Community Engagement In Strengthening Neighbourhood Initiatives

This paper examines which components of community engagement are critical in ensuring that public policy designed to strengthen neighbourhoods is effective. A detailed case study of the London Strengthening Neighbourhoods Strategy (LSNS) in London, Ontario was conducted and compared to less intensive neighbourhood community engagement case studies from Western Europe, the United States, and Canada. The findings reveal that overall, successful cases of citizen participation use the following components of community engagement in their treatment of residents: representativeness, democracy, influence, transparency, and competence or efficiency