Instagrammable walls aim to spark inspiration, conversation in under-construction Churchill Square

City officials are giving a little boost to an area of downtown Edmonton that’s not looking quite itself.

Churchill Square is under construction. The wading pool and other features are getting an upgrade, and popular summer festivals have moved elsewhere because of the work.

But the city is using the changing face of the central square as an opportunity — adding six different “Instagrammable walls” to the construction hoarding.

“We have to make places accessible — and to the extent possible, beautiful — while they’re under construction, not just as an end state,” said Kalen Anderson.

Tweet This Click to share quote on Twitter: "We have to make places accessible — and to the extent possible, beautiful — while they're under construction, not just as an end state," said Kalen Anderson.

“This is an important people place that will welcome thousands of people over the coming summers, but even right now, it’s an important place to be. So it brings a little bit of beauty, a little bit of humility to the space.”

Anderson is the director of The City Plan, which is Edmonton’s long-term plan for accommodating and best serving the city as it grows from 1 million to 2 million people.

The six colourful walls display six words that Edmontonians selected as values that are important to them as the city grows and changes.

“It’s what Edmontonians have told us they care about and what we need to really energize around as we prepare this plan, and then it’s going to be implemented over the coming years, so it’s about thriving and creating and preserving.”

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The six values are: belong, live, thrive, access, preserve and create.

“I think what they’re saying is people love this community deeply, they have great aspiration for it,” Anderson said. “They value what we have. They understand we’ve inherited this beautiful legacy in the last — not only 100 years of a built city — but the thousands of years people have been living here, and they also have ideas for how they want to change and grow and shift.

“There’s a pretty broad recognition that things are changing. People are moving here from around the world and we need to be a welcoming, inclusive place that allows people to create the kind of community they want to call home,” she added.

Tweet This Click to share quote on Twitter: "There's a pretty broad recognition that things are changing. People are moving here from around the world and we need to be a welcoming, inclusive place that allows people to create the kind of community they want to call home," she added.

The city hopes residents will come to Churchill Square and take photos in front of the walls.

“We’d love for people to Instagram this wall and every other wall that’s beautiful in Edmonton — if for no other reason than to just start discovering beautiful spaces and places in our community,” Anderson said.

“We also thought that because we were going to create some construction hoarding, why not leverage the opportunity to try and tell people about The City Plan?”

Tweet This Click to share quote on Twitter: "We also thought that because we were going to create some construction hoarding, why not leverage the opportunity to try and tell people about The City Plan?"

“Beautiful construction hoarding won’t change an area but every little bit adds up to a vibrant place,” she added, “and nice, welcoming, warm signage is one of the ingredients that helps make a place special.”