All Saints’ Anglican Church in Waterloo won the best Shared Spaces project award at the annual competition hosted by the School of Cities at University of Toronto and the Canadian Urban Institute.
The results were presented at the Canadian Urban Institute’s State of Canadian Cities Summit in Ottawa on December 3 and 4, 2025.
Around 150 projects were submitted for the competition in this category and 89 were selected to be presented as the examples of successful local solutions from across Canada.
Each December, the Summit brings together hundreds of urban professionals, policy makers, business leaders, community advocates, and academics to assess the health of Canadian cities and shape their future.
Detailing All Saints’ success as the “spotlighted solution”, the organizers presented SideWalk Community as part of an extensive redevelopment of the church’s property to provide one of the only in-neighbourhood community centres in the city.
“The creation of the community centre stemmed from the realization that there was a lack of spaces for recreation and connection in this rapidly changing neighbourhood with a large percentage of new Canadians, visible minorities, and families with limited disposable income."
By thoughtfully repurposing church property and listening to local voices, community champions and church volunteers created an essential community amenity in the SideWalk Community Centre.
As stated in the "spotlighted solution", All Saints' example "demonstrates how churches can fill gaps in 'third places' and strengthen community life at the neighbourhood level."