Future Cities Canada: The Summit’s monthly program showcases what’s next for resilient cities

(Toronto, ON, May 17, 2021) What’s next for our cities? Future Cities Canada, the national cross-sector initiative designed to accelerate innovation to transform cities, presents its 2021 must-attend program Future Cities Canada: The Summit. For one day each month, The Summit brings together urban thought leaders, private- and public-sector innovators, mayors and community leaders to showcase the what’s-next in creating more resilient communities of the future. Led by Evergreen, and hosted by Future Cities Canada, the free monthly virtual program culminates in a final gathering week of October 12, 2021.

“A year into the pandemic, it is essential that we show up in new, innovative ways to build a shared vision for what recovery and resilience can look like across Canada,” said Geoff Cape, CEO & Founder of Evergreen, one of the Founding Partners of Future Cities Canada. “We have all been made aware of some of the critical issues that many residents face, and it is vital that we take advantage of this moment and drive the necessary change. We need solutions – now is the time to shape what’s next together.”

From May through to October, The Summit provides an important meeting place to spark partnerships and create opportunities from across the country and around the world on topics ranging from Housing & Infrastructure, Placemaking and Placekeeping, Data & Technology, Climate Change Adaptation, Education and the Future of Work. The monthly Summit is scheduled for May 19, June 23, July 21, August 18, September 22, 2021, followed by the final gathering in October.

For more details and to register, visit www.thesummit.futurecitiescanada.ca

Highlights of The Summit:

Wednesday, May 19, 2021

• Housing Supply Challenge Second Round Pre-Launch with CMHC’s new President & CEO Romy Bowers, VP of Innovation Steffan Jones and Senior Manager Brigit Knecht, looking at the Housing Supply Challenge and its second round, Getting Started: Pre-development Processes

• Canada in 2050: Infrastructure Planning for a Green & Inclusive Future, a conversation with Andy Fillmore, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Infrastructure and Communities, Halifax, Mayor Lisa Helps, City of Victoria, Matti Siemiatycki, Professor of Geography and Planning, Interim Director of the School of Cities, and Lois Lindsay, Executive Director, Strategic Initiatives, Evergreen, exploring the implication of the recently announced National Infrastructure Assessment, a once-in-a-generation undertaking that aims to identify Canada’s evolving infrastructure needs and priorities.

Wednesday, June 23, 2021

• The first of the TD Future Cities Speaker Series: Transforming Spaces into Inclusive Places, a panel discussion focusing on issues stemming from inequality in arts and how we design and build our cities and public spaces.

• (Re)claiming Our Common Grounds: Indigenous Placekeeping in Public Spaces with Tanya Chung-Tiam-Fook, author of the upcoming Civic-Indigenous Placekeeping & Partnership Building Toolkit, who is bringing together civic and Indigenous practitioners to discuss their experience and efforts to do parks planning differently, and to recognize the need for city builders to work in step with Indigenous partners and cultural protocols.

Wednesday, July 21, 2021

• Bridging the Digital Divide: Addressing Connectivity gaps in Toronto and Montreal, looks at the gap that exists between people who have affordable internet access and the skills to use connected devices, and those who do not, the threat it presents to inclusive citybuilding, and the providers stepping up to fill this gap.

• Connecting Canada: Missing Pieces in Broadband Equity, a cross-sectoral panel exploring how awareness and capacity can be built around launching and financing broadband networks in rural areas. What barriers do smaller communities face in contrast to urban centres and established providers?

October 2021 – Future Cities Canada: The Summit

• The final Summit in October features thought-provoking keynotes, conversations, workshops, webinars and creative networking opportunities that focus on connectedness, innovation and sustainability.

More sessions and speakers to be announced shortly.

Led by Evergreen, this is the fourth national gathering by Future Cities Canada, a collaborative platform founded in 2018 by Evergreen, McConnell Foundation, TD Bank Group, Maison de l’innovation sociale and Community Foundations of Canada.

To be the first to learn about new speakers and sessions, sign up for the Future Cities Canada newsletter and join the conversation at @FutureCitiesCA

Future Cities Canada: The Summit

Lead Funder: Infrastructure Canada

Lead Sponsors: TD Bank Group, McConnell Foundation, Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation

Lead Media Partner: The Globe and Mail

Convened by: Evergreen

Media contact:

Renee Tratch, Sr. Manager, Public Relations & Content, Evergreen

416-596-1495 Ext. 273, rtratch@evergreen.ca

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Future Cities Canada is a national cross-sector initiative with the mission to accelerate innovation to transform cities for the benefit of all. Drawing on the expertise of its founding organizations – The McConnell Foundation, TD Bank Group, Evergreen, Maison de l’innovation sociale and Community Foundations of Canada – and together with a diverse and growing network of partners, Future Cities Canada collectively strives to address the challenges facing cities and city-dwellers to reimagine cities that are equitable, regenerative and prosperous. www.futurecitiescanada.ca

Evergreen is dedicated to making cities more livable, green and prosperous. For 30 years, we’ve been facilitating change in communities through connection, innovation and sustainable actions. We work with community builders across sectors to solve some of the most pressing issues cities face: climate change, housing affordability, and access to nature and public spaces. Through our award-winning programs and collaborative initiatives across the country and at Evergreen Brick Works, our headquarters in Toronto, and through national partnerships with Future Cities Canada, we are building resilience in schools, public spaces, housing and communities as a whole.

www.evergreen.ca