Vancouver is widely recognized for its progressive mobility network and sustained investment in public transit. Automated, grade-separated systems such as the Canada Line and the Millennium Line/Evergreen Extension deliver exceptional frequency and ridership, while active-transportation routes like the Seaside Greenway and beloved trails such as the Grouse Grind make the city one of North America’s most mobility-rich urban environments. Yet, like all cities, Vancouver faces ongoing challenges around mobility equity—ensuring that transportation systems are not just efficient, but inclusive, joyful, and responsive to the diverse ways people move through the city.

As part of a broader engagement strategy for the Granville Bridge Connector redevelopment, Jay Pitter Placemaking led one of three core components: the development of a gender-responsive engagement process designed to understand the needs, aspirations, and lived experiences of women and gender-diverse people. This case study focuses on that component, which complemented a larger body of work that included professional development sessions with transit planners, engineers, and urban planners; audits across multiple public spaces; and dedicated Indigenous youth engagement.

A cornerstone of this work was an immersive storytelling audit that brought more than 100 women and gender-diverse individuals together to walk the bridge and envision how it might better support their daily lives. To ensure the process was grounded in local expertise and lived experience, Jay subcontracted a Vancouver-based woman to serve as project manager, who in turn assembled a team of expert storytellers and audit guides. This group included an Indigenous woman and former city councillor with deep knowledge of urbanism and governance; a disabled woman who regularly traverses the bridge using a wheelchair and could speak to physical and social accessibility; a young trans woman who illuminated how safety and perception shape mobility for those not read as heteronormative; and a caregiver whose insights broadened the conversation beyond child-rearing to include elder care and intergenerational responsibility.

Before the main audit, these storytellers conducted their own pre-audit of the bridge and participated in a storytelling audit training designed and led by Jay Pitter Placemaking. Equipped with templates and guided reflection tools, they prepared to share not only their lived experiences but also their expert insights. During the main event, they were stationed at designated stops along and around the bridge, where they shared their stories with the walking group. As participants—many accompanied by children, elders, or younger relatives—moved from stop to stop, they engaged with prompts that encouraged them to reflect on what they heard and contribute their own observations.

The engagement concluded with opportunities for participants to share feedback and stories through written forms, deepening the qualitative data collected. The session was framed by community-building rituals, including a pre-session meetup at a local business and a celebratory gathering, reinforcing the project’s grounding in public joy as both a process and an outcome.

Crucially, this audit was not designed merely to document problems— as conventional audits often are—but to adopt an asset-based lens that explored how women and gender-diverse people could experience public joy in and around the Granville Bridge. This approach enabled the translation of lived experiences, concerns, and aspirations into holistic design and policy recommendations that ranged from enhanced street safety and the installation of benches and public restrooms to the integration of public art. These outcomes were possible precisely because the process was rooted in a public joy framework, which shifted the focus from scarcity and absence to possibility and delight.

By positioning public joy at the heart of mobility planning, this project demonstrated how transportation infrastructure can transcend its functional role to become a site of connection, dignity, and delight. Through this gender-responsive approach, Jay Pitter Placemaking provided the City of Vancouver with actionable strategies for creating a more inclusive, sustainable, and joyful mobility network—one that transforms streets from conduits of movement into vibrant public spaces where everyone can navigate the city with safety, belonging, and joy.