For many, winter is one of the toughest seasons of the year. There are few hours of daylight, the sun sets at 4pm, cold rain and snow hampers our desire to do anything out of the house and seasonal depressive disorder sets in and our small businesses struggle to attract customers... but it doesn't have to be that way! Some of the coldest, darkest winter communities have found the light and warmth of winter and discovered strategies and tactics to embrace the cold weather season outdoors, and we should all join them.
These places have embraced the Scandinavian concept of Hygee, noun, "a quality of coziness and comfortable conviviality that engenders a feeling of contentment or well-being." An important part of any successful winter city strategy, beyond the physical interventions, is a change of attitude. One thing I learned from Isla Tanaka, Edmonton's Winter City Planner, was the importance of encouraging local meteorologists to talk about winter differently. To remind people that, the vast majority of winter days aren't frigidly cold, dark and stormy and to take advantage of those beautiful sunny cold days in the winter. Encouraging people to get outdoors, a bit of exercise some vitamin D and time saying hello to a friendly face in a local cafe, shop or restaurant goes a long, long way during some of the toughest months of the year.
Winter City Edmonton
With an average high of just 18F in February, The City of Edmonton is perhaps one of the best examples of a community willing to embrace the cold weather season and throw out the idea that we need to hibernate for 1/4 of the year and begin to embrace the cold and dark season through a coordinated strategy. Led by winter city planner Isla Tanaka, Edmonton has embraced the winter outdoors by incorporating winter best practices into their broader municipal planning strategies.
The City's approach to winter is the antithesis of many other North American Cities who roll up outdoor dining patios and hunker down for the winter season (a winter season getting warmer and less snowy in many places). In Edmonton, they fully embrace the season, going so far as to implement a grant program to help businesses adapt to outdoor dining in the winter season in addition to an extensive lineup of winter season events.
LIVING In a Winter Of Festivals And Accessible Winter Recreation
A few hundred miles to the east, Montreal embraces winter through a series of frosty festivals that attract visitors from across the world and are the envy of other North American winter cities.
Beyond just their festival scene, Montreal also makes a concerted effort to make winter sports more approachable, and get people outdoors and active in the winter season. Free ice skating rinks are maintained in public parks across the City as well as cross country ski trails. In addition, sports equipment is available to rent or borrow at low or no cost in public parks and at neighborhood library branches. Not only do these programs and activities get people outdoors, but they service to bring people back to Downtown and Main Street, into places where they can support small businesses who may struggle during the cold and dark winter season.
Embracing Winter in New England, Improving Public Health While Supporting Small Business
In the past few years we've seen numerous communities across Massachusetts embracing the benefits of winter placemaking. Through the Winter Places program I previously lead during my time at Patronicity, with generous funding support from the Barr Foundation, we enabled communities to rapidly deploy tactical, impactful winter placemaking projects in response to the pandemic with the goal of; 1) giving people a safe space to gather outdoors and 2) support small businesses during the most difficult time of the year in the midst of the most difficult year in many of their lives. The Winter Places 2 guide includes in depth reports on the impact of these 12 winter placemaking projects and tips to develop your own!
In Fall River, Winter Bridge activated a vacant lot in the heart of downtown, turning the space into a warm inviting ski mountain type environment complete with trees, lights, warming stations and even a Yeti. In North Adams, a custom wood burning fire pit was installed on their main street to welcome visitors and provide a passive place for people to come and enjoy the outdoors with friends. In Worcester, the BID continues and grows an annual tradition alongside the City of Common Festival of Lights and ice skating, drawing hundreds of visitors on weekends into the Downtown core. In Salem, year two of the Frozen Fire Festival sponsored by the Anthem Group drew large crowds to Downtown Salem.
Looking to embrace winter outdoors in your community, property or development project. We can help! Email us and let's setup time to discuss your winter placemaking needs.
Winter Placemaking Resources
Winter Places Guide: In the winter of 2020, a design challenge for winter placemaking, sought ideas and designs for innovative, quickly implementable, low cost interventions to drive visitors back to Main Streets to support area restaurants and small businesses.
Winter Places Guide 2: Includes detailed project reports on 12 winter placemaking projects across Massachusetts as part of a program funded by Barr Foundation, based on a guide and resources produced during last years Winter Places program and information on how you can get support to activate your community during the coming winter. The hope is that this guide serves not only to inspire you to embrace winter outdoors in your community but provides practical tips to help get you there as we continue to work together to find creative ways to build community, foster new relationships and support our local economies.
City of Edmonton, WinterCity Strategy: A roadmap for working together as a community, and for thinking differently, to become a great world-leading winter city.
Comments