What Others Say About Co-Design...

Sue Harvey, Project Manager, Hastings Park/PNE Project, Vancouver. March, 2004...

“The contribution of the Co-Design Group over the weekend was just fabulous. From the stakeholder workshop through the Ideas Fair, all participants were impressed and engaged by your process.”

Susan Palmer, Senior Planner, City of Calgary, in letter to Stanley King accompanying Award of Excellence for the Bow Valley Centre Concept Plan 15 November 2001...

“The creativity of the Co-Design process and the civility modelled by yourself and the artists were exemplary.”

Bow Valley Centre Newsletter, City of Calgary, February, 1999...

“One word can sum up the results from the Co-Design Fair in early November ­ WOW!”

J.K.Gray, Chairman, and Anne S. Tingle, Executive Director, Science Alberta Foundation, letter 22 October, 1990...

“You and your partners have been so gracious and helpful to work with that it made the planning process a pleasure.”

Mayor Monica Chesney, Ponoka, Alberta, quoted in The Cornerstone, Spring 1995...

“We ran a Co-Design workshop in 1992....as a result we committed $600,000 to the work.”

Lynn Kennedy, Councillor, City of Vancouver, letter 19 July, 1993...

“It was a challenge, I’m sure, for you to illustrate our views as some of the concepts were hard-to-define ideas. However, we all were delighted with your interpretations.”

David Marshall, Chairman of the Inglewood, Calgary, Community Planning Committee. Quoted in Canadian Heritage, Spring 1988 “Street Smarts” by Lynn Neumann McDowell...

“At traditional community meetings one or two ideas are tossed out initially, and the rest of the discussion is basically repetition and restatement. The drawings keep ideas flowing. People’s ideas become real when they are drawn up. With images to look at fresh ideas keep coming up and the exchanges are focused and concise.”

Citation by CMHC on National Award for Co-Design 1997...

“Co-Design is a form of public participation, but it differs from other forms of design consultation in that it is “pre-conceptual”. That means that even before the design process begins, people are asked to visualize a preferred way of living. Their thoughts and imaginings are then recorded graphically in a series of pictures, and these provide a design framework for the architect. Co-Design operates on the assumption that positive community involvement in design generates harmony and a healthy psychology in individuals and communities alike. Especially in urban areas that are confronted with complex and controversial design issues, Co-Design gets people on the same wavelength and working together.”

Calgary City Planner, Philip Dack, comparing Co-Design to other participation processes. Quoted in Co-Design: A Process of Design Participation by Stanley King et al (New York: Van Nostrand Reinhold, 1989); evaluation by Andre Iffrig...

“The members of Co-Design are artists and architects who know how to relate to city planners but who can also relate to participants at community design workshops. Co-Design promotes a collaborative approach to design which tends to produce a higher quality of public input. The professional quality of the work is also more easily understood by the city, and the results tend to be more highly valued by both the community and planners. At the same time, people in the community have been encouraged by the outcome of the design workshop to participate more fully in the neighbourhood planning process.”

Architect Bruce MacKenzie of Poon MacKenzie Architects, letter 10 January, 1997...

“The workshop you conducted for us in Okotoks was a real success. With over forty people in attendance, many with their own agendas, I was skeptical that the process would result in any worthwhile information. However, the experience we had was very worthwhile. The participants were excited about the process and welcomed the opportunity to give input into the design. We have gone back many times to the information we collected to test our design ideas. Politically, the process seems to have been a total success as well. We were able to win over many difficult and negative people during the workshop. In short the process was great!”