year 3 Contents The CityStudio Way Awards Projects Team and Supporters Funders Next Steps Cover Image: Woodland Community Garden Design/Build Project William Selviz Photography 2 3 The CityStudio Way CityStudio Vancouver is a globally unique innovation hub inside City Hall where staff, community members, professionals and university students from our 6 post secondaries (BCIT, ECUAD, Langara, SFU, UBC, and VCC) co-create, design and execute projects on the ground. We aim to create a culture of collaborative city building Our Goals by developing pilot projects, experiments and reversible To develop high quality research and trials that demonstrate the future on the ground in demonstration projects. Vancouver neighbourhoods. To build a vibrant culture of innovation in Vancouver through education for changemakers. To engage 10,000 students by 2020. 4 5 “No one’s been hurt, and no one’s burned the city down. Our VISION is to be the architect and builder of action-based charging stations world-wide. Our MISSION is to take risks, demonstrate possibilities and make change on the ground for present and future generations. 6 7 “ We create unconventional solutions that make How We Work the city more engaged, green and healthy. We build relationships inside city hall for collaboration and co-creation with all city stakeholders. We integrate Dialogue with Design practices to create the city we want to live in. We create hands-on experience for students with complex real-world experiences. We launch demonstration projects on the ground that can scale towards wider systems change. Accomplishments in 3 Years Since 2011, CityStudio has engaged over 2000 students, 75 faculty, 93 community members and professionals and over 50 City of Vancouver staff, contributing over75,000 hours of project action, skills training and public sector innovation. In 2013 CityStudio was cited as a Best Practice Case Study in Tendensor Sweden’s 15 region EU study outlining Tools and Strategies for Innovative Talent Retention in Cities. 8 9 Imagine the teaching hospital model applied to City Hall, opening its doors to students for hands-on co-creation with city staff and professionals. The city is the classroom that creates and supports a wide networks of active city builders. Students gain project skills, increased confidence and a wide network of professional relationships in the public sector and community. Every meeting, every day, every project and every year begins with 2 questions: 1. What do we want to do together? 2. How are we going to work together to accomplish this? 10 11 What people are saying “World-leading CityStudio Vancouver is making the city a classroom.” — Mayor Gregor Robertson “The rise of the civic university.” — Tim Draimin, E.D., Social Innovation Generation (SiG) National “CityStudio is a life altering experience for our organization.” — Penny Ballem. CoV City Manager “CityStudio is changing the course of education for university students.” — John Cary, PublicInterestDesign.org \ The City of Vancouver won the 2013 CAMA Willis CAMA Willis Innovation Award for Innovation for the CityStudio Program from Award 2013 the Canadian Association of Municipal Administrators. TIDES CityStudio was recognized nationally as one of CANADA Top 10 Tides Canada Top 10 for a groundbreaking initiative 2013 leading social change and innovation in Canada. In 2013 CityStudio was the first ASHOKA U Cordes Innovation Canadian recipient of the Ashoka Award 2014 U-Cordes Innovation Award. 12 13 THE CITYSTUDIO CHALLENGE The CityStudio Challenge - the 5s’s - has shown us that university 1. Staff: Co-create a project idea and collaborate with staff and stakeholders. students can do far more than we ask them to do in class. They can take on 2. Support: Mobilize necessary funding support and resources. real world challenges and create positive change in our cities. They can co- 3. Site: Find and work on a real site in the city. create with multiple stakeholders, facilitate dialogues, manage projects, 4. Stewardship: Develop relationships for ongoing project stewardship. raise funds, and implement pilots to demonstrate long-term viability. 5. Scalability: Execute the project so that it can scale for impact. 14 15 YEAR 3 SELect PROJects 5. Keys to the Streets 6. Living at Bute 1. Food Share 7. Peeple 8. Prado Cafe Parklet 2. Campfire 3. Deck the Dark 10. Woodland Community Garden 9. Shareable City 4. Harrassment on Translink PROJect QUESTIONS YEAR 3 BY THE NUMBERS 1. Food Share: How can we feed ourselves well and reduce waste? 2. Campfire: In a city struggling with affordability, how do we create the new back yard? 3. Deck the Dark: How do we enjoy our parks and public spaces after sunset? 4. Harassment on TransLink: How do we move safely and easily in our city? 5. Keys to the Streets: How can citizens feel more alive in public space? 704 37 55,263 STUDENTS HOURS 67 50 Faculty 6. Living at Bute: What does it mean when citizens decide how to use common space? Projects CITY STAFF 7. Peeple: How can we communicate and share our desired futures? 8. Prado Cafe Parklet: Can we use the streets the way we want and still drive cars? 9. Shareable City: What is the new business licence in a peer-to-peer sharable economy? 10. Woodland Community Garden: How can architecture students design and build real projects? 16 17 1 FOOD SHARE Facilitating zero waste and a lighter footprint by diverting unmarketable but edible and healthy produce from local grocers to community food programming. Site Food Share diverts edible food from landfills by collecting and distributing Britannia Community produce that stores do not sell. The pilot project, undertaken at Britannia Centre, Grandview- Community Centre, diverted 45lbs of edible food from the landfill and Woodlands created opportunities for youth to become environmental leaders—collecting and cooking food together. By collecting and reallocating unused produce, City Goals Food Share has built upon the existing program’s goals of engaging youth Greenest City: Zero and promoting healthy eating. The produce collected also helps the food Waste, Lighter Footprint program’s financial viability. This project has created the beginning of an entirely new food network by facilitating relationships between local Partners grocers with excess capacity and the needs of the community centre. Ian Marcuse, Grandview Woodland Community Other community centres have expressed interest in replicating the Food Food Developer; Trevor Share model in their neighbourhoods. CityStudio is supporting the expansion White, Britannia Teen of Food Share in Summer 2014 with connections to the Neighbourhood Local Center Youth Meal Food Coordinators to identify opportunities for scalability across the city. Program; Eternal Abundance; Dollar Grocers; Drive Organics Team Jennifer Vallee, SFU Health Sciences; Jasmine Wing, UBC Global Resource Systems; Martin Kozinsky, UBC Geography; Jesse Gruneau, SFU Business “ Food Share gives teenagers the tools and skills to prepare nutritious meals on a budget. Image: Grandview Woodland Food Connection Food Woodland Image: Grandview 18 19 2 CAMPFIRE “ Public campfires provide an opportunity Bringing permanent public firepits to Vancouver for Vancouverites to feel ownership beaches starting with a pilot firepit at Locarno Beach. and responsibility over public space in a safe and contained way. Site Using best practice research from the major cities of Toronto, Penticton, Locarno Beach Seattle, and Calgary, project leads outlined a proposal for public firepits in Vancouver. Working with the Vancouver Parks Board, VPD and Fire City Goals Department, project leaders developed a report that specifically details Healthy City: location, safety precautions, budget, timeline and environmental and Cultivating Connections, health concerns. A suggested list of rules and regulations was also created Getting Outside that details burn materials, permitted hours, and the four proposed site locations. In May 2014 several community engagement events were Partners held with faux fires to gather people and spark community conversation City of Vancouver about the possibilities for safe fires in the city. The Campfire Project Departments: Parks, Fire, proposes one pilot firepit in the summer of 2014 at Locarno Beach. Fire Prevention, Police, Sustainability Group, Mayor’s Office; Gen Why Media; Social Innovation Generation Team Stuart Dow, SFU Environmental Geography; Robert Morton, UBC Global Resource Systems; Chelsea Keenan, SFU Communications; Peggy Wong, UBC Human Geography; Lindsay Cole, City of Vancouver Parks Planner Images: William Selviz 20 21 3 Deck THE DARK “ The eyes on the streets philosophy Improving community safety and encouraging interactive supports an active public realm that is play by illuminating Vancouver parks and under-utilized safer and healthier for communities. spaces during the dark hours and winter months. Sites On October 22nd, 2013, project leads tested a guerrilla lighting concept for Deck McLean Park, Strathcona; the Dark with a group of ten students in a residential area in South East False UBC Campus; Creek. The group was provided with six strings of light, a ladder, extension cords, and an outlet, then given creative freedom to decorate the area. Using City Goals feedback from the participating students and the residents, project leaders Healthy City: Safety hosted a Deck the Dark event on November 17th in Strathcona’s MacLean + Inclusion Park with an 8'×15' canopy of LED lights. To ensure community involvement, students distributed