Main Street Design Challenge Playbook

Introduction

The Canadian Urban Institute (CUI) and the Royal Architectural Institute (RAIC) are proud to present the Main Street Design Playbook, a collection of submissions to the Main Street Design Challenge. The Main Street Design Challenge is part of CUI’s Bring Back Main Street project, a national research and action campaign to help Canada’s Main Streets recover and emerge from the crisis more resilient than ever.

Canada’s main streets are iconic symbols of urban life and belonging — where we go to shop and do business, eat, play and participate in civic life. But COVID-19 is having an unprecedented impact on our main streets. Small businesses are closing, cultural and civic venues are limited in their ability to operate, and the joyous and spontaneous interactions of street life are hampered by the realities of physical distancing.

The Main Street Design Challenge reflects the importance of design in revitalizing our streets, and this Playbook showcases a range of creative and practical interventions to help us build back better than ever. The designs come from architects and students, planners and placemakers, community animators and artists. They are free to use, and we’ve included contact information for the designers – we encourage you to work with them directly. Further resources are also included at the end of the book.

The Process

CUI and RAIC published a design brief for the Challenge in June 2020 which set out its purpose, goals, and a number of criteria including:

creating or improving at least one factor influencing Main Street design;
considering COVID-19 and future pandemics in the creation of the concept; demonstrating sustainability and resiliency;
showing collaboration with at least one community stakeholder;
ensuring designs were underpinned by values of equity, diversity, accessibility, environmental responsibility and integrity;
creating or improving at least one factor influencing Main Street design;
considering COVID-19 and future pandemics in the creation of the concept;
demonstrating sustainability and resiliency; and
showing collaboration with at least one community stakeholder.

Those submitting designs were also asked to provide information on implementation and scalability, to show how their design respected the cultural and built heritage of the street. Three “cycles” of the Challenge were held, with deadlines on July 17, August 14, and September 18, 2020. All submissions that fit the criteria have been included in the Playbook. The goal was to encourage as wide a spectrum of solutions as possible.

The Challenge was open to all residents of Canada interested in placemaking and design, including both teams and individuals, and we were pleased to see submissions from creators with a wide range of backgrounds and perspectives from across the country.

How to Use This Playbook

This playbook is intended for the use of communities, municipalities, BIAs1, designers and placemakers – in short, anyone who is interested in using design as a tool to address main street revitalization in the current and post-COVID era.

We were interested in promoting work that could be used, and thus every applicant was asked to address implementation in their submission. (Accompanying each design in the Playbook, you’ll find a link to that information.) The design submissions range widely, however, from the highly prescriptive to the more conceptual. In some cases, they serve as blueprints; in other cases, they provide inspiration, with key details to be locally crafted. In all cases, we recommend you partner with others in your neighbourhood or community to adapt them to your particular circumstances. These designs are free for your use, but we encourage you to reach out directly to the creators, and to credit them in your work. Contact information is available in each submission.

If you do use or adapt one of the designs in the Playbook, we want to hear from you. Please send pictures and stories to covidresponse@canurb.org. We’ll highlight them in our communications so others across the country can learn from your experience.

The Designs

A total of 47 design solutions were submitted to the Main Street Design Challenge by individuals and groups from across Canada. They are creative and practical interventions, from masterplans to art installations to modular street furniture, that can be implemented during and after the COVID-19 pandemic to support recovery of Canada’s main streets.

Featured

COVID≠ ISLAND

Decentralizing Main Street

Reopening Retail: Architectural Strategies for Adapting Retail Environments to Physical Distancing Protocols

AGILESTREET

Restoring the Void

Play with Crates

QR Code Comeback

Warm Hands, Warm Hearts

View All Designs

Supporting Partners

Many thanks to all who participated, and especially to our supporting partners: the Canadian Institute of Planners, Canadian Society of Landscape Architects, Council for Canadian Urbanism, ICOMOS Canada, National Trust for Canada, OCAD University, Rues Principales, STEPS Initiative, and Trinity Centres Foundation.