Students Build Cities: New Kiosk Design for St. Thomas
Photo: Carley Shearon and Andrew Gunn of young & free press highlight the new kiosk built by students at Parkside Collegiate Institute and installed at the Railway City Skate Park in St. Thomas.
With the dominance of social media and other digital platforms, there is the tendency to overlook the importance of traditional forms of communication. Kiosks installed on city streets and in parks are a tried & true method for promoting events and connecting residents and visitors to what is happening nearby. One special challenge currently is how to engage young people in the flow of information regarding local events and initiatives.
For many years, our team at Andrew Gunn Consulting and young & free press has run the Students Build Cities program in collaboration with the Thames Valley District School Board and STEAM Centre. The goal is to develop opportunities for elementary and secondary school students to participate in the evolution and growth of their communities. Further, we work regularly with university and college students to add a design-thinking approach to generate solutions to challenges facing cities, towns and villages. For these in-depth projects, our team partners with the staff at the STEAM Centre on the STEAM Community Studio – this is an experiential learning and community improvement platform that offers the opportunity for students of all levels to come together and prototype new ideas.
We brought forward the idea of having students examine the design of ‘third spaces’ in downtowns and residential neighbourhoods. In his 1989 book The Great Good Place, American sociologist Roy Oldenburg pioneered the idea of a third place – specifically, social spaces that are district from home (the first place) and work (the second place). There are many examples of such spaces, including libraries, parks, cafés, gyms, galleries, shops, recreation facilities and more. For St. Thomas specifically, we wanted to emphasize the need for kiosks to help promote events happening in the city and to reach young people.
Students from Western University, through the Community Engaged Learning program, were involved in the early stages to prototype potential designs and consider locations. Teachers and students at Parkside Collegiate Institute ultimately took up the challenge of designing and building a new kiosk. In collaboration with City of St. Thomas staff in the Parks and Recreation Department, we decided to install the kiosk at the Railway City Skate Park downtown. This is a busy social and recreation hub for many young people.
The kiosk was installed in October 2026. Funding was generously provided by Entegrus and the Windon Fund at the Elgin St. Thomas Community Foundation. We are deeply grateful to donors who invest in opportunities for students in the community. With the design now set, there is the potential to add more kiosks along trails and in parks in the city. We appreciate the assistance of the wonderful staff in the Parks and Recreation Department at the City of St. Thomas. Municipal support is essential to the success of such projects.
Interested in participating in a future Students Build Cities project? Please feel free to contact Andrew Gunn by email at gunn@andrewgunnconsulting.ca
