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Welcome innovators!It is with great pleasure that I welcome you, on behalf of the Municipal Innovators Community (MiC) Steering Committee, to the 4th annual MiC conference.

Municipalities deliver the services that have defined civilization for thousands of years – roads, sewers, public lands management. And yet they are also at the forefront of public innovation, engaging residents and partners to design, deliver and improve services that our communities count on every day. One of my favourite things about working in municipal government is the willingness of municipal employees to share their ideas, challenges and successes with each other. That is the reason we started MiC – to give municipal employees across Canada a place to connect and learn from each other, online and in person at an annual conference.

The program that our host city Calgary has put together for MiC2018 Re:Designing Government showcases the incredible depth and breadth of the innovation happening at the municipal level – from civic labs to civic engagement, reimagined public spaces and infrastructure, private partnerships and creative collaborations. Presenters from all over Canada, and as far afield as San Francisco, have been brought together to share their pilots, projects and programs to drive innovation in their municipalities.

I would like to challenge each of you to take advantage of the many opportunities our hosts have created to network with your fellow innovators – to share your stories, your ideas and your expertise. Make connections, look for opportunities to collaborate and keep the conversations going after the conference is over, through local networks and our members forums on municipalinnovators.ca.

Kudos to conference chair Lisa Sierra, and conference lead Christina Churchill, and to the many, many City of Calgary employees and volunteers who have worked tirelessly to make this conference happen. Thanks to the support of the sponsors, and to all the presenters who made it possible. And thank you for joining us.

Keep making change happen.

Dana Clarke | MiC Founder & Steering Committee Chair

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Conference Map Schedule

re:think: Applying ideas and insights from outside of government and learned best practices to provide thought leadership in policy processes and strategic planning.

re:build: Using resources, technology and partnerships in novel and unexpected ways to innovate infrastructure.

re:invent: Enabling risk, failure and seeking constructive feedback through demonstrated applications of experimentation in action.

re:work: Developing and stewarding cultures that support innovation and consider diversity, inclusion and global perspectives, and enable sustainable organizations that evolve with emerging needs.

Conference Tracks

Wednesday Sept. 19th re:think re:build re:invent re:work

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Keynote: Bold Experimentation in Complex SystemsPatrick Finn

Lunch Keynote Panel: Innovating Infrastructure in Mid-Size CitiesEvergreen

The Power of Partnerships

Recover: A Social Innovation Approach to Improve Urban Wellness

How to Re-Invent your Customer Experience: A Windsor and Calgary Case Study

Are you Lab Curious? A Public Sector Lab Fireside Chat

Innovation Showcase Gallery

Mix and Mingle 4:30 -6:00 Happy Hour at Raw Bar, Hotel Arts

Tour the Exuberant Expressions of Human Ingenuity at Beakerhead 7:00 - 8:30 (registration required)

Get Active! Nordic Pole Walking

Re-Imagining afterschool spaces for children: a tale of two cities

Risk-taking, Experimentation andInnovation in procurement. (Yes really!) Introduction to the Municipal Innovation Exchange.

Solving for Energy, Innovation, and Smart Growth in your Community

Creative Seed Sessions – Residents creating experiments in their neighbourhood

Re-Working Neighbourhoods the ‘Abundant Community’ Way

If We Build, Will They Come?Measuring Placemaking using Gehl Institute Metrics

Creating Coventry: A community driven plan to improve and connect a neighbourhood’s parks

How Are We Bettering our Bureaucracies Through Policy, Strategic Planning, and in Other Ways?

Practical Methods to Effect Real Change: Design thinking for goverment

Breakfast Mingle Welcome Address by Jeff Fielding

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Schedule KeynotesWednesday, Sept. 19

Re:Invent – Bold Experimentation in Complex Systems | 8:45 a.m. | Spectrum 4/5Taking a risk in large complex systems like the government requires the ability to think creatively, communicate openly and act boldly. Dr. Patrick Finn is an Associate Professor in the School of Creative and Performing Arts at the University of Calgary. His primary interest is in performance with an emphasis on technology. He researches and teaches on creativity, performance and related areas and has lectured and led workshops throughout the globe. At one time or another, he has been a professional writer, programmer, designer, musician and academic.

Re:Build – Innovating Infrastructure in Mid-Size Cities | 12:30 p.m. | Spectrum 4/5Canada’s mid-sized cities are leaders in sustainable and inclusive city-building initiatives that show true innovation in approaches to conceptualizing and building infrastructure. Join us for a conversation led by Evergreen and visionary mid-size cities including St. Albert, Alberta, and Innisfil, Ontario, on how these cities are using an innovative approach to infrastructure to shape their cities for the better.

Thursday, Sept. 20

Re:Work – Why Indigenous Leadership Matters | 8:30 a.m. | Spectrum 4/5Gabrielle Scrimshaw is an indigenous professional with a passion for creating social impact. She has an MBA from Stanford and is a Gleitsman Fellow at the Center for Public Leadership at Harvard University. Gabrielle is a regular contributor for Canada’s largest national media outlets and has been profiled by the New York Times, Forbes, Globe & Mail, among others.

Downstage Theatre Presents… | 12 noon | Spectrum 4/5Bottle Picker Monologues: This show aims to use theatre to increase empathy and reduce stigma towards bottle pickers. This project is created, designed and performed by Calgarians with current and past experience with bottle picking, with mentorship from professional artists.

The Temporary: This show tells the fascinating story of how the small prairie city of Brooks transformed into one of the most diverse places in the country. It’s a live documentary play crafted from the words of people who were born there, who’ve become permanent residents, who’ve arrived as part of a temporary workforce and many who are stuck somewhere in between.

Re:Think – What Makes a Resilient City? | 3 p.m. | Spectrum 4/5Cities face a growing range of adversities and challenges in the 21st Century. Across the globe, municipalities of all sizes are grappling with challenges like climate change, population growth, inadequate infrastructure, and cyber-attacks. Resilience is what helps cities adapt and transform in the face of these challenges, helping them to prepare for both the expected and the unexpected. Learn from the three of the Canadian cities (Vancouver, Calgary, and Toronto) participating in the Rockefeller Foundation’s 100 Resilient Cities global network and gain tangible insights into what makes a great, resilient city.

Thursday Sept. 20th re:think re:build re:invent re:work

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Keynote: Why Indigenous Leadership MattersGabrielle Scrimshaw

Lunch Keynote: Downstage Theatre Presents…‘Bottle Picker Monologues’ and ‘The Temporary’

Building a Habit of Thinking in Futures: Strategic foresight in the municipal context

Designing Back to Front: Walking in their shoes

Keynote: What Makes a Resilient City?100 Resilient Cities - Team Canada Panel

Innovation Showcase Gallery

Get Active! Nordic Pole Walking

When is a Tree More Than a Tree?

Re-Invent Human Potential

Bringing Street Safety to the Next Frontier of Smart Cities

Vaughan Inventors: A staff engagement initiative

Strength over Stigma: A positive psychology model for mental health at the Calgary Fire Department

Risk-Based Decision Making for New and Emerging Risks

The Mentors Live: How to implement an innovation community of practice Sponsored by OMAA

Keeping Energies High During Project Lows

Breakfast Mingle Opening Remarks by Gianna Manes

Closing Remarks Municipal Innovators Community

One of a Kind After Party with Canada’s Most Innovatey People 4:30 - 8:30 at Decidedly Jazz Danceworks

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Breakout Sessions & WorkshopsWednesday, Sept. 19

Power of Partnerships | 10 a.m. | Spectrum 2Calgary’s Office of Partnerships and Edmonton’s Partnership Centre of Excellence will present highlights and lessons learned during the development of the first two municipal partnership offices in Western Canada, including Council approval of a partnership policy and the creation of leading practices corporate-wide; and their perspectives on the current and future roles and relationships of municipal partnerships in delivering programs, services and strategies.

Re:Imagining Afterschool Spaces for Surrey’s Children – A tale of two cities | 10 a.m. | Spectrum 1As municipal leaders, we have transformed traditional spaces to keep our children active and engaged outside of school hours. Our willingness to test new ideas and successfully generate buy-in has positioned us as leaders in the field: successfully championing innovation and driving sustainability. This session describes how.

Creating Coventry – a community driven plan to improve and connect a neighbourhood’s park | 10 a.m. | Spectrum 3Come learn about one community’s journey to create a masterplan for their parks and green spaces and how it turned into a larger community building initiative than expected. Have a chance to share your wisdom in an interactive activity about the next phase of Creating Coventry.

Creative Seed Sessions- Residents Creating Experiments in their Neighbourhood | 10 a.m. | Raw BarCalgary Neighborhoods has developed a new model for co-creating change with a community. Join us for an interactive hands on session that will let you explore and understand the process yourself. Move from co-generating creative ideas to designing rapid experiments. Use this process to come up with new initiatives and creative ideas to address some of those desires from the neighborhood and municipality.

Are you Lab Curious? A public sector fireside chat | 11 a.m. | Raw Bar Hosted by Civic Innovation YYC. Join us for a frank and engaging discussion about the challenges and adventures of launching a public sector lab. Learn about our missteps and successes over the last three years, as well as from our colleagues in the field. Discuss the different parts of the “innovation space” and consider how your organizations could (or shouldn’t) plant the seeds of a next generation of public service.

Risk-taking, Experimentation and Innovation in Procurement (Yes, really) – Introduction to the Municipal Innovation Exchange | 11 a.m. | Spectrum 2The Municipal Innovation Exchange is designing novel pathways for cities to leverage emerging technology and service models to tackle their most important challenges. This session will share early prototypes of the framework and invite participants to actively explore how it can best deliver value to civic innovators and their stakeholders.

How are we bettering our bureaucracies through policy, strategic planning, and in other ways? | 11 a.m. | Spectrum 1What's the single greatest challenge you've overcome in working with policy processes and/or strategic planning? Share your insights, learn from others or soak up knowledge with other govies who are also trying to sort it out for themselves. No magic, just the messiness and triumphs of public service laid bare.

Reworking neighbourhoods the ‘Abundant Community’ way | 11 a.m. | Spectrum 3Across the world, cities and communities are recognizing the importance and need for caring and connected neighbourhood life. The Abundant Community Initiative, co-developed by the City of Edmonton and invested citizens like Howard, has developed a comprehensive framework for supporting neighbourhood engagement that starts at the block level. Calgary and its citizens are now innovating in this direction and utilizing the ACI framework.

Innovation Showcase Gallery | 1:30 p.m. | All Rooms y Three Conversations, One Calgary: The City’s Strategic Plan

for 2019-2022 y Calgary Rights of Way Management System and the future

of our Municipal Roadways y Calgary’s Cultural Landscapes: Managing Calgary’s Parks

from a Cultural Perspective y Crowdsourcing your Next Decision: Augment Your

Data and Resources y Pursuit of Appiness, Using Cloud Based Technology for

Integrated Ecosystem Management y Smart City experiments using Fibre Optics to sense

the environment y What would it take to master your disaster? y Choose Your Own Adventure: Tools for promoting positive

change in the workplace y Benchmarking City Services: Finding the courage to improve

RECOVER - A Social Innovation Approach to Improve Urban Wellness | 2:30 p.m. | Spectrum 3When safe injection sites became the needle that broke the neighbourhoods’ back, Recover: Urban Wellness Plan was born. Using a Social Innovation approach, we tested small solutions to improve wellbeing in Edmonton’s central neighbourhoods. Participants will walk through the prototyping process and walk away with concrete tools to cultivate innovative solutions.

Solving for energy, innovation and smart growth in your community | 2:30 p.m. | Raw BarIn Alberta, and around the world, municipalities are taking charge of their growth – enabling new technologies such as 5G, ride-sharing and electrification of transportation. At the same time, citizen preferences are evolving and there’s an increasing focus on renewable energy sources. Join thought leaders for coffee and conversation about the opportunities and challenges that utilities and municipalities face, and learn from others about the innovative, customer-focused and environmentally-responsible solutions that are being implemented.

Practical Methods to Effect Real Change – Design Thinking for Government | 2:30 p.m. | Spectrum 1/2Join us for a Design Thinking supersession moderated by Sharon McIntyre to hear about three inspiring projects that leveraged design thinking and creative problem solving to effect real change. Travel from the service design world of the Calgary Public Library, to the shadowy (not-so-) secret problem-solving Tiger Team at the heart of the City of Calgary, to an innovation project with electrical team of the Central Africa country of Cameroon. Hear an overview of each topic then choose the one that fascinates you most and take a deeper dive with a smaller group through discussion and activities.

If We Build It, Will They Come? Measuring placemaking using Gehl Institute Metrics | 2:30 p.m. | OffsiteThis session will show you how the City of Calgary is using Gehl metrics to assess how people use public spaces. Participants will venture into the field to use the metrics and learn how small experiments can reduce the risk (or reluctance?) around embedding whimsy and fun into public infrastructure.

How to Re:Invent your Customer Experience – A Windsor and Calgary Case Study | 3:30 p.m. | Spectrum 4/5Residents often struggle navigating the many legislative requirements needed to start a business, acquire a building permit or submit a development application. The City of Windsor and the City of Calgary will showcase how new online research, support and application tools have helped business customers & residents along their journey.

Thursday, Sept. 20

Building a Habit of Thinking in Futures: Strategic Foresight in the Municipal Context | 9:30 a.m. | Raw BarTo thrive in a volatile and uncertain world we need to be comfortable thinking about futures (plural). Join two dynamic public servants as they share their diverse perspectives on the application of strategic foresight tools in a municipal context. Learn why it was a fit for their projects, what worked and didn’t, and how that work is living on. Be ready for an energizing mix of hands on learning and powerful discussion.

When is a tree more than a tree? | 9:30 a.m. | Spectrum 1Spend some time thinking about trees and other natural assets differently. There are many resilience benefits to manage, conserve, integrate and enhance critical natural areas, and the hydrologic and ecosystem functions they provide. These include the reduced impact and cost of damage from extreme weather events, ecosystem services, and other environmental, social and economic benefits. Come hear what we are learning at The City of Calgary to: understand the value or return-on-investment of natural assets; and, to manage them differently as part of our asset management framework.

The Mentors Live: How to Implement an Innovation Community of Practice | 9:30 a.m. | Spectrum 2Sponsored by OMAAThis engaging and interactive panel discussion with representation from City of Barrie, The Regional Municipality of York, City of Mississauga, and City of Burlington will provide some key learnings and “how to’s” to help you identify and prepare in developing your very own Community of Practice groups.

Vaughan Inventors – A staff engagement initiative | 9:30 a.m. | Spectrum 3At the City of Vaughan, we created the Vaughan Inventors Program for staff to pitch their improvement ideas in front of a panel of their peers. This program began with one department and challenged team members to come out of their shell. Overwhelming interest and participation in the program resulted in the implementation of several ideas and concepts. Due to its success, the program is now on its third edition and has expanded corporate wide. We are proud of the work done by all our team and are very excited to present our insight on this project in hopes it can spread across the country.

Re-Invent Human Potential | 10:30 a.m. | Spectrum 1This session focuses on building organisations grounded in Compassion, Empathy, Wellness and Oneness to tap into and enhance human peak potential. As we are busy managing resources & projects, we need to take time to Empower, Innovate and Transform the Source – Human Potential.

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Thursday, Sept. 20

Strength over Stigma: A positive psychology model for mental health at the Calgary Fire Department | 10:30 a.m. | Spectrum 3Psychological Resilience Project, a 3-year pilot built from a Positive Psychology model, tests a new approach to support Calgary Fire’s first responders. Aiming to destigmatize mental health supports and enhance outcomes, the project uses validated psychological instruments designed from a strengths-based resiliency approach, moving away from a traditional pathology focus.

Innovation Showcase Gallery | 1 p.m. | All Rooms y Applying the Resilience Lens to City Decision Making y Sunny side up! The City of Calgary’s commitment to sharing

and using solar energy y CITYzen Connect: a platform that re-constructs,

citizen2citizen, citizen2city y Sustainable Cities of Tomorrow y Where the Wild Things Are: Harnessing the power of

citizen scientists y Changing the Way Calgary Plays y Experimentation in Action at Calgary Transit – Integrated

data for condition based decision making y Municipal Innovation Pilot Project: Building our

solutions together y Citizen Entrepreneurship: Volunteers, change-makers, and

citizen-doers reveal a path for municipal transformation

Designing from Back to Front – Walking in their shoes | 2 p.m. | Raw Bar“Walking in their shoes” will be a journey along the design process of affordable housing through multiple perspectives including city administration and those who will call the development home. The case: lack of affordable housing. Where do we start and what do we consider, keeping in mind the end vision?

Bringing Street Safety to the Next Frontier of Smart Cities | 2 p.m. | Spectrum 3Every major municipality around the world is working to reduce road-based fatalities and by using Data Science and Complex Machine Learning, not only can AI aid cities in their life-saving Vision Zero commitment but can be a resource in future planning beyond safety activities to include the estimate of other defined traffic volume measure, future work related traffic congestion and citywide vehicle usage. Learn how AI can bring street safety to the next frontier of Smart Cities.

Keeping Energies High During Project Lows | 2 p.m. | Spectrum 2Bringing a social innovation approach to wicked problems is hard work. We’re discovering that keeping the energy high and positive throughout the process is a key to successfully leading challenging municipal-level innovation initiatives

Risk Based Decision Making for New and Emerging Risks | 2 p.m. | Spectrum 1How do we manage risks in a volatile, uncertain world? Using old frames for risk based decision making can only get us so far. This workshop will us help to re-evaluate, reconsider, and re-invent risk strategies designed to respond to the ever changing, rapidly evolving environment in which we operate.

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RECOVER - A Social Innovation Approach to Improve Urban WellnessKeren Tang and Amanda Rancourt | City of Edmonton | Edmonton, Alberta

As in most major cities, Edmonton has the issues of homelessness and poverty concentrated in a small number of neighbourhoods, with many marginalized people living in the inner city, as well as the services to support them. But people were worried about how all the efforts were adding up and the combined impact on community. We needed a new approach to address issues in the urban core and mend relationships with community members and businesses who felt they were not heard. Adopting a people-centred, social innovation approach, we worked with communities, businesses, government, and social agencies to build a shared understanding of the affected neighbourhoods, the cumulative impact of activities and services in the urban core, and identify solutions for

improvement. We collected a lot of information so we can better understand the neighbourhoods; characters and strengths. This information helped us to test out ideas with different community partners. Taking this new approach to urban wellness pushed our teams out of our comfort zones. We all had to learn the language of social innovation, accept different forms of knowledge and learning, and above all else, trust the process and each other. In the end, we tested out 13 small solutions, some are moving forward and some have ended with a celebration of learning. But we’re not done. In fact, we are just starting. We will continue with the ideas that we began, form new relationships and networks, and promote this new way of doing things in other neighbourhoods across Edmonton.

How do you support marginalized populations without alienating the broader community and vice versa: how do you support thriving communities without pushing out the most marginalized?

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Changing the Way Calgary PlaysJulie Guimond, Michelle Wong, Graham Jones, and Heather Cowie | City of Calgary | Calgary, Alberta

The City of Calgary is embarking on a new play initiative - one that encourages greater independent play, riskier play and a reconnection with nature. Our mission is to challenge children and parents to ‘rethink’ outdoor play. Calgary Parks and Calgary Recreation are working on a number of play-related initiatives that aim to transform attitudes around play and to revolutionize the face of playgrounds in our city, from building new capital infrastructure to researching parent barriers; from developing a Play Charter to modifying Parks standards and guidelines on city playgrounds and challenging CSA

Guidelines. The City is providing opportunities for play by designing playgrounds that are more conducive to natural outdoor play in our parks, providing free Mobile Adventure Playgrounds throughout the summer at outdoor sites across the city, leading the development of a Play Charter with over 25 Calgary and area organizations, and training summer camp and program leaders in creating environments that support child-led play. We want to promote and broaden the understanding, value, importance and participation in, for, and about PLAY.

What would you change in your city or your work to make it more playful?

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What Would it Take to “Master Your Disaster”? Practical Templates can be a Great Way to StartLeann Hackman-Carty | HackmanCarty & Associates | Calgary, Alberta

Over the past decade, I’ve spent a significant amount of time working with communities on post-disaster business and economic recovery efforts. This includes the 2013 Southern Alberta floods, and 2016 Wood Buffalo wildfires. As part of this work, my goal was to seek out and apply international best practices in the field.

Alberta communities are not the first to deal with a disaster. Many communities deal with disasters on a regular basis. While their exact nature may differ, basic principles remain the same. Luckily, there are numerous best practices to draw from. Communities don’t have to reinvent the wheel.

One thing that became apparent to me was the absence of a comprehensive resource to help individuals, businesses and communities prepare for, respond to, and recover from

disasters. So I wrote it. In December 2017, I published my “Master Your Disaster” series of guidebooks with easy-to-use templates to simplify the process.

Quite frankly, we all need to be better prepared. It could mean the difference between keeping our livelihood or maintaining our quality of life. Governments, emergency response organizations and humanitarian relief agencies cannot do it alone.

I believe that if every individual, business and community was better prepared we would not be witnessing the scale, impact or costs we are currently incurring globally. This absolutely needs to change. Templating our activity is a great way to start in making the chaos more controllable—and survivable in the future.

If a disaster hit your home, business or community tomorrow, would you be ready? Do you know if businesses in your community are adequately prepared for a disaster?

If you had to evacuate your community right now where you would go? What if you had be out for a week? What about if it was a month?

Do you have an emergency kit ready to go in your home and at your workplace? Who is responsible for taking it with them? Are all your valuable contacts and critical papers in it?

Who is responsible to lead overall recovery in your community? Who will lead your business and economic recovery efforts?

Disaster Recovery and Relief expert

LEANN HACKMAN-CARTY’S how to guide

To help your BUSINESS plan for the unexpected

Don’t waitthe time is now!

ARE you ready?

- assess risk- plan your response - activate the plaN - recover successfully- Templ- Template Activity

Master Your Disaster

Master Your Disaster

Leann Hackman- Carty

Your readiness, response and recovery guide

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If We Build It, Will They Come?Jonathan Chapman | City of Calgary | Calgary, Alberta

In order to provide more vibrant public spaces at future Light Rail Transit stations, we began observing how people use existing transit stations and other public spaces using metrics developed by the Gehl Institute. We then ran experiments to add simple amenities and organized activities in the spaces to observe how people’s use of space changed. We uncovered a hunger for vibrant public spaces that will influence future designs. Next steps will be to broaden the use of these tools to allow us to observe changes over time and compare different sites to see which features are most impactful.

Picture one of your favorite public places. Are there particular spots within that space where there’s always someone hanging out? What is it about those spots that makes them special?

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Vaughan Inventors – A Staff Engagement InitiativeZoran Postic | City of Vaughan | Vaughan, Ontario

At the City of Vaughan, we created the Vaughan Inventors Program for staff to pitch their improvement ideas in front of a panel of their peers. This program began with one department and challenged team members to come out of their shell. Overwhelming interest and participation in the program resulted in the implementation of several ideas and concepts. Due to its success, the program is now on its third edition and has expanded corporate wide. We are proud of the work done by all our team and are very excited to present our insight on this project in hopes it can spread across the country.

Ever had an idea about your work or workspace? Do you think small changes can make a difference? Write down that idea and bring it forward to your next meeting.

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Creating Coventry - A Community-Driven Plan to Improve and Connect a NeighbourhoodMoraig McCabe and Nicole Dawe | Creating Coventry, Vivo | Calgary, Alberta

When a representative from The City of Calgary alerted the Northern Hills Community Association (NHCA) that six of their playgrounds would need to be replaced, Moraig McCabe saw a bigger opportunity. All of Coventry Hills’ 14 playgrounds were built in just over a decade. Surely they’d all need to be replaced in a similar period. If the community developed a playground master plan, what possibilities could they open for deeper community engagement and better playgrounds?

In the next 18 months, Creating Coventry brought together community groups, partner organizations, and municipal stakeholders in a series of engagements to learn more about the residents’ hopes and dreams for these green spaces. What we learned:

• That you need to put community at the centre and find out what matters to them. We didn’t take anything off of the table.

• That created an up-to-date picture of the community’s priorities gave decision-makers confidence to support our requests and could put the community at the top of the list when funding opportunities arise.

• That you need to look at the connections between the parks as much as the physical features in each individual space.

The planning phase was a joint project between the NHCA and Vivo. Links to the documents and other information, including a how-to guide, can be found at: www.northernhills.ab.ca/creating-coventry/

In summer 2018, volunteers from the project embarked on the next phase – Activating Coventry. This included implementing the findings from the planning phase (including our first playground build) and working to animate community spaces with eight pop-up play experiences to further engage residents in these spaces and the project.

What does your dream park or community space look, feel and sound like? Does it exist? If not, how could you help make it happen?

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Re:Invent Human PotentialDr. Suman Kollipara | Peace Tree Innovations Society | Burnaby, British Columbia

In the past decade I have worked with many organizations and leadership teams including at the City of Burnaby where I am currently employed to implement Conscious Leadership framework using tools of Self Reflection & Self Awareness like Meditation to help dive deep into the space of True Self beyond the false ego and emotional entanglements. This lead to innovating organizations & individuals with Authenticity, Integrity, Responsibility and Enrichment. Evolutionary conditioning forces us to utilise the Survival of the Fittest instincts like greed, dominance, selfish, self-centered approach in workplace. But with the shift to Survival of Wisest mode, we are able to break the cycle and move to emotionally intelligent healing organizations with values of collaboration, cooperation built on foundation of empathy, compassion and understanding. People have learnt to use the emotions, than becoming victim to them.

Our three stepped mission: Educate, Experience, Enlighten is to educate all by simplifying the knowledge of Body & Mind for Wellness, utilize wisdom tools to give everyone the experience of optimal physical, mental & emotional states of Fullness, while enlightening all about their true nature of Infinite Potential beings. The experience of one’s peak potential is a game changer.

I have worked with many settings including United Nations, World Health Organization, Vancouver General Hospital, BC Support Unit, Burnaby Firefighters, Royal Colombian Hospitals, Pacific Gas & Electric and many more. I look forward to taking the Conscious Leadership model to different municipalities across Canada & help re-innovate and reinvent Human potential.

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Imagine this was in your own city – what challenges would you tackle with the MIX model?

What is the potential of this model if scaled across an entire network of municipalities?

Who would be interested in hearing about your take-aways from this session and how could you share it with them?

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Municipal Innovation Exchange: A Problem-Based Procurement FrameworkSergio De Lara and Jennifer Smith | City of London, City of Barrie, City of Guelph, Guelph Lab, MaRS Discovery District | Ontario

Cities are struggling with complex challenges and currently there is no way for them to explore a challenge together with new technology or models that follow procurement rules and mitigate risks. Currently, procurement is often used as a tool to buy solutions with crystal-clear specifications. Do any of these stories sound familiar?

Scenario #1You’re writing the requirements for a product/service, and your procurement department request you to get more specific—to the point that you have spelled out exactly what you think you might need. Problem is you feel uncomfortable –what if what you described isn’t actually the best way to solve the problem?

Scenario #2You have identified a challenge for your department. You’ve found out that it’s a problem in other cities, but no one has successfully found a way to solve it. You don’t know how to begin tackling it, but know it can’t continue this way.

The more we talked with public servants, the more we saw specific types of challenges that didn’t fit the standard purchase model. So, we’re taking the City of Guelph’s experience with their Civic Accelerator, and that of MaRS on Procurement by Co-Design in the health sector, to create the Municipal Innovation Exchange (MIX). Building on projects that demonstrate how institutions can work with vendors on innovative solutions, MIX will run challenges in London, Guelph, and Barrie, and partners along the innovation pipeline, to refine this new model and develop a framework that can be scaled across municipalities.

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What do you think - do involved citizens help or hinder a city? What informs your view?

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Citizen Entrepreneurship: Volunteers, Change-makers, and Citizen-doers Reveal a Path for Municipal Transformation Crys Vanier, Marguerite Watson, and Tiffany Kriz | Edmonton, Alberta

Citizen entrepreneurship is an innovative way municipalities can work with the real experience of everyday citizens to identify opportunities and create projects that enhance their cities. Understanding this way of thinking and organizing enables you to design citizen involvement that inspires contribution, co-delivers value, and facilitates big change.

Have you or a citizen ever noticed an issue or brought forward a way to improve your municipality? Was it easy to get traction; did you face barriers? How does your team, your municipality reach, involve and empower its citizens?

Using a design approach, we explored the experience, ways of thinking and value drivers of a diverse mix of citizens who make change happen in their cities and communities. Our findings from interviews, focus groups and a leadership session will help you to:

• Reflect on how citizens participate in their cities, what is a typical change-maker journey, including patterns in their interaction with municipal enterprise. Collaborate, build on and challenge each other’s viewpoints of citizen contributions and roles from varying perspectives and positions

• Consider new language to infuse a citizen perspective into the work of public services, policy, planning, and projects

• Contribute to a prototype and research of productive citizen entrepreneurship

Productive citizen entrepreneurship is a model for engagement, for co-generation and for more effective processes that leverage citizen skills, experience and creativity to respond to challenges and opportunities for creating social value.

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Working together to make neighbourhood a great place to live, work and playKatie Thorpe, Lyndia Peters, Dejana Knih | City of Calgary | Calgary, Alberta

How can we work better together? How can City of Calgary staff collaborate with citizens to bring a community vision to life? These are the questions This is my neighbourhood (TIMN) is facing head on.

Our program takes deep-dives into each neighbourhood, working with Calgarians to create an even better place to live, work and play.

Starting in 2016, we’ve delivered over 100 programs, services, and improvements to 28 communities. We’ve learned from each project and think bigger and better each time.

In 2017, we hosted creative seed sessions in 10 neighbourhoods—an open environment for both staff and residents to share freely and think big. By offering this open space for dialogue, our staff could create new and innovative opportunities.

In one session, Calgary Fire heard the neighbourhood come back with the vision words FUN, SAFE and ACTIVE. They heard that a spray park could help achieve this, but the traditional model was too costly. So they built a brand new mobile spray park, attaching it to existing fire hydrants for families to use in local green spaces.

These simple, fun, temporary activities can help form neighbourhood connections. Strong and connected communities lead to social health and community benefits. It also means reduced isolation, improved health and local vibrancy.

When communities thrive, the people who live there thrive too.

For more on other initiatives happening in neighbourhoods across Calgary check out calgary.ca/TIMN.

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Experimentation in Action at Calgary Transit – Integrated Data for Condition Based Decision MakingNadia Plumb, P.Eng | City of Calgary | Calgary, Alberta

Once upon a time, Calgary had a lovely LRT system. To serve their citizens even better, they increased train frequency, added longer trains and extended service later and later into the night and earlier and earlier in the morning. The commuters and riders loved this, but having trains on track at nearly all hours of the day made it difficult for transit workers to safely and routinely measure and monitor conditions. When they did measure, it was done by hand, in shorter segments and could not be measured with the load of a train. Also, it was a bit difficult to compare results with previous measurements, or discuss how the LRT infrastructure functioned as a complete assembly. Workers found themselves reacting to trouble spots rather than following an efficient maintenance plan.The system was still great at moving people, and it was growing, but they needed new tools to stay ‘on Track’.

Fortunately, visionary leaders in the CT Infrastructure team proposed and selected a rail borne, integrated, non-contact Infrastructure Inspection and Measurement System that could collect data correctly and consistently, while driving at the same speed as the LRT trains. Some analysis, graphing and other tools to make the information easier to understand and interpret would be the icing on the cake.

Calgary Transit’s Infrastructure Engineering Support team carefully supervised the installation of such a system on an

underused LRT car, and validated the initial results so they really understood what the system could and could not do. The next step was to clearly define the State of Good Repair for our Track and Overhead Contact wires by workshopping with stakeholders.

With these parameters in hand, the testing could proceed – just like a science experiment, the scope is defined, and the recording of data proceeds, FAST! Reporting based on the pre-defined parameters is quick and the workers can get on with addressing identified issues. In the future, results might even be integrated into the City’s Asset Management system.

Safety, Comfort and Efficiency have all benefited from this data based approach which also helps the Senior Leadership Team to make decisions for investments in maintenance and life-cycle replacements based on quantitative, clear business cases.

Such a data based approach, making use of ‘decisions before testing’ can be applied to nearly any municipality. Integrated data, consistently collected, forms the backbone of this condition based process, and enables rapid, effective and efficient application of City resources.

Start eyes wide open We see the work to be done Swiftly we engage.

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CITYzen Connect: A Platform that Reconstructs Citizen2Citizen, Citizen2City ConnectionCrys Vanier and Carolyn Patton | CITYzen Connect | Edmonton, Alberta

People know how to help people... how to solve problems.

People already volunteer & contribute to their neighbourhoods.

Using a citizen-centric approach with the support of technology, municipalities can leverage the ingenuity, knowledge, and creativity of their citizens to build community and social value.

WHY?Citizens & City together build strong neighbourhoods and an innovative city. Municipalities have a compelling opportunity to leverage citizen contribution through active volunteerism–using lived experience, entrepreneurial thinking, social doing–to tackle challenges, generate inspiring ideas and evolve city. That’s CITYzen Connect.

HOW?CITYzen Connect aims to foster neighbours engaging with neighbours and city - to remove obstacles and connect the capacity, resources and ingenuity of our CITYzens to tackle social challenges and generate community value. Our goal is a customizable yet shared citizen experience with the support of technology, data and an experience that connects users across an entire municipality.

WHO is interested?Municipal decision-makers who think 83 percent of the Canadian population who volunteer already, the equivalent of 3.7 percent of national GDP and millions of volunteer hours could be better leveraged in their municipality. Participants will be introduced to new thinking and an innovative approach to connecting with citizens.

How could your municipality use a direct connection with citizens, their skills, experiences and expertise?

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After-School for All - One Bold MoveDaljit Gill-Badesha | City of Surrey | Surrey, British Columbia

I was one woman with one bold idea. I wanted to reverse the trajectory that so many vulnerable children were facing in my community by making sure they had a safe and engaging place to go during afterschool hours. This place was called MYzone.

What started off as a pilot project in 2012 has now grown to upwards of 20 sites across the City of Surrey. MYzone is a place of opportunity for children – where they can find adult role models, friends, and a sense of safe belonging – all while they participate in unstructured play and activity.

MYzone kick started much of our expansive involvement in supporting school age children in our region. We rallied for more transformative research. We advocated for children’s

rights. We spearheaded partnerships. Now, we’re capitalizing on our success and focusing on ways to scale. ‘Afterschool for All’ is our latest strategic undertaking and bold commitment to our community’s children.

We’re integrating strategic efforts across the City, re-imagining the use of indoor and outdoor space, pulling together the entire community to lead with our vision and ensure that every single child in Surrey has the opportunity to be successful. The community sees our leadership potential. We plan on accepting that responsibility and working closely with partners – new and old – to see a better future for our children: one that is hopeful and full of opportunity.

How do you measure up? How do you continue to prepare your city to create the best environment and contribution to sustainability and wellbeing? What is calling on you to re-imagine, re-design, and re-build?

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Pursuit of Appiness, Using Cloud Based Technology for Integrated Ecosystem ManagementLeah Blair | City of Calgary | Calgary, Alberta

Calgary Parks manages for citywide ecological integrity through the conservation of high quality natural environments and connected park systems. Cloud-based solutions offer advanced methods of coordinating and collaborating with numerous stakeholders such as citizens, communities, park planners, ecosystem managers, and field service providers. In order to provide timely and appropriate service, Calgary Parks is increasingly focused on developing and employing ArcGIS Online smart tools for real-time data collection and

sharing. Now currently deployed across approximately 110 permanent, seasonal and contractor staff, and three business units, the mobile apps for invasive weed management, habitat condition assessment and restoration tracking provide real-time ecosystem information for strategic management decisions. This real-time technology has allowed Parks to identify opportunities to improve ecological monitoring and management, create reporting efficiencies, and foster government transparency and citizen ecoliteracy

Because I’m appy, map along if you know what appiness is to you.

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Where the Wild Things Are - Harnessing the Power of Citizen ScientistsSamantha Managh | City of Calgary | Calgary, Alberta

Cities are increasingly becoming home to wildlife that have adapted to urban living and are quickly developing into ecological hotspots. Calgary is at the forefront of this evolution given our proximity to the Rocky Mountains and the development pressures occurring there (hello bears and cougars). The climate is changing causing animals not previously found in Calgary to be seen with more regularity (raccoons anyone?) and, with the abundance of food in our urban setting, we attract species that are highly adaptable in their diet (#wileycoyote). Recognizing this, Calgary Parks has

begun a multi-year wildlife camera study to better understand our wild neighbors. This project uses wildlife trail cameras to capture data about habitat use and wildlife movement around our urban environment with the aim of enhancing citizen eco-literacy through participatory stewardship action. Citizen-generated image classifications, through the Calgary Captured launch page at Zooniverse.org are a cost-effective means for Calgary Parks to understand species movement and barriers to movement, to enhance urban development and ecological network planning now and in the future.

Who is in the zooniverse?

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Sunny side up! The City of Calgary’s Solar Potential MapJairo Castillo | City of Calgary | Calgary, Alberta

What was the idea?• Using location-based data, The City of Calgary created an

interactive online map of every building in Calgary, showing the solar potential of each rooftop

• This quick and easy to use tool can search for any address and provides initial insight into the viability of using solar energy to power any home or building in Calgary city limits

How did we do it?• Between 2012 and 2016, 3D building information was

created from LiDAR as a corporate city-wide dataset

• LiDAR is a highly accurate geospatial (location-based) imagery technology that captures elevation data from an aircraft fitted with specialized equipment that flies above the city

• The LiDAR data was converted to other data formats so that it could be visualized on an interactive map

Why did we do it? • We had the data, but we were only using it for initial

assessments of City buildings being retrofitted. We had the online platform and complete city-wide data, so why not sure it with the public and The City could continue to use it too!

What did we learn? • Collaboration is key! We worked with other departments to

tell the complete story of solar energy:

• Our environmental specialists and engineers shared info about what Calgary is doing as a leader. An example: a leisure centre has been retrofitted with 600 solar modules on the roof

• Our utility provider explained how citizens can use the map as part of their evaluation process and provided links to more information on how to further evaluate the potential of using solar energy

• We put the raw data on Calgary’s Open Data Portal

• Our communications department promoted the map using social media – There were over 20,000 visits to the site in less than three months

Check out Calgary’s Solar Potential Map for yourself at maps.calgary.ca

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When is a Tree More Than a Tree?Heather Galbraith and Twyla Kowalczyk | City of Calgary | Calgary, Alberta

Trees are part of a city’s natural assets. Together with wetlands, river banks, rain gardens and other natural infrastructure, natural assets provide similar services to hard infrastructure. These assets may be naturally occurring or engineered to mimic nature. The services they provide are sometimes called “ecosystem services” and include water conveyance, runoff water quality treatment or shading structure.

Why are they important?Natural assets have additional benefits beyond traditional service delivery, including biodiversity and providing ecosystem habitat. They are resilient and better able to self-adapt to changes in Calgary’s climate than hard infrastructure. Protecting and maximizing the use of these natural assets can offset costly infrastructure maintenance and investment in new hard infrastructure. This helps cities efficiently manage risk, including stresses and shocks related to climate change such as increasingly intense storms and flooding.

What is The City of Calgary doing?Current City processes do not fully account for the services provided by natural assets, putting their maintenance and protection at risk. In order to maximize their benefit in managing financial and climate risks, work is needed to account for natural assets as part of The City’s asset management programs, capital funding made available, and appropriate maintenance programs put in place.

The City of Calgary recently brought together an interdisciplinary team of Water Resources, Calgary Parks, Corporate Asset Management, Climate Change, Resilience & Infrastructure Calgary and others to better understand natural asset value, and to develop a coordinated approach to manage natural assets as part of The City’s asset management process.

With a picture, symbol or with words, notate what “natural assets” means to you.

What is the value of these natural assets to you, your community or your city? What services do they or could they provide?

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Integrated Infrastructure for Sustainable CitiesLina Kattan, Patrick Hettiaratchi, David Layzell and Poornima Jayasinghe | University of Calgary | Calgary, Alberta

The Integrated Infrastructure for Sustainable Cities (IISC) is a newly funded training program initiative that received funds from Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council (NSERC) under the Collaborative Research and Training Experience Program (CREATE) funding envelope. THE NSERC-IISC initiative includes researchers from the University of Calgary, the University of British Columbia, the University of Victoria, and the University of Waterloo.

The aim of this initiative is to train the 21st century infrastructure engineers and planners capable of responding to the introduction of transformative and disruptive technologies in a way that meets and advances our cities’ sustainability goals. For example, emerging transportation technologies, such as electric, autonomous and shared private/transit/commercial vehicles, are promising to bring a wave of urban reform. While, the expected reduction of

parking demand offers unprecedented opportunities for denser, more people-friendly, walkable communities, the anticipated increase in mobility and accessibility may induce further urban sprawl.

These changes in urban form would impact supporting infrastructure, including building, water, energy, and waste systems; which in turn impact ecological footprint, air and water quality, and greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. Due to the complex interactions among infrastructure components, emerging changes cannot be handled with existing planning and implementation tools that are devised separately for each component. Such a holistic approach to urban infrastructure analysis is critical for enabling policy and decision makers to assess system-wide efficiency of policies, capital investments, operational budget allocations and dealing with climate change related issues to meet sustainability goals.

Imagine a disruptive force or transformative technology coming to your city. How would these disruptions affect your city’s infrastructure? What would be the impacts on sustainability?

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How to re-invent your customer experience - A Windsor and Calgary Case StudyLes Wright and Alicia Devine | City of Windsor and City of Calgary | Windsor, Ontario and Calgary, Alberta

Residents often struggle with the many legislative requirements for licencing, permitting and development applications and historically the customer experience with these complex processes have left a negative perception of the municipality. The cities of Calgary and Windsor embarked on a journey to completely change the way we serve the public.

Our application processes starts with thinking from the user’s perspective providing a simplified and efficient experience. By implementing new innovative tools and a customer centric approach to processing applications we have helped guide customers to the outcome they desire. Both municipalities have implemented an online system that gives the flexibility to users to upload applications as well as changes the back end processing of the application, completely revolutionizing the way each municipality does business.

The goal of these projects is to demonstrate how a municipality can follow all required legislation without forcing residents and business owners to become experts in our own process. We’ve learned most customers are ready for online solutions to navigate business license applications, construction permits and development applications, if provided the proper tools and a streamlined process. We’ve learned that by moving to an online/cloud-based platform we can tangibly see time savings among users and staff, an increase in usage volumes and an increase of complete submitted applications.

We see the future of these projects expanding to a national template that can be used across other municipalities so that a resident receives the same experience whether they live in St. Johns, Windsor, Calgary or Surrey.

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Applying a Resilience Lens to City Decision Making Heather Galbraith | City of Calgary | Calgary, Alberta

The City of Calgary is a member of 100 Resilient Cities (100RC) – Pioneered by The Rockefeller Foundation. 100RC is a global network working to address some of the biggest challenges facing cities. Membership in this network will significantly strengthen work being done by The City and its partners to prepare for, and recover from, stresses and shocks stemming from social, economic and environmental challenges.

We are developing a strategy to support our city’s resilience into the future. Quite simply, it is about elevating Calgary and our people, and ensuring that when we do face stresses and shocks, we are able to withstand them and move forward, together.

Our program launched with an Agenda Setting Working where we applied resilience tools to identify our top stresses and shocks and performance strengths and weaknesses. Since then, we developed focus areas of further research and piloted the application of resilience tools to other city processes. This includes embedding the City Resilience Framework into our Capital Infrastructure Investment Program and using the resilience qualities to enhance the resilience of our city services through our multi-year service plan and budgeting process.

As our program grows, we will continue to test ways to apply a resilience lens to city decision making. To learn more about what we are doing, see our webpage at: calgary.ca/resilientcalgary

What projects or processes are you involved in where you could apply resilience tools? How might you modify them or use them differently?

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Calgary Rights of Way Management System and the Future of our Municipal RoadwaysTravis Smith and Kelly Hess | City of Calgary | Calgary, Alberta

The previous Utility Line Assignment (ULA) system was a simple application submission system which lacked comprehensive tracking of ULA applications. This required a high degree of manual tracking and inspection of municipal roadways to oversee safe installation and management of shallow utility (gas, electricity, and telecommunications) equipment. Lack of municipal oversight has proven to increase safety risk to citizens.

The new Calgary Rights of Way Management (CROWM) system allows for comprehensive self-service and tracking of both ULA applications and the corresponding utilities who install their equipment. Our system tracks each application from end-to-end resulting in a detailed As-Built drawing submitted to The City. As-Built drawings are crucial for the safe management of our municipal roadways for activities such as new ULA applications, road relocations, abandonment of old roads, and new roadway developments.

What makes CROWM innovative is it tracks the performance of all utilities excavating our roadways and assigns them a new score at the end of a scoring cycle and automatically adjusts the level of service they receive commensurate with their performance. Good performance results in faster service, whereas poorer performance will result in a tiered level of service to allow for greater scrutiny of applications.

At the beginning of each scoring cycle, each utility has the opportunity to improve their business relationship with The City or continue with the same service expectations from the previous cycle. This performance tracking is totally transparent for all utility organizations and is meant to foster better (and fairer) collaboration with The City.

Have you ever wondered how telecoms bring their services to your house and what The City of Calgary does to ensure your safety during this process?

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Designing from Back to Front: Walking in their ShoesErin Bird, Matthew Godfrey, Shawna Cochrane, and Alison Grittner | City of Calgary; Equal by Design | Calgary, Alberta

It happened when she was eleven, playing with her sisters in Kabul, Afghanistan. Her back hurt but no one know it was serious until her legs stopped working. She stayed home for the next six years, her world the yard within her family’s compound walls. When the war worsened she became a refugee in Pakistan, finally finding a home in Canada where she was safe but stuck living in inappropriate affordable housing, stranded in inaccessible basements, unable to bath or go outside on her own, separated from her family.

Her home transformed from a prison to her “Queendom” when it was renovated to meet her body’s unique abilities and reflect her cultural values. Before her wheel-in-shower she had never

showered alone. Now every time she showers it calms her mind, prayer comes out from “deep within her body”. She has no words to explain the “bliss of water”, that “only a thirsty person knows the true value of water”. She had been living thirsty and sticky for thirty years, ending up in the ER for severe depression stemming from the health complications and social isolation of the simple act of not being able to bathe. Previously, family members told her she smelled like raw meat. How she sees herself reflected in the eyes of her family and community has shifted, her beautiful home shows everyone she’s normal, she’s clean, that she can work, that she can support her family. She no longer has to “live in a corner”.

Erin Bird,P.Eng., City of Calgary, Leader, Corporate Capital Project Strategies.Shawna Cochrane, Architect, City of Calgary, Capital Project Strategist.Matthew Godfrey, MArch., City of Calgary, Project Manager Affordable HousingAlison Grittner, MArch., Equal by Design, Founder.

DESIGNING FROM BACK TO FRONT: WALKING IN THEIR SHOES

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2018

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A guided discussion focusing upon

participant experience, opportunities for leadership, and

developing new insights and best practices.

[2.0 WORKSHOP FORMAT]

[4.1 WORKSHOP DESCRIPTION]

[4.2 WORKSHOP DESCRIPTION]

[4.3 WORKSHOP DESCRIPTION] [4.4 WORKSHOP DESCRIPTION]

[4.5 WORKSHOP DESCRIPTION]

[3.0 WORKSHOP SUMMARY]

This workshop will explore the design process of affordable housing development through multiple viewpoints. The workshop will frame the design process towards client-centric

design resulting in positive social outcomes, including connection to place, increased education

and literacy, higher employment, community involvement,

resiliency, and improved mental and physical health.

“Walking in their shoes” will be a journey along the design

process of affordable housing through multiple perspectives

including internal administration, decision

makers and those who will call the development home.

Participants will receive a case: Calgary has a lack of affordable housing. How do we address this shortage?

Where do we start and what do we consider? Participants

will be encouraged to explore assigned roles to

determine what they would prioritize, and why: bulk

units or homes that address specific needs?

The group will discuss what it means to live in dignified housing, and how this definition

varies according to the stakeholder. Participants will be

guided in a discussion about addressing the needs of low

income earners through the built environment, specifically homes and positive social outcomes.

Participants will achieve this by exploring several uncomfortable

questions: Should design for quality of life only be available

to those who can afford it? Should end users have a voice in designing their future homes? Does net worth reflect value in

society? If not, then why does our built environment reinforce these

assumptions?

The workshop will explore how we can reframe design

goals to create positive social a outcomes in a cross-

sectoral environment.

Should design for quality of life only be available to those who can afford it?

Should end users have a voice in designing their future homes?

Does net worth reflect value in society? If not, then why does our built environment reinforce these assumptions?

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Three Conversations, One Calgary: The City’s Strategic Plan for 2019-2022Nicole Schaefer, Megan Dietrich, Aliyyah Mohamed, Natasha Qereshniku, and Melody Wisoley | City of Calgary | Calgary, Alberta

At The City of Calgary, we are individually responsible and collectively accountable for ensuring that the services that matter most to citizens, matter to us. The City is moving to a service-based plan and budget approach to put the citizen first in our decision-making and service delivery. This transformational shift will result in The City focusing less on who is responsible for what, and more on how we deliver services, at what quality and level of service, and who will be better off. This will ensure that citizens are getting value for their tax dollars. Through the work of the One Calgary Program, we will become a more results driven organization that is resilient, accountable and transparent. The 2019-2022 service plans and budgets will contribute to making Calgary a great place to make a living, and a great place to make a life.

The One Calgary Program will help shift the organization to a citizen-first mindset by:

• Focusing on services, not organizational structure

• Aligning the organization with the long-term aspirations of Calgarians, and what citizens value most

• Delivering on Council’s Directives for 2019-2022

• Improving how we demonstrate service value

• Becoming a more result driven organization

• Using evidence-based decision-making

• Measuring our performance based on service lines, and

• Being more transparent about how tax dollars are invested

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Power of PartnershipsThe Office of Partnerships and The Partnership Centre of Excellence | City of Calgary and City of Edmonton | Calgary, Alberta and Edmonton, Alberta

As two of only four municipal-based Partnership Centres in Canada, we have leveraged our individual strengths and have shared them not only between ourselves, but also with municipal-based Partnership Centres across Canada, the United States, and United Kingdom. With both Centres having started within the last three years, much work remains. As we prototype leading practice for different facets of partnership work we have gained valuable insights and learnings from our individual successes (and epic tries) and from our collaboration with other Centres. Without this collaborative effort, both Cities may not have advanced as far as we have today in developing or establishing Partnership Policy, Frameworks, Information Management, Assessment

and Evaluation, and a variety of Consulting and Brokering leading practices in Canada. There are increasing calls for municipalities to enhance new and existing partnerships that share resources, decision-making, accountability, risks and outcomes to create innovative solutions. With municipalities currently facing challenges too complex for local governments to solve alone, the time is now to share and expand leading practice. This is the power of partnerships.

For more information, contact: partnerships@calgary.ca partnershipcentre@edmonton.ca

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The Abundance Next DoorEvan Spencer | Abundant Community Copperfield Mahogany | Calgary, Alberta

In the past my neighbourhood was the playground down the block, the school across the busy street, the place for my house—but my home? No, even with the memories attached to the physical place of my neighbourhood I always knew that my home was where my people were. My mom, dad and sisters, my nuclear family. There my neighbours were not yet my people. They were just incidental features of my place—some to be enjoyed and others to be avoided.

Now… our neighbourhood, our street and houses are increasingly the places of our people. We have connected and found friends and even family here. People whose livelihoods, happiness and futures are intertwining just like a nuclear family! It has been an incredibly rich experience, even as it has been difficult at times as well, just like a real family.

I share this because when neighbours start to see each other as more than incidental pieces of their lives—everything changes. In a world bent on sowing animosity and suspicion we can all do our part to bring people and communities together. Many are already discovering concrete ways of doing this by finding, as I and my family are, that our people are right next door and across the street.

Abundant Community Copperfield Mahogany is already a network of over thirty Block Connectors and growing! We envision a future of a network of over a hundred well equipped and resourced Block Connectors busy helping their neighbours and opening their eyes to the importance of a caring and connected neighbourhood.

Find a conversation partner: Tell a story of a time you and your neighbours came together to make things better on your block.

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Calgary’s Tactical Urbanism Tiger TeamJonathan Chapman | City of Calgary | Calgary, Alberta

There’s a secret problem-solving team at the City of Calgary that doesn’t appear on the org chart. The Tactical Urbanism Tiger Team is a cross corporate working group that uses design thinking and innovation approaches to find interesting solutions to problems. Through empathy exercises, quick experiments, and a safe forum for self-evaluation, the City is finding new ways to say yes, get out of the way, and inspire Calgarians to get involved in making their communities more vibrant.

Try drawing a typical street near your home. Now imagine you are in charge of making that street more “child-friendly”. Sketch in some improvements that you think would inspire children to play in/around that street. Who would you need to convince to make your idea a reality?

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Bright Spots of Innovation – Discover and Scale Hidden Pockets of Ingenuity in Your Organization Sharon McIntyre | New Cottage Industries | Calgary, Alberta

Collaborating with the electrical utility of the Central African country of Cameroon as innovation consultants continues to be very rewarding. We recognized an early innovation opportunity in the form of a gap between the frugal ingenuity that was happening every day in hidden pockets with front line employees and the novel solutions the public-private partnership organization needed to meet the growing demand for safe, reliable electricity in the developing nation. The opportunity was to design a method of finding those already-implemented, hidden “bright spots” of innovation, appropriately recognizing the ingenious employees, and scaling the projects (after any needed adaptation) throughout the organization. The electrical utility, Eneo Cameroon, had seen idea contests in the past, but little came from them in terms of impact, and the employee community was skeptical.

The organization also had limited resources. By embracing a design thinking approach that first sought to empathize with potential participants, and then define the real challenges and pain points, a successful program was prototyped and implemented. Now in its third year, the annual Simply Smart Innovation competition is championed by Eneo’s CEO and the communications team. It has saved the electrical utility millions of dollars, grown cash flow, and improved safety and environmental impacts. Moreover, it has shifted the innovation culture in the organization from skepticism to enthusiasm and a sense of anticipation. Our project draws upon the thought-provoking research and insights in Pascale, Sternin & Sternin’s book, The Power of Positive Deviance; as well as Heath & Heath’s book, Switch.

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This booklet was produced by humans and so may contain human errors. Every effort has been made to ensure the information provided is accurate at time of publication.