Bring Back Main Street

This nationally-coordinated research and advocacy campaign is about finding the best solutions to ensure our main streets recover from COVID-19 and emerge from the crisis more resilient than ever. We’re working with a growing coalition of partners including main street business leaders, academic research partners, industry and professional associations, BIAs/BIDs across Canada, government stakeholders and municipal recovery working groups, corporate endorsers, developers, industry and professional associations, and advocacy groups across Canada. Through the project, we are developing:

Research and Tools
We are undertaking rapid-response research and developing a set of tools to inform shared priorities and gaps across Canada.

Recommendations for Action
We are leveraging dozens of partnerships and networks across the country to develop tangible, evidence-informed, and actionable policy recommendations to inform a plan for recovery.

National Campaign
We are building a campaign about the value of our main streets – their connection to the health of the economy, social life, and vitality of our neighbourhoods and cities – and the actions that we can all take to guarantee their survival.

Launch

Details

Type:

Initiative

Date:

2020

Research Team:

Canadian Urban Institute
360 Collective
JC Williams Group
Fathom Studio
Happy City

Partners:

Bloor-Yorkville BIA / Canadian Business Resilience Network / Canadian Chamber of Commerce / Canadian Federation of Independent Business / Canadian Institute of Planners / Canadian Urban Institute / City of Edmonton / City of Toronto / Downtown Halifax / Downtown Yonge BIA / Financial District BIA / International Downtown Association Canada / National Preservation Council / National Trust for Canada / Retail Council of Canada / Save Canadian Small Business / Ontario Chamber of Commerce / Regina Downtown BID / Royal Architecture Institute of Canada / Rues principales / St. Lawrence Market BIA / Toronto Entertainment District BIA / The Waterfront BIA / Trinity Centres Foundation / Vancity / Vancity Investment Bank

Bring Back Main Street Items

Rapid Placemaking to Bring Back Main Streets

The Pandemic Recovery Toolkit for Local Communities provides examples of programming and interventions, as well provides advice on how to use inclusive process for rapid placemaking. It is can be used by residents, community groups, BIAs/BIDs, and city staff working to revive main streets and core spaces in big cities, suburbs and small towns.

#COVID19 #Downtowns #MainStreets

Memos From Main Street #1: Why Main Streets Matter

A short brief from the Bring Back Main Street initiative about what’s at stake for our communities and their main streets during COVID-19.

#COVID19 #Downtowns #MainStreets

Memos From Main Street #2: Scan of Provincial Main Street Re-opening Plans

A short brief from the Bring Back Main Street initiative with an at-a-glance summary of the proposed provincial/territorial timelines for re-opening main streets during COVID-19

#COVID19 #Downtowns #MainStreets

Memos From Main Street #3: How to Make CECRA Work for Main Street

A short brief from the Bring Back Main Street initiative documenting responses to the Canada Emergency Commercial Rent Assistance (CECRA)

#COVID19 #Downtowns #MainStreets

Memos From Main Street #4: Types of Main Streets Across Canada

A short brief from the Bring Back Main Street initiative on the impacts of COVID-19 on different types of main streets across Canada

#COVID19 #Downtowns #MainStreets

Memos From Main Street #5: New Online Models Helping Main Street Businesses during COVID-19

A short brief from the Bring Back Main Street initiative on how businesses have ‘gone digital during COVID-19

#COVID19 #Downtowns #MainStreets

Memos From Main Street #9: Safety, Social Inclusion, and the Success of Main Streets

A short brief from the Bring Back Main Street initiative from the Downtown Yonge Business Improvement Area on safety and inclusion on main streets.

#COVID19 #Downtowns #MainStreets

Memos From Main Street #6: An Explainer on Main Street Small Business

A short brief from the Bring Back Main Street initiative on main street small businesses.

#COVID19 #Downtowns #LocalEconomy #MainStreets

Memos From Main Street #7: Reallocating Main Street Space to Support Community Wellbeing

A short brief from the Bring Back Main Street initiative from Happy City on main street space and community wellbeing.

#COVID19 #Downtowns #LocalEconomy #MainStreets

Memos From Main Street #8: What Main Street Retail Businesses Are Most Vulnerable?

A short brief from the Bring Back Main Street initiative from J.C. Wiliams Group on what businesses are most vulnerable during COVID-19.

#COVID19 #Downtowns #LocalEconomy #MainStreets

Memos From Main Street #10: Rediscovering Rural Main Streets

A short brief from the Bring Back Main Street initiative from FBM Planning Studio on rural main streets.

#COVID19 #Downtowns #MainStreets

Memos From Main Street #11: How COVID-19 Has Impacted our Attitudes, and What it Means for our Main Streets

A short brief from the Bring Back Main Street initiative on how COVID-19 has impacted attitudes about main streets.

#COVID19 #Downtowns #MainStreets

Memos From Main Street #12: A Snapshot of Main Street Commercial Real Estate

A short brief from the Bring Back Main Street initiative on main street commercial real estate.

#COVID19 #Downtowns #MainStreets

Memos From Main Street #13: Main Street Faith Buildings: Evolving through COVID-19 and Beyond

A short brief from the Bring Back Main Street initiative on how COVID-19 has affected faith buildings on main street.

#COVID19 #Downtowns #MainStreets

Memos From Main Street #14: Who has the right to reallocated space?

A short brief from the Bring Back Main Street initiative on designing space with the needs and desires of diverse users at the core

#COVID19 #Downtowns #MainStreets

Already battered by COVID, Canada’s main streets need immediate action as winter approaches

A new report, produced by the Canadian Urban Institute (CUI) with partners across the country, urgently shines a light on the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on main streets in Canada, and is offering dozens of actions for governments, business and community leaders to strengthen local economies, neighbourhoods, and communities.

Bring Back Main Street: Block Studies

To better understand how COVID-19 has impacted main streets and businesses, Vancouver City Savings credit union (Vancity), Vancity Community Investment Bank, and the Canadian Urban Institute conducted a series of seven Block Studies in British Columbia and Ontario.

#COVID19 #Downtowns #MainStreets

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.The designs come from architects and students, planners and placemakers, community animators and artists. They range widely, from the highly prescriptive to the more conceptual. In some cases, they serve as blueprints; in other cases, they provide inspiration, with key details to be locally crafted.

#COVID19 #Downtowns #MainStreets

In It Together: Bringing Back Canada’s Main Streets

Our new report shines a light on the impacts of COVID on Canada’s main streets, and offers dozens of targeted actions to strengthen local economies, neighbourhoods, and communities.

Operational Trends and Potential Actions for Main Street Retail Recovery

This solution brief, from J.C. Williams Group, focuses on the role that local business organizations can take to help ensure that main streets remain lively areas of commerce. It presents an analysis of the trends and challenges experienced by retailers and suggests a series of potential actions for supporting the reopening, recovery, and renewal of main street commercial areas.

#COVID19 #Downtowns #MainStreets

Supporting Main Street Recovery Through Small-Business-Friendly Policy

This solution brief from, 360 Collective, focuses on the role governments can play in supporting main street retail business sustainability and driving recovery. It presents an analysis of the key requirements of business success and suggests retail policy solutions in 5 areas.

#COVID19 #Downtowns #MainStreets #PublicFinance&Governance

Planning and Urban Design to Bring Back Main Street

This solutions brief, from Fathom Studio, identifies opportunities to use planning and urban design to support the long-term recovery and resilience of main streets.

#COVID19 #Downtowns #MainStreets

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#COVID19 #Downtowns #MainStreets

Business Competitiveness in the GTA: Why Toronto is Losing Ground

An analysis of the impact that current tax inequities between Toronto and the surrounding 905 have on the competitiveness of offices in Toronto

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Northern Ontario Downtowns Project

A comprehensive community engagement and research initiative designed to help promote and illustrate the importance of Northern Downtowns (Thunder Bay, Sault St. Marie, Timmins, Sudbury and North Bay)

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COVID Signpost: 300 Days

The Canadian Urban Institute (CUI) continues to track the impacts of COVID-19 on Canadian cities, with a third Signpost report that signals a growing disconnect between virus-related research and recovery response.

#COVID19 #Downtowns #MainStreets

The New Geography of Office Location

Recommendations aimed at facilitating a more competitive environment for GTA office employment and the development sector that supports it

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Restore the Core

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Right to Home

CUI, The Shift, and 14 coast-to-coast partners hosted week of virtual film screenings and live panel discussions from coast to coast about what’s working, what’s not, and what’s next, as we (re)imagine the right to home.

#COVID19 #Downtowns #MainStreets

Rapid Placemaking to Bring Back Main Streets

The Pandemic Recovery Toolkit for Local Communities provides examples of programming and interventions, as well provides advice on how to use inclusive process for rapid placemaking. It is can be used by residents, community groups, BIAs/BIDs, and city staff working to revive main streets and core spaces in big cities, suburbs and small towns.

#COVID19 #Downtowns #MainStreets

Quantifying the Value of Canadian Downtowns: A Research Toolkit

A toolkit to provide a downtown data standard, a common set of data and processes that will help Canadian place management organizations establish and sustain evaluation and compare progress among downtowns

#COVID19 #Downtowns #MainStreets

Downtown Community Services and Facilities Strategy

The first area-wide Downtown Community Services and Facilities Strategy (CS&F) in 45 years, as part of Toronto Planning’s TOcore initiative

#COVID19 #Downtowns #MainStreets

COVID Signpost: Regional Perspectives

As we pass the 200th day of COVID-19, seven Regional Perspectives dive deeper into trends and changes in different parts of the country, and what it means as we look ahead in a time of uncertainty and anxiety, but also of collective purpose in urban Canada.

#COVID19 #Downtowns #MainStreets

Calgary Transforms

Calgary Transforms summarizes what Calgarians told us is happening in their city today. We heard diverse perspectives on what it’s like to live there, what people are concerned about, how they view the city and its organizations and how many are coping with and driving positive change. People from the arts, academia, business and industry, community agencies and many other sectors told us what they see as their successes, where they think needs more work and what their hopes are for a post-pandemic future.

#COVID19 #Downtowns #MainStreets

Downtown Moncton Evaluation

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#COVID19 #Downtowns #MainStreets

The Case for a Canadian Urban Policy Observatory

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#COVID19 #Downtowns #MainStreets

Bring Back Main Street: Block Studies

To better understand how COVID-19 has impacted main streets and businesses, Vancouver City Savings credit union (Vancity), Vancity Community Investment Bank, and the Canadian Urban Institute conducted a series of seven Block Studies in British Columbia and Ontario.

#COVID19 #Downtowns #MainStreets

The Value of Investing in Canadian Downtowns

This ‘living’ project is the first of its kind – examining 17 downtowns across Canada to assess changes in attitudes, perceptions, functionality and performance over time

#COVID19 #Downtowns #MainStreets

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.The designs come from architects and students, planners and placemakers, community animators and artists. They range widely, from the highly prescriptive to the more conceptual. In some cases, they serve as blueprints; in other cases, they provide inspiration, with key details to be locally crafted.

#COVID19 #Downtowns #MainStreets

I Belong Downtown

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#COVID19 #Downtowns #MainStreets

Mississauga Office Strategy Study

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#COVID19 #Downtowns #MainStreets

COVID Signpost: 200 Days

Research on the impacts of COVID-19 on Canadian cities over the first 200 days of the crisis shows that our experiences with the pandemic have depended largely on who we are, and where we live.

#COVID19 #Downtowns #MainStreets