Grant: Planning and Dissemination Grant - Institute Community Support

The City of London (the City) is embarking on an ambitious initiative to create a new urban policy document, the Downtown Master Plan (DMP). The DMP will aim to harness London's strengths, address current challenges, and envision a future for London's downtown (Downtown) with urban functionality and economic vitality. It will also prioritize Londoner's health and well-being through sustainable and equity-driven policies. The challenge is that Downtown is in a pivotal moment for its revitalization efforts and to meet the City's vision in The London Plan to create a safe and inclusive downtown for London by promoting health and wellness principles in urban planning. The revitalization plan for Downtown aligns perfectly with the Planning Grant for Implementing Healthy Urban Policy theme to create healthy and active public spaces for all seasons, plan an equitable city for all ages, and develop action plans and interventions. This proposal aims to work collaboratively with the London Team's researcher, Dr. Sekercioglu, to learn best practices with an equity lens and to support the development and implementation of London's DMP. The London Team will organize comprehensive knowledge mobilization activities after attending the five-day workshop organized by 880 Cities in Helsinki. The panel discussion and breakout sessions with several key allies and partners will be followed by robust public consultation sessions to educate and receive feedback on incorporating planning strategies to create a Downtown that supports physical activity, reduces pollution, and improves the overall health and wellbeing of Londoners. The knowledge gained from the workshop and our knowledge mobilization events will support collaboration between city leaders and researchers to co-develop and evaluate interventions to provide active solutions for London. Our findings are also likely to be reviewed and adopted by other municipalities in Canada.