Chestermere Pastor and mighty neighbour Dr. Preston Pouteaux interviewed panelists, about keeping neighbourhoods, and staying connected during the Virtual Fireside Chat on Oct. 27.
“We’re living in a time that has been described as the age of loneliness, despite advances in technology, living conditions, education, and health care, we as a society are isolating ourselves from one another, and because of this, we’ve faced a health crisis that affects all ages, races, genders, and cultures,” Pouteaux said.
Through the Virtual Fireside Chat, Pouteaux was hopeful that the evening spent together online would inspire watchers to connect with their community, discover new ways to strengthen ties in neighbourhoods, and create an inclusive and connected city.
“We want to focus on place, neighbourhoods, our community, the places where we connect and get to know each other and live out the real stuff in our lives,” Pouteaux said.
One panelist, Vibrant Communities Team Lead, Heather Keam was disappointed when the pandemic hit, and it was called social distancing.
“I refuse to use that terminology. Keep your physical distance, but be social, we are hard-wired to be social human beings,” Keam said.
Throughout the pandemic, Keam and panelist Dr. Trevor Hancock saw the impact on individual’s mental well-being from isolation.
“Having a social connection is really important to our well-being. Our health has to do with our mental and social well-being. We know that our mind and body are very connected, what we experience socially is expressed mentally, and has physical expression, and our social situation has a huge impact on our mental and physical health,” Hancock said.
Keam believes connected communities start with developers.
“It starts off with the developer, they play a huge part in developing the connections in a new neighbourhood with benches, trails, and areas where people can congregate,” Keam said.
Adding, “We can build our communities to be more social no matter what the world would throw at us and figure out how to be social human beings on the internet, or six feet apart.”
“Too often we build communities in ways that separate people and then we wonder why we don’t come together. We have to start building communities with spaces where people can naturally come together,” Hancock said.
In addition to developers creating places for residents to gather, Hancock believes community networks, groups, and associations are vital to a healthy community.
“Getting involved in those groups gives us a strong sense of place and strong set of social connections. There are a lot of ways that can happen, it can happen through the faith community, through the schools, or sports and recreation,” Hancock said.
“That community association is the most powerful way because then you find people who share your interests,” he said.
For a community to function, Keam says residents and organizations, must know their roles and work together.
“If we can have a mind shift and think about what the role in the community is as a resident, as an organization, or city staff, the community would be able to function a lot better, and do programming together,” she said.
“If you don’t like coffee, learn to like it. It’s about hosting, listening, and conversation,” she added. “Listen to your community, as a city staff person get to know your community, you have the ability to be the bird’s eye view of a community and be the person to pull people together and support them.”
The role of a citizen is to get involved, join clubs and organizations, take part in block parties, and have fun in the community with like-minded individuals.
“We can all create beauty in our own places, neighbourhoods, and communities. Follow your passion, do the things that matter to you, don’t try to turn yourself into something you’re not, build on your own strengths and capacities, because we all have something to offer,” Hancock said.
