The Pursuit of Urban Wellbeing
We believe that people leading lives on the margins, including the houseless, have a lot of wisdom to offer about what really matters in life. Connections to family, friends and community, one's physical self, the land, one’s culture, a sense of the sacred, and what we call ‘the human project:’ these relationships are all vital, and are what we consider to be the six kinds of connections that drive wellbeing.
So, through Recover, we focus on the wellbeing of our city’s communities and the people within them. We make opportunities for connections to grow, whether they be in small-scale interactions, or within larger institutions and systems. Our work creates more balance between meeting material and non-material needs, so hearts and souls can flourish too.
Indeed, the need for love and connection, and the need for safety and stability, are not hierarchical. They are concurrent needs. We believe in meeting all needs — both material and non-material — for people and communities to be well. We feel that this is where long-term transformation lies, for communities and people alike.
The six connections that drive wellbeing.
Every City’s Story
In most major cities, issues of homelessness and poverty tend to be concentrated in a small number of neighbourhoods. Edmonton is no exception, with many marginalized people living in the inner city.
Historically, this concentration of marginalized people, along with supports that serve them, has heightened tensions between different groups. Businesses struggle to address cleanliness and loitering. Neighbourhood residents are concerned about disorder, criminal activity and personal safety. Social agencies feel that they and the people they serve are unwanted in the community, further marginalizing them.
But there are lots of positive things happening in these communities too.
When we looked at what was working and why, we recognized that so much of the inspiration, positive energy and momentum was due to supports and innovations that helped root people in their community, that connected them to each other, to a sense of purpose and their own higher selves.
We learned that transformation of people and places was grounded in wellbeing, and that wellbeing is about balancing people’s material and non-material needs, as well as forming relationships - with others, and with and beyond oneself.
Relationships, then, become the foundation of a new way of living — which is transformational for both individuals, and for communities as a whole.
