Agnes Street Greenway activations
We engaged local kids to install eye-catching street activations along a new greenway in New Westminster, BC.
Need to get people to use your city’s new greenway or bike lane? Engage residents and stakeholders to line the route with co-created eye-catching activations, like art, and reframe streets as public space!
The City of New Westminster is creating a new 1.2-kilometre greenway along Agnes Street to support walking, wheeling, and cycling. The greenway will feature a two-way protected cycling path, improved sidewalks for people, as well as street furniture, trees, and plants. This project is part of the City of New Westminster’s commitment to sustainable transportation and climate emergency response. To learn more about the Agnes Street Greenway, visit the City of New Westminster website.
In early 2021, the City of New Westminster hired Happy Cities to implement creative activations along the Greenway (temporary treatment). Some of the art, like rain-activated paint, is already out; the rest will be co-created with local stakeholders who live, work, play, and attend school along the route. These eye-catching activations will help generate new expressions of community, and a sense of stewardship among residents and users.
To promote walking, wheeling, and cycling along the Greenway, Happy Cities, as prime consultant, teamed up with the accessibility experts at Marco Pasqua Enterprises to develop a self-guided walking tour and visual story. The walking tour and visual story connects the Greenway to other attractions in Downtown New Westminster, and shares interesting stories about those sites. The visual story is intended to provide people with diverse mobility and cognitive needs with additional details about what to expect along the walking tour route.
Download the tour and story here to explore Downtown New Westminster!
Co-created mural painting, curated by Happy Cities, designed by artist Eryne Donahue, and painted by the community. Photo: Isabel Garcia
Rain-activated paint installed by Happy Cities on the Agnes Street Greenway. Photos: Graham Handford
Learn more about the project:
Hear more about the pop-up event we hosted in the video below, featuring Happy Cities team members Mitchell Reardon and Cheri Hessami:
