HUBBUB ★ WINNER – THIRD PLACE

Our project, Pop-IN, is a site assessment tool designed for planners to gather data on whether themes of inclusion, diversity, and decolonization are apparent within the built and social environments of Viva Vancouver’s Pavement-to-Plaza program. Viva Vancouver drew inspiration from Richard Florida’s “creative class” theory which encourages marketing cities to young affluent professionals. This strategy has in turn produced many “instagram-able” environments, many of which exclude people in their design such as those who are unhoused. The creation of this tool aims to achieve inclusivity by incorporating into the Viva Vancouver framework a public space planning and design approach that pays attention to the specific and multi-layered identities and experiences of the city’s diverse inhabitants. The tool itself is a questionnaire that first asks the planner questions of positionality as well as a few general site assessment observations, then challenges them to answer questions structured around themes of inclusion, diversity and decolonization. Our goal is to look past surface level design and highlight who is and who is not acknowledged in the space and how they are or are not accommodated by the space’s design. This assessment offers a tangible process by which Viva Vancouver can go about achieving one of their 6 program goals of fostering a culture shift toward more equitable and inclusive public space. As an addition to Viva’s current data collection process, this assessment helps city officials incorporate more inclusion and diversity training, more readily and consistently identify gaps across the city’s pop-up spaces, and tailor interventions to those spaces to create more welcoming and accessible pop-ups for those who are marginalized.