Community Report
This community report was co-written by a group of community residents from both St. James Town and Jane and Finch who participated in the project alongside researchers from York University. These are the voices and insights of community residents. We have chosen to call those who took part in the project “resident photographers”. While our conversations started with greenspaces, this was an entry point to discuss broader issues.
The community report highlights these themes and makes recommendations that were put forward by us, as community members, to create equitable, just, safe, and health-promoting greenspaces. This community report is the result of months of collaborative work and provides a snapshot of the important conversations we had around racialized realities in greenspaces in Toronto.
Resources and Publications
If you cannot access these publications, please send us an email and we can send them to you directly. We are still writing – Please continue to check back for upcoming publications.
Hassen, N. (2024). Narratives of exclusion: A photovoice study towards racial equity and justice in public urban greenspaces. Landscape and Urban Planning, 254, 105233. Available at https://doi.org/10.1016/j.landurbplan.2024.105233
Hassen, N. & Flicker, S. (in press). Collaborative “Sensemaking”: Picturing a Feminist, Anti-Racist, Community-Based Participatory Action Research Dissertation. In Schwarz, K. C., Mitchell, C., & Hutten, R. (Eds.), Collaborative Methods: Participatory Data Analysis in Feminist Research. University of Alberta Press.
Hassen, N. (2021, June 10). 6 ways to approach urban green spaces in the push for racial justice and health equity. The Conversation. Available at https://theconversation.com/6-ways-to-approach-urban-green-spaces-in-the-push-for-racial-justice-and-health-equity-160227
Hassen, N. (2021). Leveraging Built Environment Interventions to Equitably Promote Health During and After COVID-19 in Toronto, Canada. Health Promotion International, daab128. Available at https://academic.oup.com/heapro/advance-article/doi/10.1093/heapro/daab128/6356324
Lemieux, C., Groulx, M.W., Buxton, R. T., Blye, C.J., Reining, C. E., Hassen, N. et al. (2022). The ‘Healthy Parks -Healthy People’ Movement in Canada: Progress, Challenges, and An Emerging Knowledge-Action Agenda. PARKS The International Journal of Protected Areas and Conservation. Available at https://parksjournal.com/parks-28-1-may-2022/
Hassen, N & Kaufman, P. (2016). Examining the role of urban street design in enhancing community engagement: A literature review. Health & Place, 41, 119-132. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/27583528/
Community Resources
Jane Finch Community Research Partnership (JFCRP). https://janefinchresearch.ca/