Residents in downtown St. Catharines are pleased with downtown revitalization efforts, but would like to see more open spaces and places to sit, relax and stroll, according to research by Brock University’s Niagara Community Observatory (NCO).

“They want to see places where people are comfortable and engaged in pleasurable, low-cost or free leisure activities,”said Brock geography Professor Michael Ripmeester, who surveyed 300 residents as part of the NCO’s research paper released this summer, Downtown revitalization in St. Catharines: Building the public space.

Downtown renewal will be the topic of a public forum led by a panel featuring Ripmeester, St. Catharines Mayor Walter Sendzik and Brock Faculty of Education Interim Dean David Siegel. The meeting takes place Monday, Sept. 26 from 10 a.m. to noon in Room 207 of the Cairns Family Health and Bioscience Complex at Brock.

The NCO is a research unit at Brock that produces policy briefs and activities that address a wide range of issues on current and emerging trends at the regional, provincial and national levels.

Topics covered in past research briefs include: the presence and impacts of poverty in Niagara; representation on municipal councils in Ontario; and barriers to post-secondary education.

The panel discussion is open to the media and the general public. There’s no cost to attend.

Niagara Community Observatory Panel Discussion

What: Presentation and panel discussion on the topic: Downtown revitalization in St. Catharines: Building the public space

Who: Mike Ripmeester, Professor of Geography, Brock University; Walter Sendzik, Mayor, City of St. Catharines; David Siegel, Interim Dean, Faculty of Education, Brock University

When: Monday, Sept. 26, 10 a.m. – noon

Where: Cairns Family Health and Bioscience Complex, Room 207, Brock University.