Love Thy Neighbourhood Association

This week’s lecture on civil society forced me to look at a part of municipal governance I had written off as people who don’t have much influence and have way too much time on their hands, neighbourhood associations. I apologize for my harshness and perhaps ignorance but prior to this class I hadn’t heard anything positive about my neighbourhood association. I most commonly have heard that they stall the growth of the neighbourhood, contribute to NIMBYism, and that they don’t always reflect the interests of all of the people living within the area.

But after this class, I wanted to find out what they actually do. Do they have a structure? What have these associations accomplished, if anything?

More generally, after conducting some research on these associations, it seems like they provide a sense of community, something that has become incredibly important over the past three years of the pandemic. Maybe that explains why the number of neighbourhood associations is on the rise. Some are more formal than others, some require a fee to participate, and some are well-established whereas others are brand new. Residential associations certainly do come in all shapes and sizes.

Back to the issue of what these groups have accomplished- it seems like a variety of things (largely smaller items but as we’ve noticed throughout this course, the small things can have a huge impact on quality of life but don’t get me started on leaf blowers again). The most common initiatives started by these groups are building playgrounds or other community spaces, protesting the expansion of buildings or fighting the lack of green space across cities.

Neighbourhood associations do have some influence across the board but are rising in importance in some jurisdictions specifically. In London, Ontario, home to my alma mater, Western University, they have adopted a neighbourhood strategy that encourages the creation of neighbourhood associations, it teaches them how to access municipal grants, how to ensure their ideas are heard by municipal governments, and how to give people living in cities more input on budgeting.

It will take time and close consideration to determine the extent to which these groups are beneficial to communities. And if they do begin to gain more power, it will be important to understand their role and how they fit into stakeholder engagement.