Environmental Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
Department of the city, I learned that urban ecological restoration sites in Toronto are
selected primarily on their ecological value and the amount of visible interest for the
project within the community. Joanne Jeffery, with TRCA, revealed that many of the
TRCA sites are selected through public suggestion and political pressure (Joanne Jef-
fery, pers. comm.). Many high-budget, high-profile projects in Toronto (e.g., the Don
Valley Brick Works and High Park restorations) take place in areas where vocal, afflu-
ent residents already have access to green space (Foster 2005). Engaging only those
members of the population who are already aware and active in ecological restoration
practices and who live in areas where green space of high ecological value already ex-
ists perpetuates the lack of involvement by people from diverse cultural backgrounds
and limits who benefits from the projects (Joanne Jeffery, pers. comm.; Beth Cragg,
pers. comm.).
Designating a portion of resources to community-driven ecological restoration
projects in specific areas of the city that have been identified as low income and vul-
nerable will provide urban green space where it is most needed. Selection sites that
provide the greatest social impact will benefit people, many of them racialized, who
live in low-income areas with less access and greater need for green space. Brownfield
sites and degraded landscapes in areas of the city with low-income and highly racial-
ized populations should be the focus and direction of funding for ecological restora-
tion projects in the city. This can be done by introducing social and community de-
velopment goals as added criteria for site selection. It must be noted, however, that
additional resources (i.e., funding and staff time) need to be set aside at the outset of a
project to initiate a project and build capacity in communities where there are fewer
social resources (Kim Stratham, pers. comm.). Including skill-building exercises,
leadership training, and community support services can create links between ecolog-
ical restoration and the social responsibilities of a city. For example, the organization
Sustainable South Bronx, located in the low-income South Bronx neighborhood of
New York City, trains environmental stewards from local neighborhoods where high
poverty and unemployment are rampant. Through training, people acquire the skills
required for planning and implementing ecological restoration projects in their own
landscape that in the last century became littered with brownfield sites (Sustainable
South Bronx 2007). This program, based on community development through envi-
ronmental amelioration, is forging a new generation of locally based restoration work-
ers with diverse values and ideas to contribute to ecological restoration projects in
their own neighborhoods (Sustainable South Bronx 2007). Looking at the Sustain-
able South Bronx model would be useful for Toronto's restoration community for de-
veloping a framework that further incorporates racialized people into the process from
the outset.
Conclusion
Implementing an inclusive urban ecological restoration framework can be both
challenging and rewarding. Nevertheless, in the current situation of globalizing
cities, it is vital that organizations take steps to make ecological restoration more in-
