Summer 2023 — Consultations
Our first step is to detail how people in Brandon are currently using active transportation (like walking and biking) and public spaces, as well as how people would like to use them, and the reasons they don’t.
We will conduct a wide-ranging campaign online to listen for what’s most needed here in Brandon. Working with our Knowledge User Advisory Council and the connections the help us foster, we will also do select in-person consultations to focus on specific groups.
As time allows, we are also planning pop-up consultations that will connect us with people in parks or paths as they are actively using these public spaces.
Anyone interested can also send us their thoughts online at SmallerCities.ca.
All planned research activities have been reviewed and approved by the BU Research Ethics Committee.
Fall/Winter 2023–24 — Learning and exploring
Once we know what gaps need to be filled in Brandon, we will work to find potential solutions.
This September, the Brandon team will join the other three Canadian teams in attending a global workshop in Copenhagen, a community renowned as a world leader for integrating safe and convenient active transportation, extensive and welcoming public spaces and greenspaces, and robust public transit options into their city.
Then, over the in winter, we will reconvene the focus groups to explore different Copenhagen-inspired solutions that might fit in Brandon, and how to adapt or translate those possibilities to the Canadian prairie context.
Summer 2024 — Building and sharing
Next spring, the team will select and implement a chosen project that is the best fit for Brandon.
Using a rapid implementation approach, this pop-up project will implement a needed and desired active transportation or public space enhancement in the City of Brandon, bringing together world-class best practices and local stakeholder feedback. This project will be refined and iterated based on user experience over the summer, with an eye towards permanent installation that can be replicated and transplanted elsewhere.
Finally, in late summer or early fall of 2024, representatives from other smaller cities in Canada will be invited to Brandon to experience this success and help us share this solution as widely as possible.