Decisions made about how we respond to climate change will impact community health and prosperity. How do we work together to implement practices that both prepare our communities and increase health and well-being? Health agencies, local and provincial governments, civil society and individuals are increasingly mindful of the effects of climate change on the health and well-being of their communities. Preparation before a crisis and the response during and after is a cross-sectoral challenge, drawing resources and capacity from communities and all levels of government. More than ever, communities recognize that effective resiliency planning requires collaboration between different partners, leveraging the strengths of different sectors towards common goals. Decisions made about how we respond to climate change will impact community health and prosperity. How do we work together to implement practices that both prepare our communities and increase health and well-being?
We were thrilled to have nearly 200 folks join us either in-person or via livestream from across BC for Physical Activity for All: Tools and Approaches for Equity in Active Communities. Interested in the top takeaways from the event? We’ve put together a list of the night’s top #PAforAll highlights, as shared by folks on Twitter.
In the last half-century, the planner’s role and responsibilities have changed remarkably. Traditionally, planners worked to build and maintain the infrastructure of the public realm. In contrast, the issues that planners now grapple with are complex, interconnected and interdisciplinary—issues like population growth and shifts, social connectedness, housing and homelessness, equitable use of government resources, reconciliation, and accessibility. When we at BC Healthy Communities attended the Canadian Institute of Planners (CIP) conference earlier this year, this was brought into clear relief: the majority of the lectures, case studies and stories shared by planners at the conference described projects that interacted with gender, race, reconciliation, equity, and power. It’s an exciting time to be a planner, but at the same time, the responsibility to integrate all perspectives and dimensions of power and fairness into planning has never been greater.
As an organization, IAP2 focuses on building better approaches to the process variously called “public engagement,” “community engagement,” “civic engagement,” or “public participation,” depending on the field of the practitioner. In our work, we generally call it community engagement. This is the process by which governments, institutions, and other organizations that make decisions affecting the public ask for the public’s input into those decisions.
Building Safe and Inclusive Communities was the theme of the 2018 Public Health Association of BC (PHABC) Summer School, hosted on July 5th and 6th at five university sites and five other remote sites across BC and Saskatchewan. Presenters shared stories, experiences,...
Did you know that 7 out of the 10 Canadian municipalities with the largest portion of seniors are located in B.C.? As a result, more communities are exploring what it means to become age-friendly, supporting all stages, from childhood through to later years....