1. General information
Location and description of the intervention
City or FUA
Winnipeg
Region
Northern America
Native title of the NBS intervention
The Forks and the Winter Waterfront
Short description of the intervention
Winnipeg lies at the confluence of the Assiniboine and the Red River, a location known as 'The Forks', which is the cultural centre and meeting place of the city. "The winter use of the river went through an unprecedented change over the last 10 years, organized by a private company (The Forks North Portage Partnership), that began to operate the 'Red River Mutual Trail', the longest Guinness World Record-holding natural skating trails on the Red and Assiniboine rivers, offering opportunities for skating, curling, cycling, walking, and cross-country skiing, along with cultural events and unique, community-designed warming huts, a restaurant on ice, art exhibitions and other activities. The river trails also links otherwise distant neighborhoods, and functions as a transportation and commuting route with a variety of access and exit points during the city’s typically 4-5 months of winter climate." (Ref.1 p60)
Address

Canada

Location
The NBS is situated in an area, with clear delineation of boundaries and a specific shape (polygon). The NBS project can also have more than one area location (more than one polygon, situated close by).
Area boundary
POINT (-97.12508 49.891083)
POINT (-97.131495 49.889645)
POINT (-97.132274 49.88542)
POINT (-97.129257 49.882537)
POINT (-97.124366 49.886867)
Type of area before implementation of the NBS
Central Business District / City Centre
Website of the intervention
https://www.theforks.com/
Timeline of intervention
Start date of the intervention (planning process)
2007
Start date of intervention (implementation process)
2007
End date of the intervention
ongoing
Present stage of the intervention
Ongoing
Goals of the intervention
1) Turning winter into an enjoyable season by offering opportunities for social interactions, sports and recreation on Winnipeg's riverfronts and on the frozen rivers (1)
2) Revitalizing Winnipeg’s riverfronts as a "Meeting Place" and, all-season gathering and recreational place at the junction of the Red and Assiniboine Rivers, through a mixed-use approach including recreational, historical and cultural, institutional and supportive commercial uses (2)
Quantitative targets
Unknown
Monitoring indicators defined
Unknown
Sustainability challenge(s) addressed
Social justice, cohesion and equity (SDG 10)
Social cohesion
Social interaction
Health and well-being (SDG 3)
Enabling opportunities for physical activity
Improving mental health
Improving physical health
Creation of opportunities for recreation
Economic development and employment (SDG 8)
Economic development: service sectors
Tourism support
Cultural heritage and cultural diversity
Preservation of natural heritage
Promotion of cultural diversity
Implementation activities
- Utilization of the frozen river for community-based events, sports, art, recreation and social innovation (1)
- Creation and maintenance of the Red River Mutual Trail, a 10 km long natural skating trail with regular snow removal and ice resurfacing on the rivers at the Fork (1)
- Creation of curling rings and skating areas (1)
- Organisation of neighbourhood festivals (1)
- Installation of warming huts on the ice for pop-up restaurants near and on the river (1)
- Development of the ‘Go…to the Waterfront’ long-term vision for Winnipeg’s riverfronts (1)
Type of NBS project
Creation of semi-natural blue areas
Management and improved protection of rivers and other blue areas
Strategy, plan or policy development
NBS domain and interventions
Ecological domain(s) where the NBS intervention(s) is/are implemented
Blue infrastructure
Rivers/streams/canals/estuaries
Amenities offered by the NBS
Sports areas and equipment
Cultural (museum, concert areas)
Complementing infrastructure (bathrooms, café)
Services
Expected ecosystem services delivered
Cultural services
Tourism
Aesthetic appreciation
Inspiration for culture, art and design
Recreation
Mental and physical health and wellbeing
Social and community interactions
Scale
Spatial scale
Micro-scale: District/neighbourhood level
Beneficiaries
Primary Beneficiaries
Citizens or community groups
Please specify other local relevant strategy
Urban development plan
Governance
Governance arrangements
Co-governance with government and non-government actors
Non-government actors
Private sector/Corporate/Business
Please specify the roles of the specific government and non-government actor groups involved in the initiative
The winter management is the responsibility of the private company 'The Forks North Portage Partnership' (FNPP) that also owns, manages and works on the renewal of the Forks. The FNPP was established with the merger of two corporations with national, regional and local government ties. (1,2) The FNPP is self-sufficient and does not receive monetary support from the municipal government anymore, but it has a high level of independence regarding developments. (1)

The connected sub-projects of the winter Forks management are operated by various companies and associations. For example, the cross-country ski trails along the rivers are maintained by the Cross-Country Ski Association of Manitoba and Red River Nordic, while restaurants on the frozen river are managed and financed by the owners (1)
Key actors - initiating organization
National government
Regional government
Local government/municipality
Private sector/corporate actor/company
Other
Please specify other key actors – Initiating organization
Regional associations
Land owners
Private sector or company
Public space owned by the city
Please specify other Key actors - Other stakeholders involved
Regional associations
Key actors - Other stakeholders involved (besides initiating actors)
National government
Regional government
Local government/municipality
Private sector/corporate actor/company
Other
Land owners
Private sector or company
Public space owned by the city
Participatory methods/forms of community involvement used
Dissemination of information and education
Consultation (e.g. workshop, surveys, community meetings, town halls)
Policy drivers
NBS intervention implemented in response to an Regional Directive/Strategy
No
NBS intervention implemented in response to a national regulations/strategy/plan
No
NBS intervention implemented in response to a local regulation/strategy/plan
No
Mandatory or voluntary intervention
Voluntary (spontaneous)
Enablers
Presence of specific city-level GI/NBS vision/strategy/plan - mentioned in connection to the project
Yes
Please specify
Winnipeg has a 25-year development vision called 'Our Winnipeg' that focuses on "long-term plans, policies and objectives for Winnipeg, as well as sustainable land use and development, recognizing that quality of life also depends on environmental quality in both the natural and built environments" (1 p4)
Presence of specific city-level GI/NBS section/part in a more general plan - mentioned in connection to the project
Yes
Please specify the general plan with GI/NBS section
The 'Go to the Waterfront' document is a 20-year vision for the downtown waterfront area that is based on the 'Our Winnipeg' development vision and "provides ideas for combining existing assets in a more efficient way, such as built infrastructure, communities, the rivers, flora and fauna" with sustainability as its core principle (1 p10)
If there is a relevant strategy or plan, please specify the theme / type of the plan.
Urban redevelopment plan
Presence of city network or regional partnerships focused on NBS - mentioned in connection to the project
No
Presence of GI / NBS research project - mentioned in connection to the project
Unknown
Subsidies/investment for GI / NBS in the city - mentioned in connection to the project
Unknown
Co-finance for NBS
Unknown
Co-financing governance arrangements
Unknown
Was this co-governance arrangement already in place, or was it set up specifically for this NBS?
Not applicable
Financing
Total cost
Unknown
What is/was the Cost/Budget (EUR) of the NBS or green infrastructure elements?
Unknown
What are the total amount of expected annual maintenance costs?
The winter operation of the 'Red River Mutual Trail' has the annual maintenance costs of 175 000 EUR (1)
What is the expected annual maintenance costs of the NBS or GI elements?
The annual winter maintenance of the frozen rivers (regular snow removal and ice resurfacing) including the warming of the huts on the ice is approximately EUR 175.000/year
Please specify cost savings
'According to the [FNPP's] calculations, the income from increased parking and consumption well exceeds this number, therefore they considered it a profitable investment.' (1 p12).
Please specify total cost (EUR)
The winter operation of the 'Red River Mutual Trail' has the annual maintenance costs of 175 000 EUR, however, no other information is available on the implementation costs. (1)

There is no information on the financing of the connected sub-projects only that they were privately funded maybe through public-private partnerships and entrepreneurial initiatives (1)
Source(s) of funding
Corporate investment
Unknown
Type of fund(s) used
Unknown
Non-financial contribution
Unknown
Business models
Green heritage model
None of these
Which of the involved actors was motivated by this model?
Private for-profit actor (e.g. firm, insurer)
Type of innovation
Technological
Infrastructural innovation
Social
Cultural innovation
Please specify technological innovation
Utilizing the frozen river as a commuting route, recreational space and as a sport and cultural space provided a strong momentum to Winnipeg for innovative use of the waterfront (1)
Please specify social innovation
The frozen river provides a unique open-air venue for art exhibitions, pop-up restaurants, community-initiated events, festivals and indigenous programs (1)
Novelty level of the innovation
The innovation is completely new without connections to previous initiative(s)
Please specify novelty level of the innovation
There is no record of any similar winter use of river fronts.
Replicability/Transferability
Unknown
Please specify Replicability/Transferability
The city of Winnipeg adopted the Forks as a successful model and used it as a guiding framework in its 'Go to Waterfront' river front development vision. However, so far significant follow-up and up-scaling of the model has not happened in the city, "as there is no development pressure, and ongoing initiatives keep the key stakeholders occupied" (1 p17)
Impacts, benefits
Environmental impacts
Unknown
Description of environmental benefits
Unknown
Economic impacts
Attraction of business and investment
Description of economic benefits
- With the utilization of the frozen waterfront in the winter, space and opportunity have been created for vendors and restaurant owners to establish pop-up restaurants on the frozen river and in small warming huts.
- With the frequent clearing and resurfacing of the ice, winter sports areas are created some for free of charge and some for a specific fee. These are run by the Forks North Portage Partnership or other companies/associations such as the Cross-Country Skiing trails (1)
Social and cultural impacts
Social justice and cohesion
Improved social cohesion
Improved liveability
Improved access to urban green space
Increased opportunities for social interaction
Health and wellbeing
Improved physical health
Improved mental health
Gain in activities for recreation and exercise
Cultural heritage and sense of place
Improvement in people’s connection to nature
Increased sense of place identity, memory and belonging
Increased appreciation for natural spaces
Description of social and cultural benefits
- With the transformation of the frozen river into a recreational and commuting path, neighbourhoods that were distant from each other have been linked resulted in more community-initiated events and programmes (1)
- The frozen Red River Mutual Trail has become a space for outdoor recreation, with many sport and cultural opportunities. Such sports facilities include hockey rinks, curling fields, ice dragon boating and cross-country skiing.
Cultural events are like art exhibitions, bars and grills with fire pits that offer unique outdoor social activities during the winter months that previously lacked outdoor socializing areas of this volume. With these facilities, the quality of life among citizens increased, their opportunity to recreational activities and physical exercise has improved.
- The physical health of residents has also improved as 'cross-country skiing and cycling (with ’fat bikes’) became popular activities on the frozen rivers. It has been reported that people rent more bikes at the Forks during the winter than during the summer and that the ’fat bike’ community is growing at an exponential speed' (1 p14)
- 'The Forks also organizes an annual architectural competition for designing functional and appealing warming huts that are placed along the trail for the public. Each year there are 5 new warming huts selected by a committee from the 200 contestants. (1)
- "These winter activities promote a more healthy and active lifestyles by providing opportunities and information on routes for skating, cross-country skiing, walking, cycling in order, etc. to become a part of the daily recreation and exercise routine even during the cold months" while they also changed citizens' perception of winter in the city altogether (1)
Type of reported impacts
Achieved impacts
Indicators
Unknown
Analysis of specific impact categories
Job creation: The NBS created ...
No information available
Environmental justice: The implementation of the NBS project resulted in ...
Improved access to green and/or blue spaces
Negative impacts: Did the project cause any problems or concerns?
No information was found regarding negative impacts of the project
COVID-19 pandemic
Facilities in the Forks area are partially closed or working under COVID-19 restrictions (information from April 2021).
Methods of impact monitoring
Process of recording NBS impacts
No evidence in public records
Methods used to evaluate the impacts of NBS
Unknown
Evidence for use of assessment
Presence of an assessment, evaluation and/or monitoring process
No
Presence of indicators used in reporting
No evidence in public records
Presence of monitoring/evaluation reports
No evidence in public records
Availability of a web-based monitoring tool
No evidence in public records
Impact assessment mechanism
Name of any specific impact assessment tools
Unknown
Use of GIS in mapping impacts
No evidence in public records
Citizen involvement
Citizens involvement in assessment/evaluation
Unknown
Citizens involvement in the analysis of the assessment/evaluation
Unknown
Follow-up to the evaluation / assessment
Unknown
References
List of references
1.) Katona, A. (2018). NATURVATION - Case Study Working Paper: Winnipeg, Canada.
2.) The Forks. (n.a.). The Forks North Portage Partnership. The Forks. Accessed on 21 April, 2021. https://www.theforks.com/about/partnership
Comments and notes
Public Images
The Forks and the Winter Waterfront
Source: https://www.flickr.com/photos/theforkswinnipeg/albums/72157661774260289/with/41920678095/
The Forks and the Winter Waterfront
Source: https://www.flickr.com/photos/theforkswinnipeg/albums/72157661774260289/with/41920678095/
The Forks and the Winter Waterfront
Source: https://www.flickr.com/photos/theforkswinnipeg/albums/72157661774260289/with/41920678095/