Age-Friendly Carberry

Jennifer Asaim, Jaclyn Gavas, and Max Neustaedter

Street view of a row of historic brick buildings under a clear blue sky. Signs include "Carberry Administration Office" and "Modern Bakery." Quiet, small-town ambiance.

Project

We are three students from the University of Manitoba in our first year of our Master of City Planning degree. This project was done as part of our Age Friendly Studio directed by Dr. Richard Milgrom. We began this project in September 2023 and completed it at the end of December 2023. Throughout this project we were able to meet several times with various stakeholders in the town of Carberry including a group of seniors, a few members of council as well as the director of Service for Seniors to better understand how to make Carberry age-friendly for its residents. Combining what we heard with our own observations as well as research conducted about what other rural towns are doing, we were able to create suggestions to make Carberry more age friendly. Carberry has many strengths and so much potential, we believe these suggestions would create a more vibrant and connected community for residents and visitors alike.

Phases

Our project was split into three different phases listed below. Throughout each phase we were able to gather more information to create ten suggestions.

Phase 1 
Our research team first came to Carberry and met with a group of eight older adults in September 2023. This meeting allowed us to gather preliminary information about what seniors liked and disliked about the town’s services and built form. At this meeting, we got to know Deb Steen, the director of Service for Seniors in Carberry. Deb has a great relationship with the older adults in town and goes above and beyond with the services she provides to the seniors of Carberry.

Phase 2 
This next phase allowed us to create our suggestions for what we wanted to see for the town of Carberry. We combined the information we gathered at this first meeting, our own observations and did some research about what other small towns are doing to provide important services and amenities to seniors. After compiling all this information, we had two subsequent meetings with our focus group. The first was in October, and the last meeting was at the end of November 2023, pictured in Figure 10. Together, we brainstormed ideas and were able to create options and suggestions for how to make Carberry age friendly.

Phase 3 
Our final suggestions for the town are presented here. This document is a combination of research, observations, and great ideas from the group of seniors and councilors who worked with us during our meetings. We believe the suggestions provided could help make Carberry a better place for seniors to age in place and maintain independence while also ensuring that the town is a vibrant hub for the municipality.