Our Work

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.