Bridging academia and community: CityStudio celebrates student innovation

Posted on Monday, April 15th, 2024

CityStudio Ottawa is a partnership between the City of Ottawa, Algonquin College, Carleton University and the University of Ottawa. It aims to explore municipal challenges from different perspectives by bringing together students, faculty and city employees.

On Thursday, Ottawa Mayor Mark Sutcliffe and city employees welcomed students and faculty to City Hall for CityStudio’s 2024 HUBBUB. Held at the end of each academic year, HUBBUB is a networking event and exhibit showcasing a curated selection of student projects from each of the participating institutions.

Congratulations to Algonquin College students Andres Alvear, Luke He, Nungshi Singh, Panthi Chavda and Yash Gokhale for their winning project, titled “Plugging into the Future.”

“This project changed my mindset towards using a user-centred approach because I realized how the insights extracted directly from people’s needs give a clear direction for meaningful intervention,” said Alvear.

At the event, students with top projects from each institution pitched their project or spoke about their CityStudio experience, as did city employees. Submitted projects were judged by a committee of one professor or faculty member from each institution and one city representative. The projects were scored for innovation, impact, scalability and problem-solving.

The Mayor congratulated all participants and highlighted how CityStudio is a platform to share ideas, bring together different perceptions and build meaningful relationships across organizations for mutual benefit. Sarah Taylor, Director of Community Safety, Well-Being, Policy, and Analytics for the City of Ottawa, stated: “it is hoped that these students not only apply their academic learning in real-world contexts but also emerge as civic leaders, engaged in local policies, programs and government.”

Participation growing every year

CityStudio was founded in Vancouver in 2011 out of the need to engage students in civic issues that matter where they live and work. It launched in Ottawa in 2022, with the initial projects focused on priorities in the city’s Community Safety and Well-Being Plan. Thanks to last year’s success, the program expanded to include Algonquin College and Carleton University. At the city, it is also being expanded to support the 2023-2026 term of council priorities.

This year, CityStudio Ottawa had 950 students participating from across the three institutions. Sixty-two project proposals were matched with 43 City employees, including from the Ottawa Paramedic Service and Ottawa Public Health, who led the projects aligned with the schools’ courses or areas of concentration.

Poster exhibit open to the public

The public is encouraged to learn more about the innovative work of CityStudio Ottawa by visiting the exhibit at City Hall in front of Jean Pigott Place, from now until April 26.

There is a curated selection of projects on display. You can vote for your favourite as the People’s Choice Award using the QR code found on the projects.

Reprinted and adapted with permission from City of Ottawa/Ville d’Ottawa

• Posted in
• Words
• Tags: