Last year’s conference went beyond just inspiring conversations but also led to concrete actions on many fronts. Jennifer Keesmaat (AoCB 2017) completed a successful third-party review of the Centre Plan. Maki Kawaguchi (AoCB 2017) and Julia Day (AoCB 2018) of Gehl worked with HRM staff and local stakeholders on an extensive review of the Cogswell Plan. Matthew Claudel (AoCB 2018), Danny Bridson (AoCB 2017) and Martin Arfalk (AoCB 2018) are actively working with the local stakeholders towards collaboration opportunities in Halifax. As well, the development community was inspired by the discussions around designing better buildings, streets and more complete communities. Most importantly, the conference brought together diverse voices from the spectrum of private sector developers, construction professionals, politicians, city and provincial civil servants, activists, and the general public.
#AoCB2019 Conference Reports
Session 1: Moving People
Mary Rowe, Toronto
The growing political divide between urban and rural communities has had alarming global effects. Mary Rowe - President and CEO of the Canadian Urban Institute in Toronto - finds answers to bridging this divide at the hyper-local scale - in the universal principles for creating healthy communities. She shares a wealth projects and initiatives around the world that are building local resilience, reminding us that adapting to change requires moving fast, letting people lead people, and taking some risks.
Benjamin De La Pena, Seattle
“A system built this, not one designer, which is why it’s very difficult to resist them”. Benjamin de la Pena demonstrates the underlying logic, institutional structures, and data collection methods that continue to perpetuate harmful urban planning in cities. Consequently, his strategies for creating change aim to change systems: remodelling data collection, fostering innovations in institutions, and ultimately focusing on the user experience.
Benjamin de la Pena is the Chief of Strategy and Innovation at the Seattle Department of Transportation.
Timothy Papandreou, San Francisco
Transportation is poised for a dramatic shift with emerging innovations like the shared economy, electric vehicles and automation. It is important for cities to harness the potential of this change and react quickly. With that in mind, Timothy Papandreou gives practical advice for how governments can “get sh*t done”. He shares his experiences as the Chief Innovation Officer at the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency, where he led a team of ‘plangineers’ (engineers and planners) to transform mobility in San Francisco.
Timothy is the Founder of Emerging Transport Advisors, a mobility consulting firm.
Gerry Post, Halifax & Sarah McCarthy, Toronto
The statistics around disabilities in Canada can be surprising. According to an Angus Reid Institute study, 24% of Canadians report having a mobility, vision or hearing disability and 47% percent have a with someone with a disability. Perhaps it is then equally puzzling why we continue to struggle with making our built environment accessible for these users. Gerry Post and Sarah McCarthy speak on the ways that we can make our cities accessible for all abilities, including details of the recently developed Rick Hansen Foundation Accessibility Certification.
Gerry Post is the Executive Director of the Accessibility Directorate at the province of Nova Scotia. Sarah McCarthy is the Vice President of Strategic Initiatives at Rick Hansen Foundation.
Michael Berne, New York
Michael Berne is fighting e-commerce hysteria, the assumption that internet retailers such as Amazon are rendering brick-and-mortar stores obsolete. Armed with statistics, trends, and examples from the Canadian retail market, he shows how the online disruption of retail is not quite as straightforward as is often presented. With that, he reminds us that shopping is not just a task but an experience.
Michael Berne is the President of MGB Consulting in New York.
Session 1:
Moving People
Panel Discussion
Session 2: Placemaking
Pamela Glode-Desrochers, Halifax
For Pam Glode-Desrochers, the newly proposed Mi’kmaw Native Friendship Centre is so much more than bricks and mortar. It’s a space for gathering, difficult conversations, education, and - above all - creating a public face for the Mi’kmaq and Indigenous community that is often invisible in our public discourse and built environment. Flipping through the latest renderings, Pam shows us how the centre will begin to teach us whose territory the Halifax Regional Municipality stands on. Mi’kmaq territory.
Pam Glode-Desrochers is the Executive Director of the Mi'kmaw Native Friendship Centre in Halifax, Nova Scotia.
Lucy Tukua, Auckland
“In order to daylight streams, we must first daylight minds”. Lucy Tukua reminds us that, in the process of placemaking and ameliorating our communities, it is essential to uncover the indigenous and ancestral roots of our places. For starters, she asks us to consider what indigenous place names exist in our communities, what stories they tell about indigenous culture, and how we can bring them back to life in our environment.
Lucy Tukua is of Ngāti Paoa, Ngāti Whanaunga, and Ngātii Karewa descent as is a founding member of Te Matapihi in Auckland, New Zealand
Frith Walker, Auckland
There’s a four-letter word that guides Frith’s work as Manager of Place Making at Panuku Development in Auckland, New Zealand. Love. From the love of people to the love of the environment which we inhabit, Frith believes placemaking requires reconnecting people to each other and to the land. She weaves together the story of her work to improve Auckland’s waterfront and her own personal journey as a white settler in New Zealand to share how transforming our places begins with transforming the self.
Fred Kent, New York
“If you plan cities for cars and traffic you get cars and traffic. If you plan for people and places, you get people and places.” Fred Kent is perhaps best known as the Founder and President of Project for Public Spaces and a leading figure in the field of ‘placemaking’. At the Art of City Building conference, he shares how the placemaking movement has grown and evolved to communities around the world and is finding its place within the global issue of climate change.
Ramon Marrades, Valencia
Until recently, València strategy for its waterfront was to think huge. Hundreds of millions of euros of investment in big waterfront developments, hosting Formula 1 and hosting the America’s Cup sailing competition. It nearly bankrupted the city in 2012.
Ramon Marrades, the Chief Strategy Officer at La Marina de València describes the story that followed - how València transformed its beleaguered waterfront into a popular public place in just three years. This time, instead of hundreds of millions of euros, they used principles of placemaking, lots of public engagement, and a little bit of imagination.
Session 2::
Placemaking
Panel Discussion
Session 3: Smart Cities
Leon de Vreede, Bridgewater
For Leon de Vreede, ‘Smart Cities’ is simply another way of saying ‘good problem solving’ - technology should be the means, not the ends. He shares the story of how technology and data is being applied in innovative ways to reduce energy poverty in his town of Bridgewater, Nova Scotia - where residents spend an average of $6,500 a year on their energy needs. It’s an idea that earned the maritime town a $5 million dollar federal Smart Cities grant last year.
Leon de Vreede is the Sustainability Planner at the Town of Bridgewater, Nova Scotia.
Jenelle Sobey, Halifax
As cities move to integrate technology and the internet into their networks and services under the banner of Smart Cities, Jennelle Sobey invites us to think critically about how we define a ‘smart city’. Using her insights from working in this field as well as examples from around the world, she asks us to look past the fashionable label of Smart Cities to embrace a human-centred design approach. One that focuses on people first and technology second.
Jenelle Sobey is the Managing Partner at Code + Mortar and Founder at RIDDL in Halifax, Nova Scotia
Laurie Guthrie
Rather than working alone, the City of Fredericton used a collaborative, community-based approach to develop its Smart City ideas. Laurie Guthrie, Fredericton’s Smart Cities Project Manager, shares how partnerships between city staff, local entrepreneurs, Indigenous youth, non-profits, and other community members resulted in innovative project ideas that used technology and the internet to improve the city.
Session 3:
Smart Cities Panel Discussion
