The City Project breaks down the many hands working to make Winnipeg a better place, and how all cities can improve their future.
January, 2025 – The City Project, edited by Michel and Emma Durand-Wood, explores the various puzzle pieces that make up a city. Tackling topics like transit, finance, housing, social justice, urban trees and beyond, each book will explore a key aspect of the city, its current state of affairs and how we can make changes so that, 50 years from now, Winnipeg is a stronger place. Great Plains Press launches The City Project as part of their Spring 2025 season.
Winnipeg is the case study for The City Project. But, as anyone working to make their city a better place can tell you, all cities across North America have followed a similar pattern of development over the last 75 years. While Winnipeg is the focus of The City Project, the lessons learned will be universal.
“In Winnipeg, like most cities, we are guilty of spending a lot of time and energy complaining about what we don’t like. As we come to the end of our 150th anniversary year, we want to cast our eyes forward to the Winnipeg of 2074. What are all of the puzzle pieces that we need to shift to ensure the next generation of Winnipeggers inherit a more sustainable, healthy and happy city?” asks publisher Mel Marginet. “Emma and Michel do so much in their neighbourhood of Elmwood, and across the city, to change the conversation. They are curating a stellar list of writers to help all Winnipeggers to better understand this place, and how much potential we have to build a truly fantastic city.”
As series editors Michel and Emma Durand-Wood share
“A city is never finished: it’s an ongoing project. And it’s said that the most successful places are those built by many hands. Guided by these principles, our goal with this series is to inform and inspire you. But more importantly, whether you’re in Winnipeg or elsewhere, we want it to spur you to action. We all have a role to play in shaping the city we want, and we hope these books will help you find yours.”
Books in The City Project are approximately 100 pages, meant to be “read in one afternoon”. These books can be enjoyed by academics, but are meant to welcome all people into the conversation about building a better place, whether you live in Winnipeg or any city across North America. The writers share their expertise in plain language. Those whose curiosity is piqued will be invited to learn more as each writer will share their favourite books, podcasts and channels to learn more about each subject.
The series kicks off with two titles for Spring 2025:
How we can afford a great city for everyone, forever
Michel Durand-Wood
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?
Reclaiming meeting places through acts of resistance and resurgence
Sadie Lavoie
In Decolonizing Public Places, Sadie Lavoie explores the history of Indigenous resistance within Winnipeg since Idle No More in 2012, and how that protest played a pivotal role in the Indigenous cultural resurgence of reclaiming space within the city. Lavoie uses their experience to uncover how Indigenous people used places and spaces to revive their decolonial narratives from Indigenous ways of living, knowing and being. As public space in Winnipeg is reclaimed, Lavoie discovers how this newfound inclusion is shaping relationships within Indigenous communities, as well as how this movement connects Indigenous nations with their co-existing treaty partners.
Both titles in The City Project are available for pre-order now!
Great Plains Press titles are distributed in the USA by IPG, and in Canada by PGC/Raincoast.
Are you interested in booking Michel, Emma or Sadie for an interview? Please contact Great Plains Press to arrange:
Angeline Javier
Marketing Director
Great Plains Press
marketing@greatplanspress.ca | 204-475-6799
