Winter 2021

City Idea Lab allows post-secondary students to work directly with faculty and city staff to co-design solutions to local issues through knowledge transfer, dialogue, and experimentation. Each semester, students work on unique city-identified challenge questions.

Students focused on the following challenge questions. Click on each link for more information.

1. How might the City of Oshawa work to dismantle anti-racism and anti-Black racism through one of the following themes: a) education, training, and awareness building; b) policies and procedures; and c) community development, community engagement and partnerships?

2. How can the city move towards effectively implementing two age-based youth councils? How can the city move forward with exploring the concept of a youth social media position and a youth social media platform?

3. How might the city establish an urban beekeeping program that ensures the health and wellbeing of community and pollinators?

4. How might vacant properties in the city be developed in a unique way to build innovative and sustainable communities?

5. How might the city develop an augmented reality platform to enhance the visitor experience in Oshawa Downtown, Trails, and OVBG with accessibility in mind?

6. How can the City of Oshawa develop a strategy and consider how parks will be structured and developed in the future to ensure that the demographic needs of older residents can be met? What can the City of Oshawa and the Oshawa Seniors Community Centre (OSCC55+) do to reduce the risk of social isolation for people who do not have the ability or financial resources to use the internet?

7. How can we reach older adults who may not have the financial resources or ability to use digital technology?

8. How might the city tell stories of the impact of TeachingCity and City Idea Lab? How might the city tell good stories?

9. How might the City of Oshawa share stories of the community through public art?

10. How can the City of Oshawa best utilize its cultural economy to aid in post-COVID recovery while also using this opportunity to better support and strengthen the cultural sector?