Sustainable Communities in Action: Brock-Lincoln Living Lab
Here we learn from Dr. Marilyne Jollineau, Shannon McKay, and Mike Kirkopolous discussing the Brock-Lincoln Living Lab.
Dr. Marilyne Jollineau, Micheal Kirkopoulos, and Shannon McKay are part of the Brock-Lincoln Living Lab, a unique partnership between Brock University’s Environmental Sustainability Research Centre and The Town of Lincoln, both of which are located in Ontario, Canada. These individuals bring different perspectives to the topics discussed in this video, covering a wide array of experiential knowledge bases. They discuss the importance of community engagement in building sustainable communities using tangible examples from The Town of Lincoln, and how community partnerships can streamline communities toward sustainability. Their hope is that more innovative partnerships will soon be a community norm.
Key Takeaways from the Panel Discussion
- A sustainable community is a balanced interface between the economic, social, and environmental needs of a community (7:35).
- Engaging and connecting to all the voices in a community assists with creating innovative solutions to complex issues (12:18).
- Engagement between different entities (stakeholders, organizations, municipal government, etc.) can create opportunities for sharing and redistributing resources to ensure efficient use of resources (17:00).
- It is important to create engagement strategies that are specific to the individuals that you are wanting to interact with; The Town of Lincoln used innovative engagement strategies to ensure individuals of all ages were involved with community services projects (22:00).
- Transdisciplinary engagement in communities can lead to more pertinent academic research that is topical and useful to communities and supports building sustainable communities (27:10).