by Lúcio Gonçalves Lustosa
From June 11th to 13th, we had the joy of participating in the CapaCITY/É Summer Institute in the beautiful city of Saskatoon; three days of intense activities and networking that changed the way we see knowledge implementation, active and sustainable transportation, urban planning, healthy cities, equity and equality, government relations, city management, infrastructure development and implementation… and surely more. All this was possible thanks to the fine and welcoming organization of the CapaCITY/É team. After many years of volunteer work in the non-profit sector and professional work with clients/patients, I was impressed by the friendly environment of goodwill and cooperation that was immediately created.
The content of the Institute was an exceptional mix of conceptual and practical knowledge, thanks to the expertise of the academics and engineers/urban planners who took on the task of speaking and mentoring us participants during the three days of the event. This included the opportunity to learn about Velo Canada’s initiatives to promote and implement everyday cycling, and the EcoQuest program developed in Saskatoon elementary schools to encourage students to learn about their city’s history while using active and sustainable transportation. Another highlight was the opportunity to listen to and speak with members of the Saskatoon City government, including the Mayor, which was an enlightening reflection on relationships with government, the dynamics of public administration, and the challenges and complexities involved in these issues and how they affect efforts to implement knowledge when it comes to municipalities.
The Institute also offered us the opportunity to have a hands-on activity through the Learning Hubs and the River of Life activity, where we could count on the invaluable contribution of the urban planners/engineers to work on real implementation cases using a knowledge implementation framework. These exercises were extremely vivid opportunities to get a sense of the implementation issues in the cities and the challenges and complexities involved.
If you ask me if I really enjoyed the CapaCITY/É Summer Institute, I would say yes, I would do it again!