2017 Next City Vanguard Conference examines co-creating access in Montreal

Montreal, May 24, 2017 – The 2017 Next City Vanguard Conference, co-hosted by Concordia University, will bring 45 young urban leaders to Montreal from May 31 to June 3 – leaders who are working to improve cities across different sectors, including urban planning, community development, transportation and more.

The 2017 Vanguard Fellows include changemakers from Fortune 500 companies, philanthropy, academia and all levels of government, including the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, mayoral offices and municipal agencies of major cities including Los Angeles, Philadelphia, Detroit, Indianapolis, New York and Montreal as host city.

The Vanguard Fellows are policymakers and politicians, architects and urban planners, artists and advocates, all selected through a competitive application process.

Six Montreal Fellows will be participating in the experiential urban leadership gathering.

This year’s theme: co-creating access

The theme for this year’s conference, organized by Next City with lead sponsor Concordia University, is co-creating access – making use of places, services or opportunities to achieve food and housing security as well as boosting economic, social and cultural development.

In the spirit of the conference theme of accessibility, community partners from Montreal have been invited to participate alongside the Next City Vanguards for the first two days of the conference.

Together, they will learn about how Montreal is tackling challenges related to creating accessible public spaces, planning processes and transportation systems. Participants will emerge from these two days with new insights into how to build more equitable, open and inclusive cities through participatory design.

Two events open to the public

The Vanguard conference program includes two community events:

June 1: The walkable city: why access is the new mobility

Jeff Speck, an international expert and advocate on the importance of making cities walkable, is coming to Concordia University on Thursday, June 1 to speak about "The walkable city: why access is the new mobility".

The city planner and urban designer will take his audience on a visual journey to the accessible, walkable city. After this talk, Speck will be available to sign his latest book, Walkable City, which the Christian Science Monitor calls “timely and important, a delightful, insightful, irreverent work.” It was the bestselling city planning book of 2013-15.

Tickets are $10. Pre-registration is required.

When: Thursday, June 1, 7 p.m. – 9 p.m.

Where: Concordia University, Sir George Williams University Alumni Auditorium, Room 110, Henry F. Hall Building, 1455 De Maisonneuve Blvd. W.

June 2: The Big Idea Challenge

The conference will close with the Big Idea Challenge on Friday, June 2, hosted by Andy Nulman, co-founder of Just for Laughs and CEO of Play the Future.

The Big Idea Challenge is a competition that will provide an opportunity for the Vanguards to leave a lasting impact on Montreal as the conference’s host city. Challenge teams will be made up of Vanguards and representatives of local community organizations who will work over the course of the conference to co-design a solution for a problem faced by the team’s community partner.

Vanguards will spend several hours exploring their challenge site with their community partners as interpreters and guides. The community partners are Bâtiment 7, Brique par Brique, CIVITASx, Montreal Urban Aboriginal Health Centre, NDG Food Depot and Tyndale St-Georges.

Teams will marshal their own expertise, their newly acquired skills and local knowledge to work together to articulate a specific problem to tackle and co-design solutions.

The Vanguards will then present seven- to ten-minute ‘pitches’  to Montreal community members — including city and community representatives — at an event open to the public. A judging panel will select the winning idea by evaluating creativity, feasibility, community impact and overall delivery.

In the months following the conference, Next City will work with Concordia University to implement the winning proposal, supported by a $7,000 grant from Next City.

When: Friday, June 2, 7 p.m. – 9 p.m.

Where: Concordia University, D.B. Clarke Theatre, Henry F. Hall Building, 1455 De Maisonneuve Blvd. W

While the event is free for the public, people are asked to pre-register here.