Flourishing Niagara Parks: A Comprehensive Analysis of Identity and Influence
What, who and how is NPC protecting, preserving and inspiring?
The Niagara Parks Commission (NPC) stands at a critical juncture in the ever-evolving landscape of tourism and heritage conservation. The systems thinking project delves into the intricate dynamics shaping the NPC’s identity and its role within the Niagara region. This article synthesises their findings, offering insights into the challenges and opportunities for NPC’s future.
Part 1: Introduction
Meet the Team
Debaditya Sekhar Jena, Chiara Garrido, Katie Sullivan, and Niranjan Kaur completed the project as part of the curriculum for the systems thinking course in the Strategic Foresight and Innovation program at OCAD University, Toronto, Ontario, Canada.
My Role, Tools Used, and Skills
- Role: I conducted in-depth research and analysis on the Niagara Parks Commission (NPC), mapped the complex interactions and influences within NPC, and identified key challenges and opportunities for the organisation’s future development. I collaborated closely with team members to apply various systems thinking methodologies, ensuring the analysis was comprehensive and actionable.
- Tools Used: Miro, Figma, Adobe Illustrator, Adobe Photoshop, Google Workspace, MS Suite
- Skills: Systems Thinking, Horizon Scanning, Scenario Planning, Sustainable Development, Presentation Skills, Communication Skills, Creativity, Analytical Thinking
Understanding the Project
The core objective of this research is to establish the Niagara Parks Commission’s identity and sense of place within Niagara. The team recognises the importance of understanding NPC’s role in fostering a cohesive and regenerative tourism strategy.
Statement of Positionality
The authors approach this research from diverse perspectives, acknowledging their backgrounds as international and domestic students. They emphasise the importance of decolonising research and understanding their responsibilities as settlers. This reflective stance is crucial for ensuring equitable and life-centred tourism practices.
Identity and Its Impact on Tourism
Defining Identity: Identity is described as a place's DNA, encompassing its history, culture, and unique traits. For NPC, identity is shaped by its vast tourist attractions, ranging from the iconic Niagara Falls to heritage sites and entertainment venues.
NPC’s Identity: The NPC oversees a 56-kilometer stretch along the Niagara River, including key areas like Niagara-on-the-Lake and Fort Erie. This extensive reach presents an opportunity to unify diverse tourist offerings and enhance the region’s overall identity.
Impact on Tourism: Influenced by identity, a strong sense of place directly affects tourist satisfaction and encourages repeat visits. Regenerative tourism initiatives must align with NPC’s identity to avoid initiatives that could harm the region’s cultural and environmental fabric.
Part 2: Methodologies and Framework
Causal Layered Analysis
Causal Layered Analysis (CLA) is a future research method that examines issues on four distinct layers: Litany, Systemic Causes, Worldview, and Myth/Metaphor. CLA helps deconstruct complex social issues by exploring surface-level data and facts (Litany), underlying systemic structures (Systemic Causes), deep-seated cultural assumptions (Worldview), and the underlying social narratives (Myth/Metaphor). This multi-layered approach enables a deeper understanding of the issues and supports the development of transformative and inclusive future strategies.
Influence Mapping
Influence mapping is a strategic tool for identifying and visualising the key stakeholders and their relationships within a specific context, such as an organisation or a project. The process includes assessing each stakeholder's importance, the direction of their influence, and the quality of their relationships. Influence mapping helps understand power dynamics, facilitate strategic planning, and develop targeted engagement strategies to achieve desired outcomes.
Erikson’s Map
Erik Erikson’s Theory of Identity Development is a psychosocial model that outlines eight stages of human development from infancy to late adulthood. Each stage is characterised by a central conflict or crisis that individuals must resolve to develop a healthy personality and acquire essential virtues.
Actor’s Map
Actor mapping is a strategic tool for visually representing and understanding the network of key stakeholders involved in a particular system, project, or issue. It identifies the various actors (individuals, organisations, or groups) and illustrates their relationships, roles, and influences within the system. This mapping process helps diagnose the level of engagement and the strength of connections among actors, identify opportunities for building new relationships, and pinpoint potential intervention points for systemic change.
Part 3: Layers of Influence
Research Question
To explore the identity of the Niagara Parks Commission, we framed the following research question as the guiding light for our work.
What, who and how is NPC protecting, preserving and inspiring? Further, what do these answers mean for NPC’s future in Niagara?
Level 1: Strategic Outcomes
The Niagara Parks Commission (NPC) is a self-financed agency of the Ontario Ministry of Tourism, Culture and Sport. The agency funds its operations through visits to its natural attractions, restaurants, golf courses, shops, and other facilities along a 56km stretch of the Niagara Parkway. The Commission was founded in 1885 and is responsible for preserving and enhancing the natural beauty of Niagara Falls and the Niagara River corridor as public green space and environmental heritage. The agency has developed, maintained and operated multiple attractions in Niagara. The Power Station, the Tunnel, Queenston Heights Park, the Butterfly Conservatory, and the School of Horticulture are a few examples of tourist attractions.
Economic Dependence and Sustainability
At the highest level, NPC’s strategic outcomes are heavily influenced by its economic model. As a self-financed agency, NPC relies on revenue from its attractions to fund its operations. This economic dependence drives a focus on commercial success, often at the expense of broader sustainability goals. The tension between generating revenue and preserving the natural environment is a recurring theme, reflecting the challenges of balancing short-term financial needs with long-term ecological sustainability.
Pandemic Recovery and Financial Stability
The COVID-19 pandemic significantly impacted tourism, highlighting the vulnerability of NPC’s revenue streams. Recovery efforts have focused on attracting visitors and boosting economic activity, but this urgency sometimes clashes with environmental and community-oriented goals. Strategic decisions in this context are influenced by the need to stabilise finances while exploring sustainable growth opportunities.
Key Questions
To understand its role and organisational identity, The NPC could ask themselves:
- How does NPC appear to locals and tourists, and what is going on below the “surface in the soil”?
- What are the key takeaways or learnings NPC wants to give tourists in each of their attractions? Is there a common theme? If not, is that intentional of the NPC?
- Is there a way to balance and connect commercial initiatives with value-based initiatives?
Level 2: Organisational Structure
Let’s dig deeper into the organisation of the NPC.
Niagara Parks Commission maintains an operational structure which includes the board and leadership team. The provincial government appoints eight commissioners to the board, and local governments appoint four commissioners. Various departments like Business Development, Planning, Environment & Culture, Niagara Parks Police Service, and Public Affairs operate under the vision of the Chair and the Board. The CEO and the Chair set directions and vision for various departments of the Niagara Parks Commission.
Top-Down Management
NPC’s traditional top-down management structure limits flexibility and innovation. Decision-making processes are often hierarchical, stifling creativity and slow responses to emerging challenges. This structural rigidity impacts NPC’s ability to adapt to new trends and implement forward-thinking strategies effectively.
Internal Communication
Effective internal communication is critical for fostering collaboration and innovation. However, NPC’s current organisational structure can create silos, hindering the flow of information and ideas across departments. Improving organisational communication channels is essential for aligning strategic goals and enhancing efficiency.
Key Questions
Moving forward, the NPC could ask themselves:
- What are the current organisational challenges for NPC?
- Is there a way for us to execute projects with greater cooperation and communication between organisational departments?
- Is it true that the current agency structure promotes business and commercial interests?
Level 3: Activity Outputs
In this level, we dug deeper to understand what impacts outcomes in levels 1 and 2. A significant weakness we identified within the NPC is the lack of community inclusion for locals and Indigenous communities.
Community Inclusion and Engagement
A significant challenge for NPC is the need for genuine community inclusion. While initiatives to involve local and Indigenous communities exist, these efforts often need more meaningful engagement. Community participation is frequently seen as tokenistic rather than integral to decision-making processes. Community inclusion is vital for building trust and fostering a sense of shared ownership over the region’s development.
Quality Control and Standards
Another critical output influenced by organisational activities is maintaining high-quality standards across attractions. NPC needs help ensuring consistent quality, mainly when relying on external partners and stakeholders. Implementing robust quality control measures is essential for sustaining NPC’s reputation and ensuring visitor satisfaction.
Key Questions
As a way forward, NPC could ask themselves:
- Which communities are key stakeholders of these initiatives? Who are we representing, and who is the user?
- Do we have the knowledge of their true needs and wants?
- Which team should lead this initiative? Do we have team members who understand community needs or the capacity to research that? Do we have team members from these communities?
- How and to what extent can we include community members in the development of these initiatives?
Level 4: Influences
This level consists of the influential factors that impact levels 1 to 3 above. One of the major influential factors identified is cascading or short-term investments.
Investment Priorities
NPC’s investment priorities significantly influence its ability to innovate and adapt. Historically, there has been a focus on short-term maintenance over long-term research and development (R&D). Shifting investment towards R&D can unlock new opportunities for enhancing visitor experiences and implementing sustainable practices.
Cultural and Historical Legacies
Cultural and historical legacies play a crucial role in shaping NPC’s identity and strategic direction. The organisation must navigate the complex interplay between preserving heritage and embracing modernity. Balancing respect for cultural traditions with innovative approaches is essential for fostering a dynamic and inclusive environment.
Key Questions
As a way forward, NPC could ask themselves:
- Which stakeholders will help us build an innovation centre in the NPC?
- How can we attract design research and service design talent to work on our initiatives?
Level 5: Deepest Influences
In this level, we find the deepest drivers and influences that affect all levels above. It came to show thorough research that there are 3 key drivers in the NPC’s core identity, which inevitably affects how it operates and, consequently, how it delivers its projects and initiatives.
Commercial Mindset
At the deepest level, a commercial mindset drives many of NPC’s strategic decisions. Focusing on financial viability is crucial for sustaining operations but can sometimes overshadow broader social and environmental responsibilities. Reorienting the commercial mindset to integrate sustainability and community well-being is critical for long-term success.
Traditional Ways of Working
Legacy practices and traditional ways of working can hinder NPC’s ability to innovate and adapt. Embracing new methodologies and technologies is necessary to overcome these constraints and foster a culture of continuous improvement.
Colonial Structures
Historical colonial structures influence NPC’s operations and relationships with Indigenous communities. Addressing these legacies through genuine reconciliation efforts and inclusive practices is vital for building a more equitable and respectful environment.
These drivers are found in the NPC’s core influences. The organisation might not be aware that these are their deepest drivers, which inevitably affect and influence anything built, created, and offered to the general public (visitors and locals). They indicate the root of the disjointedness and disconnection seen at level 1. If the NPC wants to promote changes in their disjointedness across all top levels, changes have to be made here.
Key Questions
Some questions that we believe would offer reflection and point towards the action of change on the NPC:
- What values will help NPC successfully protect, preserve, and inspire?
- Will a coherent value system (values from their DNA coherently understood and worked upon at all levels) help overcome internal disconnectedness?
Part 4: Recommendations and Next Steps
Balancing Identity and Role Confusion
Strengthening Community Engagement: One of the primary recommendations is to enhance community engagement. NPC should involve local and Indigenous communities in decision-making processes, ensuring their voices are heard and their needs addressed. This approach fosters a sense of ownership and trust, which is crucial for the long-term success of NPC’s initiatives.
Investment in Sustainable Practices: NPC is encouraged to prioritise sustainable practices across its operations. This includes adopting green technologies, reducing carbon footprints, and implementing conservation projects. By setting high standards for sustainability, NPC can lead by example and attract environmentally conscious tourists.
Enhancing Visitor Experience: Improving the overall visitor experience is another key recommendation. This involves leveraging technology to provide seamless and immersive experiences, maintaining high standards of quality, and offering diverse attractions that cater to various demographics. Enhancing visitor satisfaction can drive repeat visits and positive word-of-mouth.
Diversifying Revenue Streams: NPC should diversify its revenue streams to ensure financial stability. This could include developing new attractions, offering premium experiences, and expanding merchandise sales. Diversifying income sources can reduce dependency on a single revenue stream and enhance financial resilience.
Fostering Innovation: NPC is advised to foster a culture of innovation within the organisation. This can be achieved by investing in research and development, encouraging creative thinking, and embracing new technologies. Innovation can drive continuous improvement and help NPC stay ahead of emerging trends.
Cautions
Balancing Commercial and Environmental Goals: A major caution highlighted in the report is the need to balance commercial success with environmental sustainability. Overemphasis on revenue generation can lead to environmental degradation, harming NPC’s long-term viability. NPC must carefully navigate this balance to ensure sustainable growth.
Addressing Historical Legacies: NPC must be mindful of historical legacies, particularly colonial structures that influence its operations. Genuine reconciliation with Indigenous communities is crucial, and NPC should avoid tokenistic gestures that do not lead to meaningful change.
Managing Organisational Change: Implementing the recommended changes requires careful organisational change management. Resistance to change can be a significant barrier, and NPC must foster a culture of adaptability and openness to new ideas.
Ensuring Financial Prudence: While diversifying revenue streams is important, NPC must also practice financial prudence. Investments in new initiatives should be carefully evaluated to avoid overextension and ensure that they contribute to long-term financial stability.
Navigating Political and Regulatory Landscapes: NPC operates within a complex political and regulatory landscape. Changes in government policies or regulations can impact its operations. NPC must stay informed about regulatory changes and advocate to protect its interests.
Part 5: Final Giga Map
Part 6: Conclusion
The report underscores the complex interplay of identity, influence, and community within the Niagara Parks Commission. By embracing a holistic and inclusive approach, NPC can navigate today's challenges and build a resilient, cohesive future honouring its heritage while fostering sustainable growth and community well-being.
This comprehensive analysis provides a roadmap for NPC to achieve its mission while remaining true to the diverse and rich identity of the Niagara region.
