Social Resilience
Social Resilience is one of three key themes that will shape the Regional Sustainability Strategy (RSS). Three CRD policy papers under this theme provide a framework for its goals and policies:
Policy Goals
- Build community capacity and improve social conditions
- Promote measures to achieve long term physical, mental and spiritual health
- Cultivate an attractive and stable investment and employment climate
- Foster a culture of learning by building on accumulated knowledge and wisdom for greater community resilience
- Nurture social cohesion through greater participation in the civic and cultural life of the community
Our Region: Where are we now?
The CRD, together with municipalities and stakeholders, has made significant progress toward social resilience and a balanced economy. Here are some of the initiatives in place or underway:
- Accessibility standards for bylaws and building codes
- Community-based personal and community health education
- Jobs-to-population ratio of .35 in major urban centres
- Designation of all Agricultural Reserve Lands as renewable resource lands
- Capital Region Food and Agriculture Initiatives Roundtable (CR-FAIR) Regional Food Charter
- CR-FAIR Food and Health Action Plan
Our Future: Where could we go?
Though the CRD has seen shifts toward sustainability, there is still more to do. Some changes could be moderate, others more significant. For example, we could:
- Consider urban design standards for streetscapes and amenities to increase accessibility (moderate)
- Support mobile businesses and services to facilitate 'aging-in-place' (significant)
- Increase public awareness of health, wellness and active living (moderate)
- Steer policies and investment toward "complete communities" (significant)
- Establish policies that restrict farm fragmentation through subdivision (moderate)
- Facilitate urban agriculture, teaching gardens and nutrition courses for at risk groups (moderate)
- Remove regulatory barriers and invest in infrastructure for clean energy and green business (significant)
Significant policy shifts lean toward region wide initiatives, with more substantial investment and collaboration, higher targets and smarter regulations.
How do the themes link together?
Natural Systems and the Built Environment are the other RSS key themes. Linking policies across the three themes will achieve a greater effect than the sum of their individual effects. For example:
- Building "complete communities" supports the Sustainable Development and Transportation objectives relating to compact urban settlement and better integration of land use and transportation
- Improving social conditions supports the goals and policies of the Built Environment, including affordable and non-market housing
- Protecting agricultural lands supports Resource Management objectives
- Promoting active living supports Ecological Health objectives relating to parkland and open space
- Climate change policies aim to embed climate change considerations in all decision making