We want to build with you.
For The City is your Partner in Designing Community SolutionsWe help you imagine a thriving future, and then design the practical steps to get you there.As Solution Designers, we start with your vision of a well‑built city and work backward, co‑creating tailored strategies, programs, partnerships, and tools to bring it to life.Whether you're a civic leader, non-profit innovator, B‑Corp, or grassroots team, we guide you from vision to impact.Let's design something worth building, together.#ForTheCity
© 2025 For The City All Rights Reserved
Our Ethos
Our Ethos — Solution Design AnchorsAt For The City, we believe thriving communities are never an accident—they are designed, together. As Solution Designers, we work alongside you to co-create the conditions for flourishing: listening deeply, mapping bold visions, and designing practical, values-driven solutions. Our process is anchored in three pillars—collaboration, common space, and incubation—each essential to building solutions with communities, not just for them.Collaboration: Designing With, Not ForCollaboration is at the heart of every lasting solution. We bring people together—residents, leaders, organizations, and unlikely partners—to dream, discern, and act as one. True collaboration means making space for every voice, uncovering hidden wisdom, and forging common ground even where none seemed possible. For example, initiatives like The Social Impact Lab demonstrate what’s possible when diverse stakeholders co-create, applying design thinking to persistent social challenges and equipping agencies with the tools to move from insight to action. Collaboration is where we turn shared vision into shared momentum.Common Space: Making Room for PossibilityInnovation flourishes when people have places to gather, share, and imagine. We believe in creating and stewarding common spaces—physical and virtual—that are open, accessible, and alive with opportunity. Hubs like NorthLight Innovation in Yukon show how a welcoming environment, filled with shared resources and programming, can become a launchpad for new ideas, businesses, and partnerships. For The City works to design and nurture these spaces—so creativity isn’t just possible, it’s inevitable.Incubation: Nurturing New SolutionsEvery bold idea needs support to grow from seed to impact. Our ethos of incubation is about walking with individuals and organizations through the messy, hopeful process of turning vision into reality. Whether it’s a new social enterprise, a community initiative, or a systems-change project, we equip leaders with guidance, mentorship, and the tools to measure and multiply their impact. Programs like DO GOOD X’s accelerator prove how intentional incubation can empower underrepresented changemakers to launch ventures that benefit people and planet alike.These three anchors—collaboration, common space, and incubation—are the foundation of our solution design process. They ensure that every project is rooted in community, built on relationships, and oriented toward the future you want to see. At For The City, we’re not just imagining a better world. We’re helping design it, together.
© 2025 For The City All Rights Reserved
Movement Manifesto
We are Solution Designers at heart, rooted in vision, built for action.
Like roots drawn to water, there's a longing,
A place to be planted, a calling so haunting.
A well-built city, a reservoir deep,
Connection, opportunity, a promise we keep.Physical needs met, but more than just that,
Connection to people, a spiritual pact.
Love, attention, intention - the builders arrive,
From dirt and trees, watch the city come alive.No tearing down, but a city within,
Replacing neglect with something that's been,
Clearly visible, unmistakable, a human flourish,
A culture transformed, a community nourished.Citizenship, entrepreneurship, art takes the stage,
A well-built city, a new civic age.
Embracing abundance, striving for good,
A place for the vulnerable, just as it should.You'll know the builders not by plaques but by fruit,
Their ambition's cultivation, a purpose astute.
They love what's today but yearn for the more,
Building connection, value, beauty galore.A well-built city can never have too many,
Builders like you, are you ready? Any?
Come, let us build together, you'll see,
A well-built city where all can be free.
- Zach Manntai, 2023
© 2025 For The City All Rights Reserved
Our Team
Founded in 2017, For The City is a social impact enterprise led by experienced Solution Designers, creative professionals, and community-rooted change-makers. Our work is grounded in Calgary and beyond, and our mission is bigger than any one entity—it’s a movement designed to build a flourishing city.We exist in service of a vision far greater than ourselves: that communities flourish in dignity, connection, and purpose. As Solution Designers, we steward both the message and the method of that vision—working with communities, leaders, and changemakers to design solutions that bring it to life.
Zach Manntai
Founder & Solution Designer
“For over a decade, I’ve partnered with communities to design meaningful solutions—from affordable shared spaces to social ventures. I begin with a vision: a healthy, thriving city, and walk alongside people to make it real.”
Krista Manntai
Creative Director
“I lead the visual storytelling and creative development across our work. Together with you, I shape brand, design, and communications strategies that bring a community’s vision to life, ensuring every idea is not only seen but built to last.”
© 2025 For The City All Rights Reserved
Contact Us
Have a vision you’d like to bring to reality? Want to explore what it means to work with a Solution Designer? Let’s start with a conversation about what’s possible, together.
© 2025 For The City All Rights Reserved
Our Offerings
VISION-TO-SOLUTION WORKSHOPSMove from big ideas to actionable steps.We don’t just train—we co-design. Our workshops are interactive, collaborative spaces where community leaders, innovators, and teams come together to clarify their vision and chart the path forward.
Co-design your vision with expert guidance
Prototype and test solutions in a safe, creative environment
Leave with a clear plan and actionable tools to move your project from idea to implementation
Whether you are building a new initiative, reimagining your organization, or tackling a complex community challenge, our workshops are tailored to help you move from conversation to transformation.
SOLUTION DESIGN LABWhere complex challenges meet creative solutions.Our Solution Design Lab is an immersive sprint that brings together stakeholders—community members, organizations, funders, and public sector leaders—to address messy, systemic issues and create real-world solutions.
Blend design thinking with strategic planning
Rapidly prototype, test, and refine ideas
Break down silos and unite diverse perspectives
Focus on dignity, creativity, and practical impact
The Lab is not about theory. It is about building and launching solutions that are rooted in context, informed by the voices that matter, and structured for lasting change.
COACHING & CONSULTATIONDefine. Design. Activate.At For The City, we recognize that no two communities or organizations are the same. Our coaching and consultation process is fully customized—built around your unique vision, context, and goals.
Define: We start by listening. Together, we clarify what success means for you and your stakeholders.
Design: We co-create a custom solution roadmap. This may include new programs, partnerships, infrastructure, evaluation metrics, or strategic shifts.
Activate: We walk with you as you bring the solution to life. Our support does not end at a plan—we help you implement, adapt, and embed the change for long-term impact.
Why For The City?
We are more than consultants or trainers. We are Solution Designers—partners who journey with you from vision to action. Our role is not just to advise, but to help you design, build, and implement solutions that last.Let’s move beyond talk. Let’s design your next step.
© 2025 For The City All Rights Reserved
Our Acknowledgements
In the spirit of unity and deep respect, For The City acknowledges that we operate within the traditional, living territories of the Blackfoot Confederacy (Siksika, Kainai, Piikani), the Tsuut’ina, and Stoney Nakoda Nations, alongside the Métis Nation of Alberta Region 3 and all who now call Treaty 7 home.Like roots drawn to water, we recognize the profound and ongoing connection between land and life. This land, Mohkínsstsis in Blackfoot, is a meeting point for diverse peoples and histories, where every name has a face and every face carries a story.As Solution Designers working to build a well-crafted city that is rooted in dignity, creativity, and connection, we understand this work to be spiritual, relational, and reciprocal. Our solutions are not implemented apart from the land or its first stewards. They emerge with and through Indigenous and local communities, guided by the wisdom rooted here.We commit to not only honouring this land and its Treaties but to deepening our relationships and responsibilities to the Nations of Treaty 7. Our north star is reconciliation in action, recognizing that community freedom, well-being, and success are essential to our collective flourishing.
© 2025 For The City All Rights Reserved
