22 Oct 8 80 Cities – Building Spaces for 8 Year Olds and 80 Year Olds

This post was originally published in the HC Link’s Blog.

8 80 Cities will be part of HC Link 2016, and we’re planning to tell you some stories. These are stories about how we’ve inspired leaders in communities of all shapes and sizes to be healthier and happier places. AND we’re giving two storytelling presentations so you can double your chances to be inspired!

The Doable Neighbourhood Project

The Doable Neighbourhood Project: Building healthier Ontario communities by Ryan O’Connor will tell stories about how pinpricks of animation in public space have started conversations about how to improve the public realm and offer greater opportunities for active transportation in four communities in Ontario. And you might have heard it already but a waterslide was one of them!

Open Streets Project

Can Streets Make Us Healthy? Open Streets Can! by Alyssa Bird will give you an overview of what Open Streets are and how communities in Ontario are using these programs to have conversations about improvements to active transportation infrastructure, to get neighbours to come out and meet one another, as well as to get people out and active on a day when they might be at home sitting in front of a screen or monitor. We also just launched a new toolkit if you’re so inspired that you want to plan an open streets program in your community!

We’re looking forward to sharing these stories with you. We hope you’re looking forward to hearing them too. Because in the end, we’re all going to HC Link this year to find innovative actions to create change in the places where we live, work, and play.

Interested in these stories or other HC Link presentations? There is still time to register for Linking for Healthy Communities: Action for Change. Registration closes November 2nd – check out the conference page for more info!