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2021 CivicLabTO
Academic Summit:

Collaborating on
Renewal & Resilience

Hosted by

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November 23 & 24, 2021

2021 Summary Report

City Building TMU's report, Opportunities for City/HEI Collaboration and Research, provides an excellent overview of the key insights from the 2021 CivicLabTO Academic Summit.

About

CivicLabTO Academic Summit: Collaborating on Renewal and Resilience is a two-day virtual event that provides partner faculty, staff and students, City staff and government representatives the opportunity to join a series of free panel discussions featuring thought leaders from across academia and our municipality. Watch as they address the challenges we collectively face in Toronto, evaluate possible outcomes, and present creative solutions. These sessions will highlight how research collaborations generate grounded theory framework that ultimately leads to stronger public policy development in our ever-changing urban environment.​


Building Back Better: An Equity Lens 

A focus on equity will be essential to Toronto's approach to recovery and its ability to build resilience. Prior to the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, the City of Toronto, while working with its partners, had developed and implemented various strategies and commitments to ensure Toronto is a leader in fairness and equity. COVID-19 has highlighted existing inequities through the disproportionately negative social, economic, and health impacts on vulnerable communities, potentially setting back the progress that was being made through the implementation of Toronto's varied actions. As we enter into the recovery phase, unless we design for equity and inclusion, the very people who were disproportionately affected by stresses before the pandemic will become more vulnerable.

As a connecting thread, interwoven throughout the summit, the panel discussions will speak to the equity-related work and opportunities within these thematic areas and address important questions such as:  

  • How is an equity perspective central to and/or considered in the work you are speaking to today? 

  • What are examples of tools or approaches you are using to integrate a population focus, neighbourhood focus, and other equity-related considerations to this work? 

  • Are there any data gaps present in this space, particularly if we are going to make an impact on Toronto residents, given the inequities we know exist? 

  • Whose voice is and needs to be at the table to ensure full perspectives? 

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Themes

The following thematic areas form the pillars of the City's

coordinated recovery and rebuilding efforts, while also serving as

the focal point for the Academic Summit sessions: 

Public Health

Planning and Adapting Public Space 

Stronger, Safer, More Just Communities

Arts, Culture, and Recovery 

Housing and Health

Transit and Transportation 

Technology, Innovation, and Equity 

Climate Change and Green Recovery 

Economic Resiliency 

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© 2021 CivicLabTO

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