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Dr. Meg Holden

As an urban pragmatist, I have always sought out ways to teach urban studies and planning that bring learning from the field and street to learning on the job in practice. Through a lot of iterations over the past 25 years, I have learned that for this kind of learning and practice to work, we need to grow relationships, be willing to share work in progress and make mistakes, and iterate or try different things. Together with Lisa Leblanc and Tiffany Muller Myrdahl, we created the Urban Innovation Lab as an interdisciplinary, interdepartmental space for SFU students and CNW staff to experience and generate innovation in a wide range of urban practices. Teaching this course and building these relationships has been a challenging and rewarding process. From festivals to alleyways to parking spaces, libraries to fire departments to road engineering projects, the Urban Innovation Lab serves as a creative space to demonstrate practice, learning, and partnership.

Dr. Tiffany Muller Myrdahl

One of my passions as a scholar and teacher is grappling with how theory works in practice, and engaging students in assessing how concepts actually work when the rubber meets the road. In the Urban Innovation Lab, the rubber and road were no longer metaphors; instead, they were concepts like liveability and community belonging, being applied to the strategies and work plans of City of New Westminster staff. As an educator, I am deeply invested in improving student understanding of municipal governance and local urban issues, and am equally interested in preparing students to contribute to urban management and the urban professions. For all of these reasons, it was thrilling to work with Meg and Lisa to bring the Lab to life. Equally exciting has been the process design, that has acknowledged and found a way to work within both academic and municipal systems (calendars, timelines, and so on), while centrally involving CNW staff. Early and ongoing conversations about staff labour and relevant participation were critical to ensuring that the Lab would function as a benefit, not a burden, to staff time. The Lab, then, has been an intentional experiment in urban experiential learning that also models collaborative and creative development, which is a rare gift.

Lisa Leblanc

P.Eng., M.Sc., Director of Engineering & Deputy Chief Administrative Officer, City of New Westminster

I am a self-professed local government geek who values opportunities to share my passion for people-centered public service. Working and learning with compassionate, skilled, and committed colleagues to deliver high quality solutions to tough problems brings me great joy. I saw my colleagues share in that joy as we connected with students during the Pilot. Throughout my career, I have come to appreciate that finding innovative solutions to challenging issues is like a dance of ‘doing’ and ‘thinking’. ‘Doing’ includes observing, questioning, experimenting, and noting outcomes and patterns; ‘thinking’ requires us to reflect on what’s been done and what we’ve observed, and then connect the dots by associating diverse concepts and perspectives. Thinking invites us to explore the ‘why’, ‘why not’, and ‘what if’ of situations, it requires us to mess around with constraints and opportunities, and it encourages us to play with ideas, possible solutions, and strategic directions. Meg, Tiffany, and I had the opportunity to engage in this dance of doing and thinking through the development and delivery of the pilot course. When I reflect on the students’ project, I see that they engaged in this way too, as they applied their thinking and explored a wide range of ideas and opportunities in our real-life lab.