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COVID Signpost 365

To mark the one-year anniversary of the WHO’s declaration of the global pandemic the Canadian Urban Institute has released a seminal report that shares new findings drawn from the opinions of 180,000 Canadians about how COVID-19 hit Canada’s largest cities, and how people felt throughout a year unlike any other.

Read the Report

The Canada Healthy Communities Initiative (CHCI)

The Canada Healthy Communities Initiative (CHCI) is a $31 million investment from the Government of Canada to support communities as they adapt spaces and services to respond to needs arising from COVID-19.

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In It Together: Bringing Back Canada's Main Streets

In It Together: Bringing Back Canada’s Main Streets reinforces the value of main streets to cities and communities and assesses how they have been impacted through the COVID-19 public health emergency.

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Main Street Design Challenge Playbook

The Design Challenge Playbook reflects the importance of design in revitalizing our streets and showcases creative and practical interventions to help us build back better than ever.

View the submissions

Cities call for united front eliminate homelessness and protect tenants

Convened by CUI and The Shift, the Right to Home Municipal Working Group issues an urgent Call to Action to end homelessness, protect tenants and ensure everyone in Canada has access to a safe, secure, place to call home.

Read the Call to Action

CityTalk Leadership Lecture

To mark CUI’s 30th anniversary, the Canadian Urban Institute and its Board of Directors are proud to present the first annual CityTalk Leadership Lecture featuring Dan Hill.

Revisit the lecture

A Call to Courage: An Open Letter to Canadian Urbanists

Jay Pitter, award-winning placemaker and CUI Senior Fellow, Equity-Based Placemaking, releases an open letter to Canadian urbanists with a toolkit of resources for responding to anti-Black racism in urbanist practices and conversations

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The Case for a Canadian Urban Policy Observatory

Research recommending the development of a “one-stop-shop” housing the best quantitative and qualitative data on Canada’s cities

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Initiatives

This is an all-hands-on-deck moment, one that calls for us to support our local governments and community agencies, and unleash our collective ingenuity.

Bring Back Main Street

A nationally coordinated research and advocacy campaign about finding the best solutions to ensure our main streets recover from COVID-19 and emerge more resilient than ever
#COVID19 #Downtowns&MainStreets #MainStreets

CityTalk Canada

Candid conversations, analysis, and commentary on the new urban reality under COVID-19
#COVID19

COVID Signpost

The Canadian Urban Institute is conducting cross-Canada research and convening conversations about what’s working, what’s not, and what’s next. These signposts offer important directions for urban Canada about the lingering challenges we must face as a nation.
#COVID19

CityShare Canada

A real-time, crowdsourced platform that houses resources, tools, and stories on how city-builders and residents are responding to COVID-19
#COVID19

CityWatch Canada

An interactive platform that tracks emergency response measures put in place by local governments across Canada, updated daily
#COVID19 #PublicFinance&Governance

CUI x Local

CUI x Local is a series of week-long virtual residencies to learn about local issues facing cities and connect the dots across urban Canada. We’ll be listening to and learning from local stakeholders on their most pressing challenges and surfacing examples of innovative and locally-driven solutions.

Insights & Publications

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COVID Signpost: 365 Days

Forced to stay apart, people came together: New COVID Signpost 365 report captures stories, shares perspectives of Canadians on the year that changed the world.
#COVID19

Engaging Black People and Power

Created by placemaker and author Jay Pitter in collaboration with students and scholars in York University’s Faculty of Environmental and Urban Change, this publication highlights engagement practice and policy approaches for addressing spatialized anti-Blackness in cities across North America.

In It Together: Bringing Back Canada's Main Streets

A new report from the Canadian Urban Institute (CUI) with partners across the country urgently shines a light on the impacts of COVID-19 on main streets in Canada, and offers dozens of actions for governments, business and community leaders to strengthen local economies, neighborhoods and communities.
#Architecture&UrbanDesign #COVID19 #Downtowns&MainStreets #MainStreets

Events

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April 6, 2021

Massey Cities Summit 2021
Join us from April 6-8 as we reimagine the municipal role in Canadian federalism, while also acknowledging the constitutional rights of First Nations. Organised by Massey College and the Canadian Urban Institute (with much appreciated support from the Maytree Foundation and the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada), all are welcome to attend the Summit.
Register Here

March 22, 2021

Launch: Engaging Black People and Power
Presented in partnership with York University and Jay Pitter Placemaking, join Jay Pitter, award-winning Placemaker and Author; Anthony Taylor, Minneapolis-based Metropolitan Parks and Open Space commissioner and cycling advocate; and Mitchell Silver, New York City Parks Department commissioner and award-winning urban planner. The event will also feature opening remarks from Adam Vaughan, Member of Parliament and a musical interlude from Sam Carter-Shamai, Toronto-based urban planner and music enthusiast.
Register Here

March 11, 2021

From the Ground Up: How is COVID-19 Driving Community Leadership in Urban Canada?
Join Abhilash Kantamneni from Local Insights, Leigh Stickle from Aryze Developments, Mansib Rahman from Radish, Christy Morin from Arts on the Ave, and CUI’s Kate Graham, as they explore examples of community innovation and leadership throughout the past year.
#COVID19
Register Here

CUI is Canada’s Urban Institute

The Canadian Urban Institute is the national platform that houses the best in Canadian city building – where policymakers, urban professionals, civic and business leaders, community activists and academics can learn, share and collaborate with one another from coast to coast to coast. Through research, engagement and storytelling, our mission is to ensure Canada builds vibrant, equitable, livable and resilient cities. (Registered charity #121844419 RR000)
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