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Introducing: Our award-winning method for studying public life
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Youth-led placemaking for safer streets
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Deep engagement to understand walkability
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Design principles for happy homes
Turning evidence into action
Happy Cities is an urban planning, research, and engagement firm based in Vancouver and Halifax. We work with cities, developers, and non-profits around the world to design public spaces, streets, and housing that nurture wellbeing for all community members.
An cohousing project offers a promising, missing middle solution to Vancouver’s housing and social isolation crises.
Happy Cities, Hey Neighbour Collective, and SFU evaluated the impact of the City of North Vancouver’s Active Design Guidelines, uncovering valuable insights for promoting social connection in multi-unit housing.
Exploring the role that placemaking plays in supporting community wellbeing, with the Healthy Communities Initiative and Canadian Urban Institute.
Happy Cities and Meaningful Access Consulting worked with the City of Regina to create an Accessibility Plan, to ensure that everyone can participate fully in community life.
"Happy Cities was a dream to work with. The quality of research, analysis, written submissions and field work was consistently high. A true partner in our ambitious active transportation pursuits!"
Lisa Leblanc, Director of Engineering, City of New Westminster
Featured stories
How to measure success of public space transformations.
To strengthen local economies, create places that people want to spend time in.
Indigenous community members are shaping placemaking and urban design projects to share their histories of place and create stronger communities.
Community gardens, food co-ops, bike programs, and more are tackling climate resilience at the neighbourhood scale.
How city staff, community organizations, and placemakers can create better places for young people.
Happy Cities’ award-winning Public Life Study can help you measure the impact of public space transformations on community connections, trust, and inclusion.
Read the book that started it all
Explore the intersection between urban design and the emerging science of happiness, with stops in some of the world’s most dynamic cities.