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<h3 class="wp-block-heading">Putting human wellbeing at the heart of city building</h3>



<p>The way we design buildings, neighbourhoods and spaces has a profound effect on health and happiness. </p>



<p>We draw on research and deep engagement with city-dwellers to make sense of that relationship. And we&#8217;ve got the tools to help you turn evidence into action for happy urban design.</p>


What we do


<h3 class="wp-block-heading">Cities can be designed to make it easy for everyone to live a healthy life.</h3>



<p>We combine robust evidence with global experience to plan and design happier, healthier and more inclusive communities.</p>


service

<p>We offer master planning, development consulting, research, and community design services. Our groundbreaking design guidelines and wellbeing assessment tools ensure that clients can maximize health, happiness, and inclusion in new and existing neighbourhoods. </p>


Cities can be designed to make it easy for everyone to live a healthy life.

<p>We harness evidence, engagement, and design excellence to create communities that maximize human health and wellbeing. </p>


Eastern Passage community design

Granville Island 2040

Olde Town Hills master plan: A new mixed-use community for rural Nova Scotia

Community master plans

<p>We leverage more than 15 years of research on the relationship between community design and human wellbeing. Our metrics, guidelines and tools help clients become leaders in happy community design.</p>


Dementia-inclusive planning and design guidelines

Transit investment choices wellbeing study for TransLink

My home, my neighbourhood wellbeing study

Research & design guidelines

<p>We offer design principles and implementation strategies that maximize the value of your land for the community. From the visioning stage to implementation, we help clients build housing that boosts wellbeing for everyone.</p>


National policy for happier, healthier communities

Community wellbeing assessment tool

Development strategy

Healthy Communities


<h3 class="wp-block-heading">Streets and public spaces can be engines of human connection.</h3>



<p>We study how people feel and behave in public space. We work with our interdisciplinary partners, clients and community members to co-create environments that are safe, joyful, meaningful and inclusive.</p>


Colourful illustration in a pink circle to represent "joyful spaces". Two people sit on a bench, one is giving flowers to the other. In the background, two kids play a building blocks game together

<p>We specialize in inclusive and accessible public space design, placemaking, and policy—including accessibility plans, arts and culture plans, and parks and recreation plans. Our award-winning public life studies help clients create places that are safe, social, and joyful.</p>


Streets and public spaces can inspire human connection.

<p>We combine urban design with deep engagement to transform the public realm and craft placemaking strategies that bring public spaces to life. </p>


Inspired by nature: Creative placemaking master plan

Crosstown Greenway: Youth-led placemaking for safer streets

Power of placemaking research and engagement

Urban design & placemaking

<p>We help clients craft policies and strategies that prioritize wellbeing to create lasting change in their communities.</p>


Fort St. John community arts & culture framework

Regina accessibility plan

Downtown Vancouver laneway transformation strategy

Municipal policy & strategic planning

<p>Our award-winning public life studies reveal how people move, feel and behave in public realms. Our innovative experiments generate unique insights and impactful stories. We use these tools to boost wellbeing, equity and place value.</p>


Pavement-to-plaza wellbeing assessment

Vancouver breweries patio wellbeing study

North Vancouver open streets: Public life study

Public life studies

Joyful Spaces


<h3 class="wp-block-heading">The crises of social isolation and housing affordability can be solved together.</h3>



<p>We use groundbreaking research, design tools, programming, and deep engagement to help city builders nurture social wellbeing in multi-unit housing.</p>


Colourful illustration in a blue circle to represent Happy Homes. The graphic shows a house with multiple rooms, where people do different activities such as growing plants. There is a family with two dads and two kids, and an elderly woman being helped by a younger person.

<p>Our housing consultants work with municipalities, developers, and non-profit housing providers to design housing that boosts social connection, health, and affordability for diverse residents. This work builds on our pioneering Happy Homes research, crafting design guidelines, programming, and policy that support wellbeing and resilience in all types of housing.</p>


The crises of social isolation and housing affordability can be solved together.

<p>We work collaboratively with design teams and community members to foster social wellbeing in multi-unit housing. We help clients overcome design, policy, and social barriers to ensure that happier homes can become a reality.</p>


Tomo on Main

Aging in the right place: Designing housing for wellbeing and older adults

Happy neighbours: Design and programming for social connection in multi-unit buildings

Housing design & programming

<p>Happy Homes is the world’s most comprehensive investigation into the effect of housing design and programming on social relationships. We translate this evidence to help clients design happier, healthier and more resilient multi-family housing.</p>


Happy Homes phase 1

Happy Homes phase 2: Designed to engage

Best practices to support resident wellbeing during redevelopment

Housing research

<p>We work with municipalities, developers, architects, and non-profit housing providers to create new policies and identify the most effective strategies for enhancing social wellbeing in housing.</p>


Building social connections: Housing design policies to support wellbeing for all

Social wellbeing in modular housing

Vancouver seniors housing strategy

Housing policy & workshops

Happy Homes


<h3 class="wp-block-heading">Too many people have been left out of planning decisions for too long.</h3>



<p>We deliver engagement programs that respect, welcome and amplify less-heard voices, and we reward people for their participation.</p>


Colourful illustration in a green circle of two people sitting at a table and chatting together, to represent inclusive engagement, with a striped umbrella overhead. One of the people is using a wheelchar.

<p>Our team specializes in inclusive community engagement that respects, welcomes, and amplifies less-heard voices. We offer a mix of traditional and innovative engagement activities, including community pop-ups, co-creation, open houses, surveys, focus groups, and more.</p>


Too many people have been left out of planning decisions for too long.

<p>We create unique engagement activities that reward people for their participation. We identify less-heard communities and meet them where they’re at. And we share the stories that matter through video, text and other media.</p>


Accessibility legislation engagement for Alberta

Major urban parks audit and assessment

Walkable Rotterdam: Bloemhof

Deep engagement

<p>Through research and deep listening, we help clarify your community’s wellbeing vision. Then we work with your team to craft inclusive, meaningful engagement strategies.</p>


Rapid placemaking to bring back Main Street

Strategy & visioning

<p>We never stop learning about how cities can improve wellbeing and equity. We share insights from our research and experimentation through presentations, workshops and publications and help you apply these tools in your own work.</p>
