Our team’s goal is to analyze various trends and conduct in-depth market research to answer the question “How can the City of Vancouver engage with millennials most effectively in the City-wide planning process”. The City of Vancouver is developing a City-wide Plan for making the city more livable for its citizens over the next 30 years.Through our research we found that the city must increase its use of social media to reach millennials, as we found that it would be more effective for the city to engage with millennials by going to where they congregate rather than expecting them to make the effort to reach out to the city.

As a first step in the planning process, the City needs to ‘listen’ to what people who live, work and play in the City would like from the plan, regarding content and direction. One of the most important population segments that the City needs to engage with are Millennials, those between the age of 19 and 34 who are set to become the next homeowners, family heads, and community and business leaders.  The research found that millennials were excited about the idea of a 30-year plan, but were skeptical about the City’s ability to successfully implement ideas. The most significant barriers for millennials engaging with the CoV included: lack of time, low-levels of trust towards the CoV, feeling that opinions would not be impactful, and methods being used by the CoV to engage with millennials.

Process

Secondary research was first conducted to investigate the demographic, psychographic and behavioural characteristics of millennials that live, work, and play in Vancouver. Next, the team conducted both qualitative research (focus groups and in-depth interviews) and quantitative research (online survey of millennials) to gather specific information about ways in which the City of Vancouver can best engage with millennials in its planning process.