Supporting effective community representation: Lessons from the Festival of Neighbourhoods

Abstract

Increasing emphasis has been placed on involving community members in the decision making and program implementation process. To reach community members and encourage participation, planners and public officials rely on involvement from key community representatives. These individuals are often critical to the success of partnerships and act as liaisons between public officials and neighbourhood residents. The purpose of this paper was to examine the role of community representatives in a successful urban regeneration project called the Festival of Neighbourhoods (FON) in Kitchener, Ontario, through which a number of leisure-related projects have been funded. Two major themes were identified that focussed on the role of community representatives. First, relationship with the City, centred on community representatives' perceptions of the City's willingness to remain flexible and open to decisions. Second, relationship with the neighbourhood, focussed on the role of community representatives to build a relationship with neighbourhood residents to encourage involvement and create a sense of commitment to the FON.

Keywords:

• civic engagement
• urban
• regeneration
• incentive grant
• linking
• bridging
• bonding social capital

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

The authors acknowledge the financial support received for this project from a University of Waterloo/Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada seed grant. The authors would like to further acknowledge the individual community representatives for their cooperation and support of this project. The authors would also like to thank the Managing Leisure reviewers for their helpful comments on earlier drafts.