VDNS and Gen Why Media (GWM) have recently teamed-up to create the 'Civic Renewal Lab' (CRL), a community hub centred on civic engagement that connects the creative community to non-profits, businesses, government and communities to discuss civic issues, identify shared interests and collaborate on citizen-centred solutions to public challenges. As an alternative to traditional civic engagement processes, the goal of the CRL is to shift citizens from being consumers to active shapers of policies, programs, public space and civic services. The CRL’s goal advances the mission of the VDNS by attempting to lower the barriers-to-entry that currently keep certain publics and populations from engaging in the politics and culture of their city.

Our collective goal is to create and operate an innovative engagement space known as the 'Mobile Town Hall' or MoTH, that will move throughout the city to enhance community assets by acting as a Cross-fertilization incubator and a Multi-tenant co-location & performance space.

Using various Jam formats, MoTH, which will be hosted by the CRL, will host a series of dialogues, workshops, public planning and design+build sessions that foster citizen engagement, identify areas of community concern, and provide solutions for those concerns. The four themes we shall address align with the Vancouver's Mayors Engaged City Task Force's Final Report: 1. Building Trust, 2. Building Capacity, 3. Building Knowledge, and 4. Building Power.

Design, Development and Operation of MoTH would take place in three parts over a two-year period, with 1. Jan–June 2014 acting as the Design-phase, 2. July–Dec 2014 acting as the Development/Buildphase and 3. Jan–Dec 2015 as the Operation/Hosting phase.