17 Jul Copenhagen, Here We Come (again)!

8 80 Cities is excited to announce that teams from MONTREAL, TORONTO, BURNABY, and SAINT JOHN have been selected as the winners of a National Healthy Cities Grant competition focused on implementing healthy urban policy. Teams will join us for an immersive workshop in Copenhagen in September 2024. 

In the Fall of 2023, the Canadian Institutes for Health Research (CIHR) launched a national grant competition to fund participation by four Canadian city teams comprised of health researchers and city leaders to attend a five-day immersive workshop hosted by 8 80 Cities in Copenhagen.  

The funding initiative aims to bring together researchers and city leaders to accelerate the implementation of healthy urban policy that supports a healthier population. The theme of the 2024 Healthy Cities workshop is active transportation and public space, an area where Copenhagen has excelled and been a world leader.  

8 80 Cities is thrilled to bring another cohort of leaders and teams to immerse themselves in this rich learning environment and meet and learn directly from the leaders who have driven this transformational change.  

Four grants have been awarded to four interdisciplinary teams that bring together researchers and city leaders as part of the Healthy Cities Research Initiative (HCRI).  

8 80 Cities is thrilled to collaborate with these teams and host them in Copenhagen this September to support knowledge exchange and action planning. 

The winning teams and projects selected are: 

Montreal, Quebec/Université de Montréal 

Designing and evaluating a major cycling and walking network expansion for health and equity  

This project aims to learn from Copenhagen’s practices, identify elements that encourage active transportation uptake, and identify indicators to measure the impact of Réseau Express Vélo (REV) and Pedestrian and Shared Streets (PSS) on health, mobility, and equity. 

Toronto, Ontario/ University of Guelph 

plazaPOPS: Creating an equitable and healthy public realm in Toronto 

This project aims to catalyze policy change and robust collaboration between key city departments, resulting in an action plan for translating findings from Copenhagen to Toronto and a policy roadmap for converting places for cars to places for people, particularly in Toronto’s inner suburbs.  

Burnaby, British Columbia/Simon Fraser University 

Sparking Interjurisdictional Action  

This project aims to build inter-jurisdictional synergies to accelerate the creation of high-quality active transportation (AT) infrastructure in Metro Vancouver.  

Saint John, New Brunswick/University of New Brunswick 

Quantifying benefits of local active transportation investments: a collaborative health and engineering approach to mobilize on healthy urban policy 

This project aims to build on Saint John’s current active transportation solutions and uptown urban core enhancements by positioning the city to quantify and articulate the health and well-being benefits of these improvements. 

Do you want to join us on our next immersive workshop in Spring 2025 (which will be held in Helsinki)? Form a team and apply here! Applications close August 7, 2024.