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<h3>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>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 combine robust evidence with global experience to plan and design happier, healthier and more inclusive communities.</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

Community wellbeing assessment tool

Community master plans

<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

Richmond permanent patio program development

National policy for happier, healthier communities

Urban policy & strategic planning

<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>


Pavement-to-plaza wellbeing assessment

Shore to core

Happy City Denver experiments

Research & experiments

Healthy Communities


<h3>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 work with communities and clients to create places that are safe, social, meaningful and inclusive. We study how people feel and behave in public space. And we transform streets into places where people and businesses thrive.</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

Downtown Vancouver laneway transformation strategy

Crosstown Greenway: Youth-led placemaking for safer streets

Urban design & placemaking

<p>We help cities and communities transform streets into healthy and accessible places for people. We engage neighbours, local businesses and stakeholders to reshape their streets for a sustainable future.</p>


Streets for people in 2020

Uptown active transportation and public realm improvements

Rapid placemaking to bring back Main Street

Healthy streets design

<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>


Designing for difference: Vancouver public plazas analysis

Vancouver breweries patio wellbeing study

Public life studies

Joyful Spaces


<h3>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>We use groundbreaking research, design tools, programming, and deep engagement to help city builders nurture social wellbeing in multi-unit 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>


Social wellbeing in modular housing

Tomo on Main

Ecopolitan: Redesigned for happiness

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

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

Housing research

<p>Through our keynotes and workshops, we guide people and organizations in applying the Happy Homes approach and centering wellbeing in all housing projects.</p>


Wellbeing principles for British Land

Architecture helped me heal. So I helped create a new guide to fight loneliness

Love night at the Guggenheim

Education

Happy Homes


<h3>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>We deliver engagement programs that respect, welcome and amplify less-heard voices, and we reward people for their participation.</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>


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>
