Ontario Construction News staff writer
The City Guelph is one of four Canadian municipalities to visit Copenhagan, Germany in September to research urban public spaces, an initiative funded by the Canadian Institutes of Health Research.
“People in our community regularly point to European transportation models when telling us what they want to see in Guelph,” said Jennifer Juste, manager of transportation planning for the City of Guelph. “We know Copenhagen, Denmark is doing amazing things and is a leader in designing for active transportation and public space.
“I’m excited to learn from experts and figure out how we can use their ideas and best practices to make it easier for people to get around Guelph.”
The workshop featured presentations from local city officials, planners and architects as well as CIHR and 8 80 Cities facilitators. City tours throughout the week will give the visiting officials the opportunity to see different elements of Copenhagen’s sustainable city initiatives firsthand. Dr. Linda Rothman, assistant professor at the Toronto Metropolitan University is a researcher on the CapaCITY/É research team investigating how to bring sustainable transportation to life in Guelph and other cities.
“It’s important not only to bring back European ideas and messages, but also to ensure these learnings work in a Canadian environment,” she said. “Evaluation of the action plan in Guelph will be done to support future initiatives of promoting safe, sustainable and equitable active transportation in our city.”
Guelph Mayor Cam Guthie called the trip an opportunity to learn and collaborate at an international level to “bring world-class knowledge back to guide our development of safe, equitable, inclusive streets and land use planning for people in Guelph today and into our future.”