“Victoria” Coolkit is a visual and fun guide for people to engage with family, friends, and neighbours on issues and solutions related to urban forestry and climate change in their neighbourhood. The Coolkit project originated at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver by Dr. Stephen Sheppard, Faculty of Forestry, and his team. They created and introduced the Citizen’s Coolkit on Climate Change & Urban Forestry, from which the “Victoria” Coolkit was adapted.
The aim of the Victoria Coolkit is to help local residents better understand and improve the value of green spaces in the city, to provide a new way of understanding the climate crisis at the neighbourhood level, and to bridge individual ideas to neighbourhood-wide actions. The project developed tools and guides to gradually ramp up community engagement through conversations, maps, visioning and action.
The first Victoria cohort launched downtown in June 2023, under the umbrella of the Victoria Downtown Residents Association. A second city cohort launched in October 2023 under the auspices of the South Jubilee Neighbourhood Association. A third city cohort launched in January 2024 under the auspices of the Vic West Community Association.