Ryan Craven: Influencing Identities and Places in London, Ontario

We might take it for granted that a city's downtown core, or any bustling city neighbourhood, just happens: a bunch of cool shops and venues pop up; more people show up to explore and hang out; engaging programs and festivals start to happen on city streets. A lively neighbourhood has seemingly appeared overnight!

This isn't quite the case. A great deal of time, effort, consultation and advocacy goes into making a neighbourhood or downtown core feel vibrant and welcoming. These plans come at the result of a great deal of work, and they involve a lot of stakeholders: people, businesses, and organizations that have a vested interest in the downtown's success. But what does success mean? How does a successful core come into being?

Join us for a guest talk with Ryan Craven, the Manager, Core Area Programs at the City of London. Ryan has previously worked as the Supervisor, Community Development and the Transportation Demand Management Coordinator at the City of London. His current work involves beautifying, animating and activating Dundas Place, a recently completed and currently complicated Flex Street in Downtown London. Ryan studied Urban Geography at Western and Concordia University in Montreal, where he received his Masters of Science in Geography, Urban and Environmental Studies. Ryan has been an advocate for the local art, human-centered public space, local history, complete streets, downtown revitalization, sustainability, and participatory decision making. He has published two books on local history as well as articles in Case-Series in Public Health Policy and Administration and Public Sector Digest. You can see more about his work at www.ryanjcraven.com

Ryan Craven is a guest of the second-year SASAH course, "Cultures of Advocacy." In advance of the class, students have been assigned to read "Participatory Budgeting: Challenges and Opportunities" and listen to the 99% Invisible podcast episode, "U is for Urbanism."