Background

As community land trusts take on increasingly complex development roles, questions remain about how to build and sustain the organizational and community capacity required to support these efforts. This project aimed to identify and evaluate potential capacity-building tools for KMCLT.

Methodology

The project used a reflexive action research methodology to work with community members in Kensington Market and KMCLT members, exploring three questions: what participatory strategies are effective for building community engagement around KMCLT’s proposed affordable housing development, and how effective are they; how can virtual and design techniques assist in documenting and disseminating KMCLT’s work; and how can relational networks between community residents, political actors, and members of the public be enhanced to support KMCLT’s efforts.

Specifically, the project evaluated the use of digital and design tools to disseminate information about KMCLT’s activities, studied different community engagement strategies, created a shareable digital archive of KMCLT materials, and produced a community needs inventory for the City-owned site and other possible neighbourhood sites.

Results

This project generated a range of outputs, including reports, blog posts, podcasts, and a website. These outputs demonstrate how community land trusts, such as KMCLT, can build organizational capacity through participatory strategies, community engagement, and relational networks to support affordable housing initiatives.