Boulevard in a Box is a low effort way for people to engage with their community and utilize boulevard space. This project provides recipe cards that give detailed instructions and ingredients lists for people to construct different types of boulevards in the spaces near them. They also provide suggestions for local stores to purchase ingredients, in order to support local businesses!

The City of Vancouver, alongside CityStudio, are searching for innovative ways to explore boulevard placemaking, and how to encourage informal community-led public space projects in small spaces. Our project seeks to address this question and contribute to Vancouver’s broader strategy of sustainability and community-centred growth.

Boulevards are often underutilized spaces, and through this project we consider different ways that individuals and families can get involved in their communities, working alongside their neighbours to take ownership of public space. It also addresses different accessibility needs, providing a broad range of different “recipes,” including food gardens, which help to promote free public food accessibility, low-maintenance gardens that add to a street without requiring a big commitment, micro-murals and shared activity zones, and more!

In order to test the potential popularity of this project in Vancouver City, we conducted a survey distributed to 33 participants within the city. The results indicated that 100% of respondents agree that street gardens and public spaces contribute to the overall well-being of the city. Of the respondents, the majority expressed some likelihood of creating their own boulevard, and zero respondents indicated ‘very unlikely’. 60% showed more interest in creating a garden boulevard, while 40% expressed interest in a third-space boulevard.

This data suggests that residents in Vancouver have a desire to be involved in the public spaces around them and help to create something, in an accessible and low-effort way, which this project addresses.