Welcome

The times we live in require us to bring our creativity, curiosity and courage—individually and collectively—to address the complex challenges brought about by the devastating effects of climate change and increasing inequality. In the decade ahead, we must make unprecedented changes to all aspects of society, and this has to start in the places where we live—in our cities, communities and neighbourhoods. The good news is that we have what we need to make these changes. But doing so demands new ways of organizing ourselves and our systems, and that we think and act together differently and better in ways that follow the Truth and Reconciliation Commission’s Calls to Action.

The Commission’s report was launched in 2015, the same year we began the journey that led to the creation of Participatory Canada. At that time, partners of the McConnell Foundation learned about some unusual and promising community change work happening in London, UK—unusual in its design because it invited creative input from everyone, and promising in its potential for systems change and scaling. Eventually called Every One Every Day, the work was led by the Participatory City Foundation and was first implemented in the London Borough of Barking & Dagenham. Here in Canada, we envisioned adapting and building upon this work which included building social cohesion and accelerating ecological transition and the next economy, and manifesting reconciliation in local communities.

Based on demand from Halifax, Montreal and Toronto, and with support from the Government of Canada’s Investment Readiness Program, McConnell and Participatory City Foundation partnered to establish Participatory Canada. The idea was to undertake a one-year social research and development (R&D) phase to explore feasibility of the approach. We were in the thick of making detailed plans in early 2020 when the COVID-19 pandemic hit, which required that we change course and explore what was possible in this new environment. Teams in all three cities quickly decided to go full steam ahead and adapt plans as needed, as they were conscious that building community resilience in creative ways was now more important than ever.

The pandemic has exacerbated existing inequalities and created new crises, many of which will be with us for a long time. If we are to rise collectively to the scale of these challenges, then we will need to imagine and build new ways of being, living, relating and working together in the places and spaces of local communities. Creating conditions for such transition at speed and scale invites us to innovate how we build social and civic infrastructures that are fit for the future.

McConnell is exploring this question in its Communities strategy1 . Social and civic infrastructure help to nurture and sustain healthy collective life at the community level by providing the means and conditions for people to come together, to learn from and care for each other, and to create society together.

One working definition of social and civic infrastructure is the following:

Based on evidence so far, we see Participatory City and the Every One Every Day approach as one manifestation of effective social and civic infrastructure. The platform provides people with basic and accessible tools, resources, relationships, knowledge and spaces to create, make, learn and grow together with networks of cooperation that are the building blocks of a healthy, resilient society. And evidence from Halifax, Toronto and Montreal makes it clear that the approach is highly adaptive to context. For example, in Halifax, Every One Every Day Kjipuktuk-Halifax is Indigenous-led and centres reconciliation. In Montreal, Notre voisinage is building solidarity among long-standing residents and newcomers to Canada, favouring projects that foster urban ecological transition. The Toronto team, Our Neighbourhood, is strengthening social cohesion, especially between residents from different backgrounds who live in different types of housing.

When we began this adventure years ago, we could never have imagined how the world would change. Now, more than ever, those of us alive today are called upon to do all that we can to create a better world, for current and future generations.

Participatory Canada can be part of this. It provides a fresh narrative and a tangible manifestation of what transition can look like at the scale of the neighbourhood. It represents an approach that can connect with similar movements of change, strengthen existing work in communities, and be adapted and scaled in cities anywhere. Simply put, it provides an inspiration for us to reimagine how we live and work together in communities, in ways that are conducive to a better and brighter future

1 McConnell Foundation. (2021, May 19). McConnell Foundation’s Focus Areas for 2021 and Beyond. Retrieved May 19, 2021, from https://mcconnellfoundation.ca/mcconnell-foundationsfocus-areas-for-2021-and-beyond/

Over a period of 11 years, Participatory City has developed an innovative systems approach to building practical participation into the fabric of everyday life. This approach is a combination of systems, methods, infrastructures and strategies that have created a unique method of building and co-creating inclusive participation in neighbourhoods, boroughs and cities.

At the highest level, these new participation systems are designed to support the transition to a happier, more equal and ecologically sustainable (and regenerative) way of life.

Far from being a nice-to-have addition to the core civic infrastructure, this type of system is a must-have in all communities; the residents we work with have told us this time and again. Participation systems exist to make it easy to participate in practical, useful, enjoyable and inclusive activities in neighbourhoods. They cannot rely on heroic and extraordinary people. Instead they are systems that can be incorporated into people’s lives creating many benefits for communities.

While there can be many comparisons with community building approaches, the Participatory City approach is unique in that it places people and their capabilities at the centre of co-creating a different way of living together. Our research to date on the impact of repeated and ongoing participation in the Every One Every Day projects has shown that individual and collective agency is born and nurtured through action, people doing everyday, practical and useful activities together.

What has been achieved in Halifax, Toronto and Montreal over the last year has been quite remarkable. These teams have exhibited exactly the type of imagination, flexibility and resilience we need to collectively rebuild our societies at every level. The teams leading these Participatory Canada prototypes have navigated every COVID-19 roadblock to build and test initiatives in their local neighbourhoods.

Building new practical participation systems is different from copying off-the-shelf projects or programs. The approach involves learning how to facilitate the co-creation of opportunities that allow every individual, every family and every organisation to contribute to building cohesive and regenerative ways of living. It involves knitting together every idea and every space into a vast and diverse network of participation opportunities where everyone can find a place for their creativity.

The Participatory City approach is about embedding this learning, unlearning and relearning social infrastructure deeply into our neighbourhoods long term. It’s a co-creation process that is dynamic and constantly adapting to the changes of people and ideas that make neighbourhoods and cities vibrant. This adaptive, creative and evolving process facilitates a living, breathing environment that is constantly responding to the ideas, changes, challenges and opportunities that will continue to present themselves.

The teams in the three cities have done exactly this, and at an extraordinary time when being apart has been more beneficial than being together. At the same time, the need for human connection has never been stronger.

Developing this initiative over the last year in Canada has made the work doubly inspiring for me personally. It has highlighted the complexity of how much we have to learn from one another, and how wonderful and yet complex these learning processes are.

It has also further strengthened my own understanding of the human condition.

We are all unique and amazing, and in so many ways we are also all the same. We need each other.

As we continue to develop this approach I know that we will create more interesting and effective ways to bring people together through friendship and trust. It’s through this foundation of friendship and trust that we will generate the ideas and excitement we need to make tangible, useful things that will shape our lives, and those of future generations.