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"City Studio provides an opportunity for the City to engage the creativity and energy of the students at Grenfell. Their fresh, informed perspective supports our planning, tourism and economic development goals." – Jim Parsons, mayor, Corner Brook

Now in its fourth year, Grenfell Campus's CityStudio program puts students in the middle of real-world applications.

Student enrolled in Geography 3350: Community and Regional Development and Planning have worked on plans for the repurposing of downtown public space, sustainable redevelopment of the waterfront, winter outdoor recreation hubs and plans for development of the Bartlett's Point Park area.

"Students develop projects that are focused on municipal issues, and present those plans to city council and city staff on completion," said Dr. Roza Tchoukaleyska, professor of geography, who has taught the course for the last four years. "The students work in groups, using an experiential learning format with reflections, peer reviews and written assignments. Basically, CityStudio applies experiential learning techniques while creating opportunities for collaboration with the City of Corner Brook."

CityStudio is based on a model from Vancouver, B.C., consisting of a partnership between the City of Vancouver and six university and college campuses. In Vancouver, CityStudio is an experimentation and innovation hub inside City Hall where faculty, students and city staff co-create, design and launch real projects that have a positive impact in our community. The goal of CityStudio is to find innovative solutions to complex problems while giving students tangible skills working on real projects.

"City Studio provides an opportunity for the City to engage the creativity and energy of the students at Grenfell," said Corner Brook Mayor Jim Parsons. "Their fresh, informed perspective supports our planning, tourism and economic development goals."

Fourth-year environment and sustainability student Jillian Chaulk described the program as an "eye-opening experience," wishing there were more courses like this in her program.

"The CityStudio course was great. The ability to work outside the traditional classroom setting, and the opportunity to work with the City of Corner Brook, especially the planning department, was very insightful," said Ms. Chaulk. "To apply the regional planning and developmental techniques and approaches learned in class and to collaborate and receive feedback from initial idea to final proposal in front of the Mayor and city staff was a new and exciting learning experience."

Plans to expand the course to other courses/subject areas, such as environmental policy and visual arts, are currently being considered. For more information, visit Grenfell's CityStudio website.