Webinar Archives - Gil Penalosa

Susan Pinker • The Outdoor Salon: How Cities can Bring People Together

Gil Peñalosa — Tue, 03 Nov 2026 16:00:00 +0000

The Outdoor Salon is about how cities can humanize their design by incorporating Third Spaces, and by building residences and neighbourhoods that feature these outdoor social salons in their design.

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Jen Angel and Lois Lindsay • THE LOOP: A Trail that Moves Toronto

Gil Peñalosa — Tue, 20 Oct 2026 16:00:00 +0000

The Loop is an over 80km network of trails and public spaces that will connect the city's globally-unique ravines, neighbourhoods, and people. With over three-quarters of the trail route already in place, and further improvements ahead, The Loop will create a welcoming and seamless connection through and around Canada's largest urban centre, brought to life by community hubs, great amenities, public art and ecological stewardship.

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Petra Marko • Starting with Children: From Everyday Places to Transforming Cities

Gil Peñalosa — Tue, 06 Oct 2026 16:00:00 +0000

‘Starting with Children’ offers a practical way to connect placemaking with deeper systemic change: moving from designing individual places to shaping a more inclusive city for all.

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Adriana Akers and Clara Bitter • Thriving Foodscapes: How urban design shapes what we eat

Gil Peñalosa — Tue, 22 Sep 2026 16:00:00 +0000

What we eat is shaped by more than personal preference, nutrition knowledge, or price. The design of our neighborhoods—where food is available and visible, how safely and comfortably we can reach it, and whether public spaces support gathering and eating together—also influences our daily food choices.

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Anna Zivarts • When Driving Isn’t an Option: Steering Away from Car Dependency

Gil Peñalosa — Tue, 08 Sep 2026 16:00:00 +0000

Zivarts shines a light on the frustrating, dangerous, and sometimes deadly situations that nondrivers face every day and outlines steps to center the voices of nondrivers and make transportation more inclusive. Drawing from both her own experiences as a low-vision, non-driving parent and those of nondrivers across the US, Zivarts amplifies voices rarely heard or acknowledged by the people making decisions about transportation design and funding.

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Krista Nightengale • BUILDING BETTER BLOCKS

Gil Peñalosa — Tue, 25 Aug 2026 16:00:00 +0000

Krista Nightengale, Executive Director of Better Block, discusses how after more than a decade of transforming streets and vacant lots into places people want to spend time, the organization has learned a few things about community engagement, urbanism, and life. This talk explores the lessons, successes, and (a few of the) failures that have shaped Better Block's approach. Along the way, Krista challenges some common assumptions about economic development, walkability, community engagement, and what it really takes to create places people love.

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Jim Burke • The Unexpected Power of Open Streets

Gil Peñalosa — Tue, 11 Aug 2026 16:00:00 +0000

Jim focuses on the community building aspect of opening our streets. The programming, mutual aid, cultural celebrations, that then lead to connections, friendships and the “small town vibes” that have resulted from “opening” our streets in the densest city in the US has been something to behold and incredible to experience.

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Doug Gordon & Sarah Goodyear • Imagining a Life After Cars

Gil Peñalosa — Tue, 28 Jul 2026 16:00:00 +0000

Cars as we know them today are unsustainable—but there is hope. Sarah Goodyear and Doug Gordon, hosts of the podcast The War on Cars and the authors of the bestselling book Life After Cars: Freeing Ourselves from the Tyranny of the Automobile, will unpack the scale of damage that cars cause, the forces that have created our current crisis and are invested in perpetuating it, and the way that the fight for better transportation is deeply linked to the fight for a more equitable and just society.

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Mark Nieuwenhuijsen • Can Public Spaces like Barcelona’s Superblocks Make Cities Healthier?

Gil Peñalosa — Tue, 14 Jul 2026 16:00:00 +0000

New urban concepts such as the Barcelona Superblocks, the London low traffic neighbourhood, the Paris 15 Minute city, the Freiburg - Vaugban Car free city or a mixture of these that may go some way in reducing the health burden related to current urban and transport practices. They will reduce air pollution and noise, heat island effects and increase green space and physical activity levels. Particularly the Barcelona Superblock model is promising, but the development in Barcelona itself has come to a standstill. Why, what happened and can it be applied in other cities?

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Dr William Bird and Stephen McPeake • Tech and Games that Create Health

Gil Peñalosa — Tue, 30 Jun 2026 16:00:00 +0000

Intelligent Health’s flagship programme is Beat the Street, which sees communities transformed into a giant game where players achieve points and prizes by walking, wheeling and cycling around their local area. Using gamification, community challenges, and real-world rewards, Civic Dollars has successfully engaged people of all ages and abilities while encouraging healthier lifestyles and stronger social connections.

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