What to expect once you get started:
Welcome to the Medicine Hat Community Action Lab
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Public Event #1 (February 7, 2023)
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Session #1: Strong Towns Core Principles
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- 1.1. Principles of a Strong Town
- 1.2. Excerpt from Strong Towns
- 1.3. Complex versus Complicated and Spooky Wisdom (11:10)
- 1.4. Taco John's of Brainerd
- 1.5. Growth versus Productivity (13:55)
- 1.6. Optional Deep Dive
- 1.7. Discussion Items
- Course: Strong Towns 101
- Reading: Bottom Up Revolution
- Assignment: Three Topics to Discuss
- Activity: Humbly Observe
- Action Team Session March 2, 2023 (88:08)
Session #2: The Bottom-Up Approach
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- 2.1. Chaotic But Smart
- 2.2. Excerpt from Strong Towns
- 2.3. One Example: Bottom-Up Street Design (59:44)
- 2.4. Activity: Action Team Break Out Session
- Struggle 1: Mustard Seed
- Struggle 2: Dangerous School Crosswalk
- Struggle 3: Lack of Vibrancy in Downtown
- Struggle 4: Unwelcoming Pedestrian Tunnel
- Why Bad Street Design is Both Costly and Deadly
- Action Team Session March 16, 2023 (91:09)
- Additional Resources & Optional Readings
Leadership Team Briefing (March 27, 2023)
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Session #3: An Economic Plan for Your Community
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Session #4: The Growth Ponzi Scheme
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- 4.1. Introduction: The Growth Ponzi Scheme (1:44)
- 4.2. Growth or Stability
- 4.3. Exploring the Transactions of the Growth Ponzi Scheme (8:33)
- 4.4. Bonus: This Ponzi Scheme Might END Suburban Prosperity (10:22)
- 4.5. How Do We Respond?
- 4.6. Optional Deep Dive
- 4.7. Discussion
- 4.8. Assignment: Data Collection (4:36)
- Action Team Session April 13, 2023 (117:35)
Session #5: The Real Reason Cities Have Annual Budget Shortfalls
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- 5.1. Introduction
- 5.2. A Lesson from Winnipeg
- 5.3. What is a Rational Response?
- 5.4. What does "stop" really mean?
- 5.5. Spotlight on Medicine Hat
- 5.6. Can Medicine Hat build a better mousetrap? (10:10)
- 5.7. Optional Deep Dive
- 5.8 Discussion
- 5.9. Assignment: Data Collection (2:17)
- Action Team Session April 27, 2023 (108:48)
Session #6: What It Means to Know Something is True
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- 6.1. Introduction
- 6.2. The Limits of Knowledge (4:20)
- 6.3. An Infinite Game
- 6.4. How to Make Decisions When We Can't Predict the Future (2:21)
- 6.5. Spotlight on Medicine Hat
- 6.6. Optional Deep Dive
- 6.7. Discussion
- 6.8 Action Team Assignment (1:33)
- Action Team Session May 11, 2023
- Action Team Session May 25, 2023 (87:31)
Leadership Team Briefing (May 25, 2023)
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Session #7: Measuring Success
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- 7.1. Introduction
- 7.2. What is a Good Project
- 7.3. Measuring Winning
- 7.4. Spotlight: Medicine Hat
- 7.5. Discussion
- Action Team Study: Healthy Development Patterns
- Action Team Study: Value Per Acre
- Assignment (Action Team)
- Action Team Session June 8, 2023 (109:59)
- Action Team Session: June 22, 2023 (89:22)
Event #2 (June 13-14, 2023)
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Session #8: Who is Leading Growth?
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- 8.0. Introduction
- 8.1. Growth Patterns (3:07)
- 8.2. Who leads growth?
- 8.3. Citizen developers and incremental growth (3:18)
- 8.4. Spotlight Medicine Hat: Citizen Development
- 8.5. Deep Dive
- 8.6. Discussion
- 8.7. Action Team Study: How Do We Improve Productivity of a Development?
- Action Team Session: July 6, 2023 (121:14)
- Action Team Session: July 20, 2023 (102:58)
Action Team Studies & Activities
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- Action Team Activity: Overview
- Action Team Activity: Development Communication
- Action Team Activity: Downtown's Radically Different Approach to Washrooms
- Action Team Activity: Micro Grant or Major Struggle
- Action Team Activity: What's My Liability?
- Action Team Session: August 3, 2023 (88:59)
- Action Team Review: Budget Misalignment
- Action Team Session: August 17, 2023 (90:25)
- Action Team Session: August 31, 2023 (270:08)
Leadership Team Briefing 3: July 24, 2023
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Tough Conversations: What does development look like in a Strong Town?
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Tough Conversations: Should Cities Run a Profit?
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Session #9: Citizen as Developer
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- 9.0. Introduction
- 9.1. What Does Citizen as Developer Mean? (4:19)
- 9.2. The Regulatory Approach (5:24)
- 9.3. Nurturing Citizen Investment (7:08)
- 9.4. Citizen Development and Housing (1:49)
- 9.5. Example: Building an Accessory Dwelling Unit in Windsor, ON
- 9.6. Discussion
- 9.7. Deep Dive
- Action Team Session: September 28, 2023 (118:53)
Helpful Resources: Accessory Dwelling Units
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- Additional Resource: Accessory Dwelling Units
- Building an Accessory Dwelling Unit in Windsor, ON
- How to Navigate the Obstacles of Building an Accessory Dwelling Unit
- Accessory Dwelling Units: A Flexible, Free-Market Housing Solution
- Medicine Hat Secondary Suites
- Big Win for ADUs: FHA To Count Rental Income for Mortgages
- The Controversy over Accessory Dwelling Units (14:07)
Leadership Team Briefing 4: September 25, 2023
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Helpful Resource: Pre-Approved Building Plans
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Session #10: Municipal Government as the Highest Form of Collaboration
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Local Lessons: Medicine Hat Success Stories
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- To Address Public Washroom Shortage, This City Took an Incremental Approach
- This City Is Not Waiting for a Crash To Happen Before Creating a Safer Street
- How Should Canada’s Cities Use the Housing Accelerator Fund?
- One Meeting and $3,000 Dollars Created More Value for This City Than a $300,000 Project
Reviewing Medicine Hat Success Stories
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- Traffic Calming Projects
- Downtown Bathroom Facilities
- Towne Square
- Housing Accelerator Fund (HAF) Grant
- Mustard Seed Marketing Campaign
- Land Use Bylaw (LUB) Amendments and LUB Refresh
- City-wide Open House
- Upcoming Project: Facilities for the Future
- Additional Successes: 2022/2023
- Action Team Session: October 12, 2023 (91:30)
- Action Team Session: October 26, 2023 (119:27)
Next Smallest Steps
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Session #11: Building and Leveraging Confidence
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- 11.0. Introduction
- 11.1. Using One-Time Money Well
- 11.2. Focus on Investments That Bring a Return
- 11.3.a. Nurture Citizen Development
- 11.3.b. Nurturing Citizen Development: The Next Smallest Steps
- 11.4.a. Encourage Infill Development with Pre-approved Building Plans
- 11.4.b. Creating a Pre-approved Building Program: The Next Smallest Steps
- 11.5. Discussion
- 11.6. Deep Dive
Session #12: Transparent Local Accounting
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- 12.0. Introduction
- 12.1. #DoTheMath
- 12.2. The Challenge Presented by Modern Accounting Practices (9:17)
- 12.3. Assets and Liabilities (7:13)
- 12.4. Case Study: Liabilities in Lake County
- 12.5. Flying Blind
- 12.6. Case Study: Flying Blind in Norman, Oklahoma
- 12.6.b. Case Study: Industrial Park in Medicine Hat, Alberta
- 12.7. What Can We Do? (6:23)
- 12.8. Action Team Activity: Updating the Business Model
- 12.9. Deep Dive
Event #3 (November 28-29, 2023)
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Neighborhood Evolution Webinar
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Taking Action
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Housing Accelerator Fund
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Pre-Approved Building Plans Webinar with Matthew Petty
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Roundtable Sessions
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- Action Team Contacts
- Roundtable 1: February 1, 2024 (95:29)
- Roundtable 2: March 7, 2024 (88:48)
- Roundtable 3: April 9, 2024 (96:34)
- Roundtable 4: May 8, 2024 (87:38)
- Roundtable 5: June 5, 2024 (94:41)
- Roundtable 6: July 10, 2024 (92:39)
- Roundtable 7: August 8, 2024 (97:45)
- Roundtable 8: September 3, 2024 (376:36)
- Roundtable 9: October 9, 2024 (68:08)
- Roundtable 10: November 6, 2024 (92:00)
- Roundtable 11: December 11, 2024 (87:33)
Visualizing Growth
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