Working with our partners at Civic Innovation YYC, students are challenged to imagine and creatively utilize light as a protagonist in social innovation projects.  Student teams may start revolutions of place, use light as motivators of people or in ways that affirm, evoke, allude, and defend the natural and human environments we live, love, and work in.  Projects will be practical, social, cultural, promote well being and have impact for our city, work spaces, gathering places, families and friends.  They will enhance quality of life, city resilience, and have the potential for economic diversification in Calgary. 

Civic Innovation YYC is asking two questions: 
1. How can light inspire best practices planning for select "areas of opportunity" as outlined by the City of Calgary to address #resilientyyc shocks and stress categories.
2. How can we use light, light technology, platforms, and systems to engage youth in specific, action-oriented urban resilience projects for Calgary? 

How Vivacity works

24 Hour Challenge

Vivacity 24 Hour Challenge Launch Event (November 24 & 25)
Students from different disciplines and institutions come together in mixed teams to launch the challenge.  Each team will develop a youth engagement strategy, a citizen experiment, a prototype to inspire youth and city workers, and a 5-year scenario for the future that would be supported by the City of Calgary. The proposals, experiments, and prototypes will be judged by a panel made up of experts, community partners and stakeholders.  

During the 24 hours, students will be supported by advisors, mentors, industry leaders and a series of milestones, which will help guide them to success. Through this event, participants will have the opportunity to discover that challenges can breed opportunity, constraint enhances creativity and healthy collaboration fosters incredible results. 

Activation in our community

Winter Semester (January - April 2018)
Students from the 24 Hour Challenge will be registered for a 3-credit course during the winter semester that supports the teams to further develop, refine and implement their idea.  Students will be registered in either Civic Innovation at MRU or Directed Studies in their home institution, and will come together 3 hours weekly with the Vivacity Director, other faculty and community partners for learning mentorship and project completion. 

Community Engagement
Two community for community engagement/citizen experiments will be hosted to engage project and community stakeholders in key questions emerging in the project development process. 

Final Showcase (April 2018)
A final showcase event will feature the outcomes from projects with opportunities for community partners, stakeholders and community members to explore learnings and opportunities emerging from student work.

Get Involved

Registration for the 24 Hour Challenge is now closed. However, we are still looking for individuals that believe that our city needs the talent of our youth, that new ideas and perspectives will positively create the future, and that we can go further together. 

If this sounds like you or you would like to get involved with Vivacity through the Winter course, community dialogues or final showcase, contact us at info@vivacityyyc.com or through the "request more information" button below.