ECONOUS2019

Neighbourhood renewal is becoming increasingly important as a site for organizing community power to control economic development and advocate to build inclusive economies and communities. Inner city post-industrial neighbourhoods are being targeted for economic development as pressures to increase density, engage in brownfield redevelopment, and address issues of climate change associated with urban sprawl are upon us. This session will propose a toolkit of neighbourhood economic development practices aimed at achieving equitable outcomes and identify ways that such practices are resisted, repressed, and mobilized in communities.

Community benefit agreements, cooperative business development, land trusts, and local democracy all become possible in the context of neighbourhood renewal. The challenge is how to spot those opportunities and how to organize to achieve them. Learn about a model for how such activities can be organized and engage in a co-learning process to explore ways that such opportunities exist across communities, how other's have organized and where barriers exist to move forward.