Cities for People

We work with urban innovators to scale up initiatives that tackle poverty and social and economic exclusion. We also support neighbourhood revitalization projects that seek to improve social well-being, with a particular focus on urban Indigenous communities and areas with high percentages of newcomers to Canada. One major partner in this area is Vibrant Communities Canada (led by the Tamarack Institute), a network of individuals united to reduce poverty by building economically and socially inclusive societies.

Civic commons are our streets, parks, squares, and so much more. They are shared spaces that belong to all people. We believe in the potential of the city as a commons to support urban vitality and provide all residents with a sense of belonging. To strengthen these civic assets, we support  placemaking Placemaking: an inclusive and collaborative process that builds local capacity and leadership. It empowers communities to define the physical and social attributes of spaces they inhabit. and  adaptive reuse Adaptive reuse is a key principle in sustainable city building that requires developers and architects to creatively reuse and upgrade existing infrastructure.. This involves reimagining and repurposing buildings and spaces whose original purposes have become redundant or obsolete, or could be updated to meet new community needs. We also believe in the value of open data Open data is data that is accessible for everyone to use and must be licensed in a way that allows for its reuse. to strengthen public participation and democracy.

We encourage the flourishing of “urban labs,” spaces and ways of working that enable citizens, governments, institutions, investors and non-profits to invent new ways to solve tough issues, like affordable housing, and to explore possibilities for collective change, such as re-designing public spaces to foster democratic practices and quality of life in cities.

We support networks of urban innovators through gatherings, civic innovation awards and strategic partnerships. We have worked with our partners to organize study tours that emphasize the value of city-to-city learning exchanges. These activities have taught us what works and what doesn’t in cities abroad so we can bring these lessons back to Canada.