In this article, Dr. Kirsty Wild for The Spinoff, asks for more tolerance on the road, and less fomenting stereotypes and name-calling when it comes to cyclists. 

Auckland’s Climate Plan has committed to increasing cycling seven-fold by 2030. Cycle lanes will be essential as they will allow more people -especially those who live in low-income areas of the city and the most vulnerable-  to bike to places. Bike lanes then should be more a matter of giving power to these road users than to men in lycra using them.

Continue reading...

Urban Oral History: To Understand Cities We Must Talk To Elders More, Part IV 

COVID-19 changed a lot of things. For some students at the University of Toronto, it changed the way they studied cities. Instead of going out to public spaces and observing people's behaviour, students of the undergraduate course Qualitative Methods for Urban Studies interviewed elders in Toronto via Skype and learned about the history of the city – in a way no lecture can. While oral history is a powerful way to pass on knowledge and information, it is rarely used in urban planning. In this article on Spacing Magazine, Aditi Mehta explains why urban planners should use this method more to understand how cities have changed over time. 

Continue reading...

How Can We Build Better Partnerships Between Civic Organizations and Indigenous Communities? 

Public spaces in Canada occur on Indigenous lands, but how often do they reflect the needs and perspectives of the Indigenous communities? While municipalities and civic organizations realize the importance of reconciliation, there is a general lack of know-how on how to do this. In this article, Tanya Chung-Tiam-Fook, Ph.D., explains how reconciliation is mainly the work of settler governments and settler societies and puts forward actions they can take to build better deeper partnerships with Indigenous communities.  

Image credit: Aphria Inc.

Continue reading...

Watch It Again: Webinars & Talks 

Bike Month Events