News Letter & Agenda August 13 2021

Is it possible to co-create with citizens?

August 13, 2021

Little Forests Kingston

Meeting August 14

Saturday August 14: 10:00 am

Agenda: We’ll talk about approaches for building a relationship with the city to make it easier for citizens to reforest Kingston.

Little Forests happenings

Gofundme goal increased to $22,000: To help support the AMHS & Swamp Ward Little Forests we’ve upped our gofundme goal. Check out the great blurb Kelsey wrote to go with this awesome picture.

Soil testing, workshops, and zoom sessions: Astrid is facilitating soil testing workshops at HWY 15 and Lakeside. Before the workshops, join her on the Ask a Master Gardener call August 19 at 1:00 pm to learn how to prepare the soil for Little Forests.

Is it possible to co-create with citizens?

Is it possible to co-create with citizens at a large scale? RSA Civic Commons noted: “Current models for encouraging citizens to participate in civic life are geared around citizens influencing decision making or service delivery, rather than individually or collectively making change themselves. But this needs to change; participation must enable citizens to take action rather than just have a conversation.”

C40 Urban Nature Declaration: Making our Cities Greener and More Resilient: Mayors of the megacities in the C40 network (including Toronto) signed a pledge “to increase and enhance nature in our urban environments that reduce climate risk and vulnerability, supports wider ecosystem services, and is equitably distributed and publicly accessible, by 2030.” A two year goal is: “conduct gap analyses and mapping to show where new greening is needed".” A five year goal: “implement new or enhanced public green spaces and green streetscapes, in areas with the greatest impact on the most vulnerable.”

Victoria exploring ways to increase cultivation of food and pollinator plants on city land. While forests aren’t being considered in this proposal, their intention is to investigate options like cultivation of food & pollinator plants on mulnicipal land, grants to help citizens grow food-bearing trees, and developing an interactive map of boulevard gardens, community food trees, pollinator pathways, community gardens, and potential areas for new gardens to promote participation.

Thunder Bay Councillor wants city to grow its own trees, plant urban orchard: Arguing that it’s expensive to purchase and plant trees from elsewhere ($500), many of which may not be sourced from a northern climate, the Councillor is proposing the City begin growing its own trees.

Ottawa’s plan is to become a 15 minute, walkable city: 15-minute neighbourhoods are compact, well-connected places with a clustering of a diverse mix of land-uses; this includes a range of housing types, shops, services, local access to food, schools and day care facilities, employment, greenspaces, parks and pathways that enable people to live car-light or car free. They’ve begun by mapping the city, releasing a 15-minute neighbourhood study.

Citizen’s Coolkit on Climate Change & Urban Forestry: a visual and fun guide for people to engage with family, friends, and neighbours on issues and solutions related to urban forestry and climate change on their block.

Despite tree planting goals, Peterborough is losing ground on tree canopy: What’s the state of Kingston’s canopy? With all the construction, the felling of ashes due to ash borer, I wonder if Kingston is in the same state?

Taking action for urban nature: Citizen Engagement Handbook: Promoting citizen engagement in and through nature-based solutions. Seeks to inspire novel approaches and gives concrete suggestions for working with and towards inclusive communities.

Participatory City: Illustrated Guide: Canada, with support of McConnell Foundation, has brought Participatory Cities to Halifax, Montreal, and Toronto. Blog post on McConnell Foundation website from Participatory Cities founder that poses the questions: What if participating in planning your community didn’t have to involve taking time to attend a formal public meeting or filling out an online survey that doesn’t allow for communicating the nuances of lived experience? What if your regular activities, from gardening on your front porch to preparing food to repairing your bicycle, were recognized as contributing to the collective experience of folks in your neighbourhood? Guides for Toronto, Halifax, Montreal. Participatory Canada website and evaluation reports on the city prototypes.