The City Project: Reading and Q&A

Wed. Mar. 11 07:00 PM - Wed. Mar. 11 08:30 PM
Contact: sustainability@uwinnipeg.ca
Location: University of Winnipeg (515 Portage Avenue), Room: 3C00

Please join us for an evening with local authors Michel Durand-Wood and UW's own Patty Wiens, as they discuss the first two books in The City Project series. This event will have a reading, Q&A, and book signing - so make sure to bring your copies!

The City Project imagines what a happier, healthier, more just and more sustainable city could look like – and how we get there.

This event is open to the public and no registration is required.

Book Synopses

You'll Pay for This: Cities provide valuable quality of life amenities like parks, pools and libraries. They’re also responsible for providing critical life-sustaining services, things like sanitation, public safety and clean drinking water. Vitally, they need to be able to do it not only today, but for generations to come. So how do we know if our city can afford to do this forever? And if not, what needs to change?

Most people have no idea what the answer is, or how to find it. But have no fear: help is on the way! Luckily, you can read this book while you wait for it to arrive.

Just kidding – you’re the help. (Or you will be after reading this book.)

That'll Never Work Here: After 32 years of living in the sprawling winter city of Winnipeg and, like most Winnipeggers, relying on her personal vehicle to get around, Brazilian-Canadian Patty Wiens took a fateful bike ride one winter day. After that experience, Patty embraces cycling year-round, uncovering a wealth of unexpected benefits. Inspired by these experiences, she becomes a passionate advocate for safer streets and more transportation options for everyone. And before she knows it, she’s named her city’s first Bicycle Mayor.

Patty dreams of using active transportation as a tool to make Winnipeg a more equitable and safer city for all. With her global experience and open mind, she challenges the idea that what works elsewhere in the world could never work here. So jump on the bicyclewagon– she could use your help!

Participants can purchase copies of both books at the University of Winnipeg Bookstore, and McNally Robinson. 

This event is sponsored by Great Plains Press and the University of Winnipeg Sustainability Office.