MAIN STREET CHALLENGE
Location:
Concept:
Calgary, Alberta
Urban Street Intervention
In the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, cities around the world are adapting to a new normal of confined movements and constrained social interactions. A number of studies, however, have observed that people from all around the world are finding creative ways to safely navigate and even congregate in public spaces within our cities, despite the challenges that have emerged. These creative workarounds, often implemented in an ad-hoc manner, are the first steps to finding a solution to the Main Street Challenge.
Our design asserts that the best resistance to the next pandemic will not be a reactive resistance, but a pre-emptive one. Ideally, our streets will be able to absorb the effects of safe practices such as physical distancing and partial lock downs without temporary modifications; and during non-pandemic times, its pandemic-resilient infrastructure will serve other useful purposes. This will build confidence in public spaces and resilience in local economies as people are able to resume close-to-normal life.
This link directs to the RAIC Main Street Design Challenge Playbook, Systemic Architecture Inc The submission is located on Page 36: