Over 19,000 residents consulted, 3,786 development applications submitted, and 384 non-statutory community consultations were held in 2013. The explosive growth of Toronto has presented new challenges for the City’s Planning Division and has raised important questions over how residents can be engaged effectively throughout the planning process.

Growing Conversations is officially launched to the public. Image by Marcus Mitanis, 2014/06/24.

To improve the relationship between residents and the Planning Division, the City has launched Growing Conversations: Making Engagement Work. The initiative is part of City Planning's goal of making Toronto the most engaged city in North America. The five objectives of Growing Conversations are as follows:

  • Better understand the strengths and weaknesses of the current community planning process in Toronto
  • Explore new engagement models and tools, particularly those that are intended to help build capacity, inform participation, and build stronger relationships between the community, stakeholders and the City of Toronto
  • Explore opportunities and best practices related to implementing Community Planning Advisory Groups in each Ward
  • Explore opportunities to broaden participation by engaging new audiences
  • Identify other opportunities to improve the quality of feedback received through the community planning process

Participants were invited to provide feedback on the planning process. Image by Marcus Mitanis, 2014/06/24.

The official launch of Growing Conversations was held at the Northern District Library this Tuesday, featuring panels designed to capture both positive and negative feedback about the way City Planning engages the public. While some participants enjoy the roundtables, information sessions and consultations that City Planning administers, others thought the events could be improved by including more involvement with members of the audience. The timing of these consultations were also brought forward. Many people are unable to attend the meetings and there were suggestions that the events should be recorded and posted online or summarized and promoted through social media. Other concerns were related to the release of information about specific development applications – specifically who is consulted and when.

Growing Conversations will be a year long process. Image by Marcus Mitanis, 2014/06/24.

The launch event was the first of what will be many roundtables, workshops and online consultations held throughout the year. A series of Opportunities for Change will be developed, which will guide the dialogue of future conversations in City Planning. Pillars of Effective Engagement will then be created for City Planning staff to adhere to during future engagement events. The vision will finally be achieved through the use of specific Strategic Directions and Actions. The process is expected to be completed by July 2015, with the end result being a new Engagement Action Plan that will be adopted by City Planning. This Engagement Action Plan will consist of four elements: an Ethnic Media Strategy, a Stakeholder Partnership Strategy, a Youth Engagement Strategy and an Open Data Framework.

The Ethnic Media Strategy will focus on newcomers in order to ensure they become engaged and familiar with planning issues and processes. Cantonese, Mandarin, Spanish, Tamil and Tagalog are some of the largest and fastest-growing languages in Toronto and the Strategy will target these groups by including monthly planning columns in a variety of foreign-language newspapers. These columns, running from June 2014 to June 2015, will deal with a range of topics including transportation and the Official Plan.  

Participants grade the different planning consultation types. Image by Marcus Mitanis, 2014/06/24.

As one of the fastest-growing demographics in Toronto, City Planning wants to give proper attention to the needs of youth. The Youth Engagement Strategy will employ researchers under 30 who will then study and discuss how best to involve youth in the planning process.

The Stakeholder Partnership Strategy aims to create relationships between City Planning and partner organizations, with a focus on newcomers, youth and low-income residents. These partner organizations will appoint a representative for the Key Stakeholder Advisory Committee, attend a networking event, hold consultation events, and help promote Growing Conversations to their audiences. Possible partners, to be announced by the end of July, include the YMCA, TCHC, BILD and the Toronto Youth Council.

To emphasize that data should be freely available for use by both City staff and residents, an Open Data Framework will be developed. It intends to provide clarity through notifying the public which data sets will be available for public use and when.

Participants grade the different planning consultation types. Image by Marcus Mitanis, 2014/06/24.

The engagement process has already begun online where users can vote in an instant poll, fill out a survey and contribute ideas to an ongoing planning discussion. The discussion panels and presentation from the launch event, in addition to other information about the initiative, are also available on the Growing Conversations website.

Were you aware of the Growing Conversations initiative? What ideas do you have to improve engagement between City Planning and residents? Leave a comment below to get involved in the discussion.