Community Improvement Plans as an Opportunity to Embed Sustainability Principles

“Scientific evidence for warming of the climate system is unequivocal” – Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (NASA, 2024). For an overview on the scientific evidence on climate change, please review the NASA website. Forward-looking countries have already established sustainability strategies to ensure economic resilience and population health with some being more successful than others. Discussions from leaders and experts at COP29 have outlined that action and perseverance must continue, even if some governments, stakeholders, or industries are not supporting the sustainability transition.

With the safety and well-being of Canadians being threatened by climate change, impact on healthcare costs should not be the only concern. Extreme weather events are estimated to cost 25$ billion dollars in 2025 – to put it in perspective, that is 50 per cent of the projected GDP growth. Wildfires, for example, had a devastating effect on Canadian communities this year causing physical, economic, and social consequences to people and communities.

This signals that communities need to be proactive in forecasting, preventing, and managing climate change events while ensuring minimal impacts on their people and businesses. Each community is different and based on its geography and in turn, could have a varying set of climate change risks. As such, municipalities play a critical role in shaping their communities by customizing their plans based on their population, available resources, and strategic objectives.  

Used as formal planning tools, community improvement plans (CIPs) are used in Canada and other countries to help revitalize communities by stimulating reinvestment and redevelopment, coordinating planning efforts, improving the physical infrastructure, supporting economic development, preserving culture and heritage, and leading the establishment of an improvement neighbourhood. CIPs may include incentives and targeted private and/or public investments that support community improvement and economic development.

CIPs do not have to tackle all aspects of the community; for example, one focus could be on housing or health related by increasing physical activity. Irrespective of its key focus areas, CIPs could be an opportunity to embed sustainability within its community whether it be through the type of businesses supported, sustainable land use, green building practices, public spaces, transit-oriented developments, climate resiliency, and community engagement.

Given the economic and population costs associated with climate change, sustainability risks should be embedded at the onset of CIP development to ensure community resilience. As outlined in Toward Sustainable Communities: Solutions for Citizens and Their Governments, a comprehensive approach enabled by a tool – the Community Capital Compass – that maximizes environmental, economic and social benefits is foundational in creating vibrant, healthy, and prosperous communities.

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W&W Sustainability Team in collaboration with Dr. Mark Roseland, Professor and past Director, School of Community Resources and Development at Arizona State University, and Professor Emeritus at Simon Fraser University.