Unlocking the Power of Public Space: Takeaways from the 2024 Evergreen Conference

At the PLAYcemaking Warehouse, we practiced tactical urbanism strategies that we can take to our own communities—like building wikiblock furniture, guerilla gardening with native seedballs, wheatpasting murals and more.

Through our many walks, we explored a real-world example of urban stream daylighting with Dr. Luna Khirfan, learned about the history of street design with SvN and practiced tuning into the more-than-human world with sessions like “ReconciliACTION in Parks” led by Turtle Protectors and “Forest Bathing” lead by Emily Pleasance.

We hope your experience at the conference inspired you to take the ideas, tools and connections you gathered back to your own communities and continue the work of reimagining public spaces as a multi-solving tool.

As we move forward, let’s reflect on the key takeaways from ten select sessions.

Who Owns Public Space?

With Eunice Wong and Keisha St. Louis-McBurnie from Monumental Projects

This workshop centered on power — who holds power and influence in shaping public spaces? Participants explored how power dynamics affect the creation and management of public spaces, considering how power could be shared to make these spaces more equitable and inclusive for diverse human experiences like grief, joy, and protest.

Key takeaways included:

• Public spaces often reflect power imbalances in communities, with certain groups having more voice and influence in planning and development.
• The workshop introduced a four-step design process for co-creating public space interventions, emphasizing the need for genuine community involvement.

Don’t Empower People – People Are Powerful

With Jay Pitter, Placemaker, Author and Adjunct Urban Planning Professor

Jay Pitter’s rousing keynote challenged conventional ideas of ‘empowering’ others and unpacked how this approach diminished a sense of spatial entitlement—a term she coined to describe how social conditioning and uneven power relations mediate: the quality of public space we feel deserving of; the amount of public space we take up; and the way we move through public space. Through personal and professional stories, and structural analysis of how place-based power manifests, Ms. Pitter offered alternatives to empowering others.

Key takeaways:

• People don’t need to be “saved” or “empowered” — they need opportunities to meaningfully co-create public spaces.
• Instead of empowering others, placemakers and urban planners should share knowledge, financial resources and physical space so people can fully realize their power.
• We are all inherently powerful; celebrate multiple forms of personal and community-based power.

Financing the Future: Unlocking Private Capital for Climate Resilience

With Andrew Posluns from Canadian Infrastructure Bank, Megan Meaney from ICLEI, Paul Manias from Addenda Capital and Shannon Miedema from Halifax Regional Municipality

Climate change is predicted to cost $5.3 billion CAD per year. This workshop focused on how we can fund the climate-resilient infrastructure we urgently need by collaborating across sectors.

Key Takeaways:

• In Halifax, Shannon Miedema shared how a climate action tax raises $18 million each year to fund projects like energry retrofits and flood prevention.
• Paul Manias highlighted the potential of leveraging private capital through public grants, tax-increment financing, and insurance savings to fund climate adaptation efforts.
• Andrew Posluns shared how the Canada Infrastructure Bank’s projects offer a significant return on investment—sometimes three to five times the cost—and emphasized the importance of fast-tracking climate-ready infrastructure across Canada.

Palaces for the People: How Social Infrastructure Can Help Fight Inequality, Polarization, and the Decline of Civic Life

With Eric Klinenberg from New York University and Alex Bozikovic from The Globe and Mail

Social infrastructure, the physical places that shape our interactions, is not a luxury that communities should consider only after addressing “core” needs like electricity, water, and communications. Social infrastructure is just as vital.

In a world where technology companies are doing their best to keep us glued to our screens, public spaces need to compete. “We are in the middle of a generational and epochal battle between the street and the screen,” Eric Klinenberg says. “And the only way we can beat them is if we make the street and the sidewalk and the square and the library and the playground and the park amazing.”

Key Takeaways

• Well designed, programmed and maintained public spaces draw people out and foster social connections that can protect vulnerable populations.
• Social infrastructure — public spaces like parks, playgrounds, libraries and community centers — can be lifesaving, especially during extreme climate events.

Green Infrastructure Matters: Integrating Natural Asset Valuation in Public Space Management

With Alex Campagnolo from Manulife Investment Management, Michelle Molnar from Natural Assets Initiative and Andrea Ziegler and Mike Velonas from Meewasin Valley Authority

Green infrastructure offers tremendous value for climate resilience in cities. This discussion focused on the value of natural resources —like parks, trees, and rivers—when managing public spaces. Panelists emphasized the need for a systematic approach to recognizing and leveraging the value of a community’s natural assets and focused on three main points:

• Inventories: Building datasets of natural assets and their attributes is essential.
• Assessments: Evaluating how these natural resources benefit the community helps justify the investment in maintaining and expanding green infrastructure.
• Standards: Establishing guidelines ensures that natural resources are measured and valued consistently across different communities.

Michelle highlighted the economic argument for investing in natural assets, saying “There is little financial reward for conserving ecosystems and very little financial penalty for destroying them…. When properly maintained, nature appreciates in value.”

Innovation as a Resource Multiplier

With Asad Hussain from the town of Bridgewater, Michelle Baldwin from Community Foundations of Canada, Rie Perrault from MaRs Discovery District and Zoya Sodhi from Evergreen

This session explored how innovative technologies can amplify results in climate resilience and community development. The speakers highlighted the potential of these technologies to provide more accurate data and insights, enhancing decision-making processes.

Key Takeaways

• The Town of Bridgewater shared its ‘Track at Home’ initiative, a smart sensor program that connects local energy use data. This platform allows residents to visualize their energy consumption and make informed decisions to improve energy efficiency in their homes.
• MaRS is spearheading missions to accelerate the deployment of carbon-reducing technologies like the Flash Forest program, which uses drones for replanting trees after wildfires.

While Canada lags in the large-scale adoption of climate technologies, “People have power,” Zoya says. “People can make things happen and people can make innovations happen.”

Tools to Transform Public Spaces for Wellbeing and Resilience

With Dicle Su Han from Evergreen, Ilse Van Winssen from Pier Labs & Davis Pier, Raquel Rosas from Davis Pier, Sofia Valentini from Dark Matter Labs and Tanya Chung-Tiam-Fook from 7Gen Cities + Dark Matter Labs

Participants got an exclusive preview of two innovative tools designed to measure the impact of public spaces on community wellbeing and environmental resilience: the Places4Wellbeing Tool by Davis Pier and the Open Space Resilience Tool by Dark Matter Labs. These tools aim to support practitioners and decision-makers in creating and evaluating effective public spaces.

Key Takeaways

• Places4Wellbeing Tool: Developed by Davis Pier and supported by Evergreen, this tool measures the wellbeing impacts of public space initiatives, focusing on four key categories: life satisfaction, sense of worth, happiness, and anxiety levels. Unlike traditional measurement methodologies, this tool is grounded in community research and emphasizes social factors such as community cohesion, urban green spaces and place identity.
• Open Space Resilience Tool: Supported by Evergreen, this tool focuses on how public spaces contribute to climate resilience and community health while incorporating reconciliation with Indigenous peoples. It aims to promote universal access to public space and highlights the importance of data in decision-making to create adaptable and responsive environments.

Nature as Nurture: Impact of Public Spaces on Health and Wellbeing

With Dr. Eileen De Villa from the City of Toronto, Dr. Kate Mulligan from the University of Toronto, Mike Davis from Davis Pier and Richard Lennon from TD Bank Group

The isolation caused by the pandemic has made it clear how important public spaces are for social, mental and physical wellbeing. Green spaces not only offer respite but also play a crucial role in fostering social connection and enhancing community health. Dr. Kate Mulligan recommends a strengths-based approach to working with communities, saying, “Start with what’s strong with us, not what’s wrong with us.”

Key Takeaways

• Policymakers need to be shown how investing in public spaces can yield significant health benefits. Making the benefits clear and easy to understand can make it easier for them to say “yes” to funding.
• “Social prescribing,” where healthcare providers recommend non-medical activities like spending time outdoors, helps to put power in the hands of the community.
• Studies show that even small investments in public space, such as adding seating and natural elements can have a profound impact on people’s happiness and connection in a space.

The Role of Cities in Promoting Global Biodiversity: Examples from two Canadian Urban Centres

With Kim Statham and Wendy Strickland from the City of Toronto

Cities play a critical role in preserving and enhancing biodiversity, and this session highlighted some of the key efforts in Toronto. The city’s ravine system alone provides $822 million worth of ecological services each year, and with trees covering 31% of the city, Toronto is working to achieve 40% tree canopy by 2050.

Key Takeaways

• Toronto’s ‘tree equity’ approach focuses on ensuring canopy coverage is spread equitably across the city.
• Combining biomimicry — an innovative approach that takes inspiration from nature’s designs — with nature-based solutions could unlock even greater potential for improving biodiversity in cities.
• Live Green Toronto is a valuable resource that provides access to case studies, funding opportunities and best practices for biodiversity projects.

As Kim Statham reminded us, we shouldn’t underestimate the power of people. Building capacity, creating champions and fostering social capital are all critical in creating resilient and livable cities.

Where the Land Meets Innovation: The Hazy Line of Public Land Use and Indigenous Boundaries

With Ǧṇísḷaǧy̓ḷís Gary Wilson from Tiičma Enterprises, Pamela Glode Desrochers, Executive Director from Mi’kmaw Native Friendship Centre, Jayne Engle from Dark Matter Labs & 7GenCities and Lois Lindsay from Evergreen.

The multiple crises we’re facing today—like climate change and loss of biodiversity—stem from a deeper issue: our broken relationship with land. In this talk, panelists explored how innovation and Indigenous knowledge systems can work together to create more healthy, inclusive and equitable communities. As Pamela Glode-Desrochers put it, “The land doesn’t belong to us. We belong to the land.”

Key Takeaways

• We need to rethink land acknowledgements and use them as a foundation for more meaningful action.
• Digital Twin modelling in Coastal British Columbia is re-creating complex and historical Indigenous maps representing ecological, economic and cultural areas of importance to help drive conservation, tourism and economic independence for First Nations in British Columbia.
• Projects like FreeLand Kjipuktuk / Halifax and FreeHouse Tkaronto aim to create a new approach to land ownership that combines Indigenous legal traditions with Canadian law, rethinking how we perceive and value land — not as a commodity to be extracted but as a commons.

Public spaces have the power to address so many of the crises we face today. They’re what we call “multi-solvers.” And yet, public spaces are often neglected, underfunded and left out of the conversation. It’s time for that to change.

“In a time of big challenges and scarce public budgets to solve them, we ought to be focused on solutions that bring us together in common purpose and solve for multiple problems at the same time,” Evergreen CEO Jen Angel says. “Good public spaces can do that.”

The Evergreen Conference was a powerful rally to reimagine the role of public spaces in our cities. Thank you for dreaming and scheming with us.