8-80 Cities

Gil Penalosa with FON volunteer Bob Fanning

I had the good fortune to spend the day yesterday - well part of the day - with Gil Penalosa, executive director of 8-80 Cities, an NGO that promotes "parks, streets and public places for all" - in other words more livable cities.













The idea behind the name is that if a public space is inviting to an eight-year-old and an eighty-year-old, then it will be inviting to people of every age group. Gil is a passionate speaker and travels the world to promote his ideas about humanizing cityscapes. You can read Gil's bio here.

In the morning Gil attended our Focus On Nature workshop with students from John McCrae Public School in Guelph. The students were asked to let their photography in a local park express what they liked and didn't like about the park, and thereby help to improve the eventual re-design of the park.

Gil was so impressed by the results that he used some of the photos in his talk at City Hall that evening, and suggested that every city planner should take a Focus On Nature workshop! We'll be doing another workshop with 8-80 Cities in Toronto in May. Gil even wondered how we might facilitate similar workshops in other cities around the world!