Reconnecting our disconnected neighbourhoods

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When the ideas from residents of Summit Lake are put into place, the transformation is nothing short of remarkable

Studies show that in most North American neighbourhoods, we know few if any of our neighbours.

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And that disconnect impacts on everything from our sense of well being to how safe we feel about where we live, to whether we have someone close enough to turn to during times of need.

The 2022 StatsCan report “Do Canadians Trust Their Neighbours” points to the fact that residents in metropolitan areas with more than 1.5 million people are 46 per cent less likely to trust many or most of their neighbours than those living in less populated cities and towns.

Bridget Marquis with the U.S.-based group Reimagining the Civic Common addressed the challenge of our increasingly disconnected communities in a recent edition of Cities for Everyone With Gil, hosted by well-known Toronto-based urbanist Gil Penalosa.

“We’ve designed our communities in ways that make opting out of public life much easier than opting in… at a time when health researchers are pointing to the direct link between social isolation and physical and mental illness,” Marquis shared during the webinar.

Adding to these challenges “our gathering places, such as parks, libraries, trails, neighbourhood main streets and community centers… the very places that could bring us together, have been overlooked and often suffer from disinvestment,” Marquis observed.

And “for the most part, this civic infrastructure is not being considered by cities as a portfolio of assets, but generally seen as liabilities on their balance sheets.”

To address the combined challenges of disconnect and disinvestment, organizations such as Reimagining the Civic Common are actively promoting the importance of not just public space, but as Marquis puts it, the creation of “a robust civic commons, where we share space with people whose lives are different than ours.”

Simply put, the preservation of existing public space and creation of new places for residents to recreate serves as the foundation, but not necessarily the solution needed to get people of varying backgrounds to begin talking to one another and reconnecting, if not connecting for the first time.

Beyond having a place for people to congregate, which in itself is an essential need, Marquis shared that “research finds that time spent face to face with people from different racial, ethnic, and cultural backgrounds engenders more trust, generosity, and cooperation than any other sort of interaction.”

So how then do you go about doing that? The starting point, as the organization’s name conveys, is to reimagine civic commons and as stated on its website to “transform public spaces into catalysts for trust, social connections and resilience.”

One example Marquis gave during her presentation was the work that has been done along the Ohio and Erie Towpath Trail, which includes Summit Lake.

The lake was known back in the 1920s as a million dollar playground that attracted thousands of visitors to the onsite amusement park; and along the lake’s banks to swim, picnic, and boat.

But when tourism dried up and the lake was used as an industrial waste site by the rubber industry, it fell into disuse and developed a reputation as a place to avoid.

The spillover effect – as has often been the case with ‘rust belt cities’ in decline – was that the adjacent neighbourhoods also suffered from decades of disinvestment and isolation. So much so that some area residents and politicians spoke of fencing off or perhaps more appropriately, writing off the lake.

But as Marquis shared “instead of a fence, the early listening sessions led to relatively inexpensive and early investments and prototype improvements around the lake, including a new beachhead with improved facilities for fishing, canoeing and kayaking, swings, shade umbrellas and outdoor grills.”

Additionally, “they put residents’ ideas into action and provided tangible evidence of their role as producers of this civic space. They hosted potluck meals and programming like guided canoe rides. They delivered more than was expected, building small wins through high fidelity pilots and prototypes while investing in things that worked to make them permanent.”

And the transformation that has since taken place is nothing short of remarkable, including: locals actively involved and providing hands on support for revitalization efforts, the establishment of fishing and nature clubs, the creation of an onsite nature centre with permanent staffing – including the coordination of school programs.

As a consequence of these actions, Marquis said that visitor traffic is up dramatically, with 25 per cent of those who do visit indicating they come on a daily basis, and 87 per cent reporting that they spend at least 30 minutes each time.

And now additional phases are planned with money earmarked for trail improvements and the construction of a boathouse, canoe launch and floating boardwalk.

Arguably the most important outcome of these efforts and the reimagining process underway for common grounds such is this one – that the people living there are beginning to reconnect.

Mark Wessel lives in Ridgeway, Ont. and is a passionate advocate for living more sustainably at home and in the greater community. Visit www.markdouglaswessel.com.