Ontario community sustainability report - 2007

Abstract

This study provides a snapshot of the sustainability of selected communities across Ontario in recent years. The study employs 33 indicators in three broad categories (smart growth, livability and economic vitality) to develop an overall community sustainability index for 27 Ontario municipalities. The municipalities include major cities, regional municipalities and medium- and smaller-sized cities from across the province. The sample of municipalities includes communities experiencing high, medium and low levels of population and population growth.

The objective of the report is to inform and provide a basis of measurement for communities and the province for urban sustainability policies and program development. The municipal rankings are intended to serve as benchmarks against which individual communities can compare and assess the nature of their comparative advantages — strengths in urban form, livability, and economic vitality — with respect to other communities while also addressing their weaknesses. The indicator framework and rankings can also serve as a baseline of current conditions and a marker for referencing future results, in the event similar studies are undertaken in the years to come. This should offer some indication of the direction in which Ontario municipalities are moving over time.

The case studies draw out some of the challenges and successes that municipalities in Ontario are experiencing and point to some potential solutions. The study seeks to inform the debate on community sustainability and smart growth in Ontario as the provincial government continues its major reform of the planning system with ambitious goals to stem sprawl and promote community sustainability in the GGH and throughout the province.