About

The Art of City Building 2022. Re(dis)covery

The Art of City Building conference engages our city in conversations that challenge us. We look around the world, across Canada and our own city, for inspiration and big ideas to share. We are driven by a love for Halifax and a belief that it can be even better, for everyone. We look for magic in the science, we look for the art of city building. We are back for our annual gathering of inspirational speakers and provocative conversations on how we design, build, move about, and live in cities, together. We have invited speakers from around the globe to join us in person or remotely to share what they are seeing, hearing and doing to build happier, healthier, more inclusive and vibrant cities.

Since the first conference in 2017, we have been keen to explore and examine “Our Place” (2018), “Moving People” (2019) feeling overwhelmed and “Under Water” (2020) and recognizing the need for “Reinvention” (2021). This year, we want to renew our focus on the “art” in the Art of City Building.  

Through our theme of “Re(dis)covery” we want to draw on the lessons that have been learned over the last few years and consider how planning has shifted (or needs to shift) to respond to the crises, and opportunities, before us.

We'll explore how cities can actively restore environments and ecological processes, rather than exacerbate the climate crisis. We welcome a conversation on the future of work (and working remotely) and its lessons for the design of cities and downtowns. We want to reconsider the “art” in city building. What are the participatory processes that work well and engage inclusively? How might we collaborate to build resilient cities and communities of the future?

And all of these conversations will be rooted in reconciliation and centering the histories and current contexts of Indigenous peoples. We will discover new, and very old, ideas about sacred civics and seven-generation cities. The conference invites inspiration connected to local efforts in cities and towns across Atlantic Canada, in collaboration with local educational institutions and is linked to public events focused on city building, including Dalhousie School of Planning SHIFT conference and more.

We continue our partnership with the Canadian Urban Institute and are building local connections with partners including Inspiring Communities, a non-profit working in systems change across Atlantic Canada. 

Join us in Re(dis)covery – the Art of City Building 2022.

Re(dis)covery  

noun; the action or process of discovering again something that was forgotten or ignored.