Your chance to #RedesignPublicSpace in Vancouver!
Vancouver has a lot going for it: a great natural setting, lots of amenities, and for many people a good quality of life. In fact, it is regularly ranked one of the most livable cities in the world and the city’s public spaces have a lot to do with this. However, behind the rankings and often-glossy imagery, Vancouver is facing a number of existential challenges. It is clear that the many benefits of the city are not shared equally by all residents – and in addition to well-documented equity issues, there are significant challenges brought about by the legacy of colonization, systemic racism, climate change, housing affordability, the COVID and opioid pandemics, and income inequality.
Public space is the stage on which many of our biggest social, economic and environmental issues play out; it is also the forum in which new opportunities and solutions to these matters will take flight.
It is clear that change needs to happen in a variety of ways and time frames: some of it will be short-term and small-scale, some-of it long-term and large-scale. There will also be lots of stuff that needs to happen ‘in-between.’ All of it will play a part in shaping the future of Vancouver. Lots of it will happen in our public spaces.
This raises an important question: How should we #RedesignPublicSpace to support transformative change and ensure our public spaces respond to the new needs and demands being placed on them?
The Vancouver Public Space Network has teamed up with Vancouver Design Week and the Urbanarium on an initiative that invites people to propose creative ways to reimagine one or more of Vancouver’s public spaces.
#RedesignPublicSpace lets you:
- Identify public spaces in the city that you think need to be redesigned to support positive change – and map them using the Urbanarium’s Smart Map tool;
- Participate in an Urbanarium design studio on December 10, where your ideas to #RedesignPublicSpace can be elaborated with the help of professional designers.
If you’ve ever dreamed of reimagining a public space this is your chance! This project will provide an opportunity to daylight public space-based solutions to our big challenges and work on them collectively with other change-makers.
The initiative is part of Vancouver Design Week’s Redesign the Future! theme and its 3R’s for Systems Change campaign. The Mapping Feature is live now, as is registration for the December studio event. Both activities are open to everyone and no prior design experience is necessary.
:: MAP: Public Spaces – https://urbanarium.org/redesign-public-space
:: REGISTER: for the December 10 Design Studio: https://www.eventbrite.ca/e/130363301143
:: MORE INFO: arlene@vancouverpublicspace.ca