Featured Guest
You’ll find this guest among our growing roll of Urban Champions.
Rob Leblanc
Partner, Founder Director of Planning, Fathom Studio
JIll Robertson
Principal of Landscape Architecture, Dialog Design
Jason Syvixay
Director of Metropolitan Strategy & Advocacy UDI, Edmonton Region
Hazel Borys
President, PlaceMakers, LLC
5 Key
Takeaways
A roundup of the most compelling ideas, themes and quotes from this candid conversation
1. Main Streets as labs for testing strategies
Main Streets, according to Jason Syvixay, have the chance during the pandemic to become labs for testing ideas and our assumptions through tactical experiments, some of which are highlighted in Planning and Urban Design to Bring Back Main Street. The experiments can be for implementing short term change for physical distancing during the pandemic, but also have the possibility to continue post-pandemic, as long as we carefully monitor impacts and allow flexibility to adjust in the process. Particular attention should be paid in monitoring to who benefits and who doesn’t…and look to adjust to ensure equity for those impacted.
2. Centering community voices and participation in city building
There is a need to think critically about what ‘designing Main Streets for all’ means, and inviting community stakeholders, business owners and residents to be part of the city building process. This starts from the designing the questions, framing the issues and thinking about the research strategies. A recent example from the BBMS report is ‘Main Street Block Parties’ which include the community in identifying possible improvements and collectively exploring solutions with planners and the city. Jason reminds us that during this time of civil uprising and reckoning, it is crucial to acknowledge the racial and social shortcomings of main streets and work towards recovery through participation.
3. Consider Form before use (Form-based development codes) as one approach
Hazel Borys and others are fans of the implementation of form-based development codes. These prioritize form over use to allow for a mixture of compatible uses and character in urban development, resulting in more gentle densities. Most importantly, form-based codes have been a globally successful strategy which provides more certainty to stakeholders for planning and activates future development.
4. The need for ‘Urban acupuncture’, Secondary Planning and ancillary dwelling and commercial units
As policymaking catches up to the uncertainties of the future, the practice of ‘urban acupuncture’ or ‘code hacks’ are promising approaches for Jill Robertson. We see a rise in secondary residential suites and Jill suggests the possibility of commercial secondary suites to allow property owners to generate additional income or possibly let others set up shop. Rob Leblanc suggests secondary planning for main streets should be solidified, building on municipal land use by-laws and examination of areas through a finer lens. This includes parks and open space plans, signage, and wayfinding strategies etc., which are short term and do not require changing zoning long-term, which is expensive and time consuming. It also allows developers and landowners to better understand how the public investment will leverage new private investment opportunities.
5. A good city plan is at the heart of recovery
Edmonton is just finalizing its municipal development plan. A good plan should be the reference for recovery for an increasingly uncertain future. Partnership across the municipality, community, business, planners and designers is crucial. Municipalities should be creating the policy environment which encourages private investment, while designers and planners should be educating clients about these spaces and streamlining good, comprehensive city building at both urban and rural scales.
Additional resources
- Planning & Urban Design: Bring Back Main Street
- Solutions Briefs
- Action Report
- Main Street Design Challenge Playbook
Energy company in northern Sweden, has installed phototherapy lights in the city’s bus stops to combat the short days, lack of sunlight, and residents’ depression.
Full Panel
Transcript
Note to readers: This video session was transcribed using auto-transcribing software. Manual editing was undertaken in an effort to improve readability and clarity. Questions or concerns with the transcription can be directed to events@canurb.org with “transcription” in the subject line.
Full Audience
Chatroom Transcript
Note to reader: Chat comments have been edited for ease of readability. The text has not been edited for spelling or grammar. For questions or concerns, please contact events@canurb.org with “Chat Comments” in the subject lin
From Canadian Urban Institute: You can find transcripts and recordings of today’s and all our webinars at https://canurb.org/citytalk
12:03:15 From Canadian Urban Institute: Welcome! Folks, please change your chat settings to “all panelists and attendees” so everyone can see your comments.
12:03:46 From Canadian Urban Institute: You can find transcripts and recordings of today’s and all our sessions at https://www.canurb.org/citytalk
12:04:04 From Hazel Borys: Hello! Winnipeg, Manitoba.
12:04:07 From Canadian Urban Institute: Keep the conversation going #BringBackMainStreet #citytalk @canurb
12:04:08 From Khatereh Baharikhoob: Hi from Toronto
12:04:09 From Lindsey Sexton to All panelists: Hi from Boulder, Colorado
12:04:21 From Ayusha Hanif: Hello from Penetanguishene, Ontario
12:04:24 From Brenda Gagnier: Hi from Kingsville Ontario
12:04:26 From Jordan Riemer: Hi from Edmonton
12:04:28 From Rick Michalenko to All panelists: Hello from Calgary
12:04:33 From Canadian Urban Institute: CUI extends a big thank you to our partner for today’s session WWW.FATHOMSTUDIO.CA
12:04:35 From James Horan: Hi from Waterloo
12:04:37 From Katie Joyce to All panelists: Good morning from prospective planning student in Vancouver!
12:04:38 From Scott Cluney: Hello fron Downtown St. John’s, Newfoundland
12:04:40 From Abby S to All panelists: Hi from Toronto
12:04:44 From Brian Buchardt: Hello from the City of Peterborough!
12:04:47 From Canadian Urban Institute: Fathom Studio Report: Planning & Urban Design: Bring Back Main Street 01VOLUME A Pandemic Recovery Solutions Brief https://bit.ly/2T4i6CM
12:04:51 From paul mackinnon to All panelists: Hello from Halifax!
12:04:53 From Lucia Huang: Hi everyone! This is Lucia from Chinatown Toronto
12:04:56 From Jill Robertson: Happy Friday from Edmonton!
12:04:56 From George Robinson: Hi from Windsor Ontario!
12:04:58 From Abby S: From Toronto
12:04:59 From Adam Coombs: Hello from Halifax
12:05:03 From Sahar Alinezhad to All panelists: Hi from Montreal!
12:05:11 From Darryl Gaston to All panelists: Greetings, I am Darryl Gaston from Charlotte, North Carolina, USA
12:05:20 From Canadian Urban Institute: To read this and other solutions briefs, visit: https://bringbackmainstreet.ca/solution-briefs https://bringbackmainstreet.ca/action-report
12:05:47 From DeeDee Nelson: Hi all! From Vancouver, Musqueam Territory.
12:05:49 From Canadian Urban Institute: @jilly_robertson linkedin.com/in/jill-robertson-4062b134 Hazel Borys, PlaceMakers @hborys linkedin.com/in/hazel-borys-554b6015 Jason Syvixay, City of Edmonton @DowntownJason linkedin.com/in/jasonsyvixay Eric Lucic, City of Halifax @LucicEric linkedin.com/in/ericlucic
12:06:04 From Jonathan Giggs: Jonathan Giggs from Port Credit in Mississauga
12:06:06 From Laleh Derakhti to All panelists: hi friMalmo
12:06:25 From Jaime Brush to All panelists: Hi from Pullman, WA., USA
12:07:12 From Astra Burka: From Astra Burka Toronto
12:08:11 From Canadian Urban Institute: Reminding attendees to please change your chat settings to “all panelists and attendees” so everyone can see your comments. Thanks!
12:08:50 From Jaime Brush: Hi from Pullman, WA., USA!
12:09:56 From Abby S: This segmentation is really interesting and I have not seen it before…it is helpful to take this approach.
12:10:07 From Abby S: (seen it before on these talks)
12:11:24 From Abby S: Diversity?
12:12:03 From paul mackinnon: Hi from Halifax!
12:12:23 From Anne Poirier Basque to All panelists: Hi from Moncton
12:12:53 From Crystal Chan: Greetings from Richmond BC!
12:17:34 From paul mackinnon: Fathom did a terrific job on Needham Park (Halifax Explosion)! One of my favourite places to take the kids/dog.
12:17:57 From Andrew Struthers: how long ago was that?
12:18:30 From Yurij Pelech: Greetings from Bessant Pelech Associates Inc (Mississauga ON) land use planning and gerontology / ltc consultants
12:18:55 From paul mackinnon: Well the explosion was in 1917. Don’t know when the park was created. But the re-do was completed 2017 to honour the centenary.
12:21:15 From Abby S: These are wonderful initiatives. I can’t wait to visit Halifax again one day….
12:21:57 From Jonathan Giggs: Making me quite depressed about the lack of change in Mississauga
12:22:23 From Abby S: @jonathan It should not take a pandemic to make streets more people friendly. I hear ya
12:23:02 From Jonathan Giggs: Where there is a will, there is a way…
12:23:16 From paul mackinnon: I’d love to see those fire pits pop up throughout Canadian downtowns! I’m sure city insurance depts. would not like it, but it seems to Canadian, and it engages multiple senses, as we talked about yesterday.
12:23:23 From DeeDee Nelson: I very much enjoyed that presentation, thank you Rob.
12:24:05 From Andrew Struthers: The history, story-telling with parks and spaces. Great angle.
12:25:36 From Marie-Josée Houle to All panelists: When I spent time in Oslo, I noticed a lot of patios open in cooler weather. Blankets and patio heaters were provided.
12:26:07 From paul mackinnon: Curious to hear ideas for what is the BEST immediately doable thing for winter in our downtowns (particularly as Feds have announced their $31m program)
12:26:41 From Jill Robertson: a lot of the Scandinavian countries are wonderful in terms of year-round outdoor spaces
12:27:06 From paul mackinnon: Halifax’s municipal election is TOMORROW. Fingers crossed for continued and even more progressive council!
12:27:50 From Marie-Josée Houle: When I spent time in Oslo, I noticed a lot of patios open in cooler weather. Blankets and patio heaters were provided. It was a great example of Scandinavian spending time outside when Canadians isolate inside.
12:29:20 From Cheryl Cohen: Hello from Toronto! As important to me as outdoor heaters and converted outdoor spaces, during the Winter months, is improving lighting in public spaces. I find that most winter clothing comes in dark colours and the sun sets so early, improving outdoor lighting is very important.
12:29:42 From Jordan Riemer: A local pub in Edmonton has a cheaper beer menu for those who sit in their outdoor patio – the best kind of incentive to get people to try winter cities
12:30:29 From Andrew Struthers: Good one.
12:30:57 From Jonathan Giggs: @Cheryl Agree about lighting. I don’t like being outside in Port Credit not because of the cold but how dismal the lighting is.
12:31:14 From Abby S: love the term urban acupuncture!!!
12:31:26 From Ralph Cipolla: hello from Orillia thank you great presentation can anyone speak on winter projects in downtown regards Ralph Cipolla
12:33:13 From Sheena jardine-Olade to All panelists: @Cheryl there are also really interesting ways of incorporating lighting that is playful and useful. Umea– their bus stop lighting have SAD lamps, in Montreal in Quartier Spectacles light is also used for way finding. Lighting really has the ability to transform space so totally in agreement.
12:33:33 From Sheena jardine-Olade: @Cheryl there are also really interesting ways of incorporating lighting that is playful and useful. Umea– their bus stop lighting have SAD lamps, in Montreal in Quartier Spectacles light is also used for way finding. Lighting really has the ability to transform space so totally in agreement. @Cheryl there are also really interesting ways of incorporating lighting that is playful and useful. Umea– their bus stop lighting have SAD lamps, in Montreal in Quartier Spectacles light is also used for way finding. Lighting really has the ability to transform space so totally in agreement.
12:34:47 From Cheryl Cohen: Thank you Sheena. Great ideas!
12:35:35 From Andrew Struthers: Good point Jason. I’d include smaller scale endeavours, with more regularity
12:36:02 From Lindsey Sexton to All panelists: I’m not in city government. Who do I look to contact in my city to share ideas I have for creating community events on Main street?
12:36:10 From Jordan Riemer: Great points here, Jason. Inviting the community is the key to make innovative thinking stick.
12:36:15 From DeeDee Nelson: Thank you Jason for including social and cultural aspects in the strategies.
12:39:42 From Canadian Urban Institute: Lindsey — Business improvement area associations are a great place to start. Not every main street is covered by one, but many are
12:40:06 From Canadian Urban Institute: And their role is to improve main streets!
12:40:35 From Abby S: the downtown initiatives are wonderful. can the panelists speak to some of those segmented areas and what initiatives might look like in business districts (was that parking lots?) but tower dominated spaces? and rural decentralized downtowns?
12:41:26 From Andrew Struthers: Or big refinements if things aren’t working
12:41:30 From Abby S: although in some cases rural downtowns are not decentralized within smaller towns.
12:45:36 From paul mackinnon: Agree, Jason. BIAs (now 50 yrs old!) should now have proven themselves to be reliable partners to the municipality. Ideally those groups can share ideas/risks, particularly with these pilots.
12:45:54 From Andrew Struthers: DECL doing a great job though, too
12:46:03 From George Robinson: In Windsor each BIA has a different approach to streetscaping and temp outdoor patios so really nice to see similar ideas implemented in different ways / materials this past summer.
12:47:57 From Andrew Struthers: A secondary plan for Churchill Sq. with the library opening…
12:48:59 From Alanna Morton: Support from the City of Edmonton has been crucial for BIAs to execute short term sidewalk & patio expansions
12:49:52 From Abby S: definition of form based codes for us non-planners???
12:50:55 From George Robinson: Abby: https://formbasedcodes.org/
12:50:59 From DeeDee Nelson: That’ very interesting about Nashville. So great to learn from others who have already solved certain problems!
12:51:20 From Abby S: thank you!!!
12:51:27 From Astra Burka: From Astra Burka I have never understood what is a secondary plan. Would it not make sense to create a Master Plan based on an organic circular economy script and develop the city around the vision? We are over studied and not allowing creative thinking to our policy makers. These are all great ideas and the key is to change the thinking of the decision makers.
12:52:49 From Hazel Borys: www.CodesStudy.org
12:53:19 From Andrew Struthers: Re starting but also all the new development along the valley line
12:53:24 From Hazel Borys: to see where form-based codes are happening globally — collaborative study, so please add any FBCs that isn’t
12:53:35 From Hazel Borys: included in the study
12:54:03 From Crystal Chan: Bus bulbs are being implemented in Vancouver (along Main and Robson St for instance) to help reduce congestion times within these pedestrianized hubs where lots of sidewalks are being transformed and winterized to carry outdoor patios further into winter! And to help facilitate safe movement of people, pets, and multi modes of travel.
12:54:10 From Hazel Borys: Also, www.CodeScore.org shows the paybacks to resilience for adopting form-based codes and other tools for enabling walkable urban places.
12:54:27 From DeeDee Nelson: Love seeing plans that guide towards sensitivity to climate and environmental goals.
12:54:46 From James Horan: Ontario has a Development Permit System or Community Permit System which can be employed like a form based code.
12:54:58 From Canadian Urban Institute: Fathom Studio Report: Planning & Urban Design: Bring Back Main Street 01VOLUME A Pandemic Recovery Solutions Brief https://bit.ly/2T4i6CM To read this and other solutions briefs, visit: https://bringbackmainstreet.ca/solution-briefs https://bringbackmainstreet.ca/action-report Also check out our Main Street Design Challenge Playbook https://bringbackmainstreet.ca/main-street-design-playbook
12:55:32 From Andrew Struthers: Thanks to all, organizers also
12:55:35 From Hazel Borys: More on the coding proces: https://www.placemakers.com/tag/form-based-code/
12:55:52 From Brenda Gagnier: Will you be sending us all an email including all these hyperlinks?
12:55:53 From DeeDee Nelson: Thank you so much everyone!
12:56:22 From Hazel Borys: https://www.CodeScore.org
12:56:31 From Hazel Borys: https://www.CodesStudy.org/
12:56:32 From Chelsea Whity: Great conversation! Thanks to the presenters and CUI!
12:56:33 From Canadian Urban Institute: We will post the recording, the chat, five takeaways and a list of all the links posted
12:56:49 From Canadian Urban Institute: and a transcript!
12:56:51 From Brenda Gagnier: Great. Thank you all.
12:57:07 From Jason Syvixay: Thank you to the panelists today, loved the conversation! Learned a lot from all of you. And thanks to all of you for tuning in!
12:57:15 From Canadian Urban Institute to Brenda Gagnier and all panelists: Hi, Brenda! We will post the chat and you will be able to glean all of these references. Not100% sure, but you may be able to save the chat now.
12:57:44 From Mark Roseland: Thanks all and CUI!
12:57:46 From Randy Kay to All panelists: Great webinar, very inspiring
12:57:48 From Ralph Cipolla: from Ralph Cipolla …thank you great job everyone
12:57:51 From Canadian Urban Institute: You can find transcripts, chats and recordings of today’s and all our sessions at https://www.canurb.org/citytalk Keep the conversation going #BringBackMainStreet #citytalk @canurb To support CityTalk and the Canadian Urban Institute’s other city building initiatives, please donate at www.canurb.org/donate. CUI extends a big thank you to our partner for today’s session WWW.FATHOMSTUDIO.CA
12:57:52 From Abby S: planners like you can really drive change. thank you!
12:58:32 From Khatereh Baharikhoob: Optimism is the key to move forward! Thanks Jill.
12:58:48 From Meeri Durand: Thank you everyone! Exciting ideas – can’t wait to get them going on the ground and happy for the reference to embracing winter (as a Swedish Estonian – winter is my jam)
12:58:48 From Andrew Struthers: Would love to hear that conversation
12:59:01 From Hazel Borys: Thanks to everyone on today’s webinar! Really appreciate the exchange.
