Presentation Schedule
Beyond the Towers – into the Trenches: An Innovative Community-Academy Research Collaboration Model (104667)
Session Chair: Brian Robert Sinclair
Tuesday, 12 May 2026 14:35
Session: Session 3
Room: Room G407 (4F)
Presentation Type: Oral Presentation
Modern cities and contemporary societies confront a myriad of escalating challenges that prove increasingly difficult to address using traditional approaches. From homelessness and poverty to isolation and loneliness, communities struggle to develop places for connection and spaces for support. In many instances order erodes, crime heightens, and fear builds. The built environment plays key roles within equations for quality of life – proving a major determinant of public health. The present research, precedent-setting in substance, scope + scale, considers quality in the environment from a novel perspective. As opposed to conventional ‘in-vitro’ studies, which typically unfold conceptually and operationally within the confines of the university, the present work sees academic researchers collaborating ‘in-situ’ with community, industry and government. As opposed to academics consulting with such sectors, a more innovative model equally positions all players as co-researchers & co-creators. Definitions of quality design are shaped together. Education within society is a shared responsibility. Policy reform is pursued cooperatively. Preconceptions are challenged. The status quo is questioned. Comfort is downplayed. Risk is invited. The five-year investigation into “Quality in Canada’s Built Environment’ assumes an inter-sectoral transdisciplinary posturing that abandons usual design metrics in order to discover emerging dimensions of the city that profoundly influence quality of life. Fundamental in the change of view is exploring, understanding then including lived experience as a central tenet of design thinking. The authors/researchers, one from academia and one from community, investigate how shifts in orientation can usher in new ways of thinking, seeing and being.
Authors:
Brian R. Sinclair, University of Calgary, Canada
Tessa Penich, Vibrant Communities Calgary, Canada
About the Presenter(s)
Dr Brian R. Sinclair is a University ProfessorPrincipal Lecturer at University of Calgary in Canada
Connect on Linkedin
https://www.linkedin.com/in/dr-brian-r-sinclair-phd-drhc-fraic-aia-intl-2167048/
See this presentation on the full schedule – Tuesday Schedule
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