Neighbourhood Resilience and Community Hubs in Ontario

This paper explores neighbourhood resilience in Ontario, and introduces recommendations for neighbourhoods interested in enhancing their resilience. Neighbourhoods are dynamic, complex, and experience variations of social, environmental and economic challenges. Resilience standards provide a lens that addresses the interconnected nature of these challenges. For the purpose of this paper, resilience focuses on a neighbourhood’s ability to proactively respond and adapt to changes, emphasizing local capacity building, and meeting the neighbourhood’s essential needs. The overall goal of neighbourhood resilience is to enhance well-being while experiencing stress, as well as after. Through a review of resilience-focused literature, projects and approaches, it is clear that neighbourhoods are continuously changing, and require a holistic, comprehensive approach that fosters civic engagement and community connections. Ontario’s Community Hub Strategic Framework and Action Plan, 2015 provides a foundation to support the flexible nature of community hubs in addressing neighbourhood resilience and meeting specific needs on a local-scale.