Building the Future: Rural Infrastructure and Regional Economic Development

Abstract

Communities of all sizes must balance fiscal realities, changing economies, aging infrastructure, changing demographics, and a challenging climate as they work to manage their core infrastructure assets and accommodate and/or address new infrastructure and service demands. Given these challenges, are rural Ontario communities capable of responding to infrastructure pressures and opportunities? How does that capacity – or lack thereof – affect a community’s current and future long-term economic development? Funded by the Ontario Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs through the University of Guelph-OMAFRA Research Partnership, this research initiative will examine the capacity of different communities in rural Ontario to respond to infrastructure pressures and how these response impact their short and long-term economic well-being. Running from 2018-2021, the research team will use surveys, workshops, content analysis, and case studies, to develop recommendations for addressing these issues through both immediate and long-term policy alternatives. This research initiative will directly support rural Ontario’s economic vitality by providing three key benefits: enhanced understanding of the diversity and varying levels of rural community capacities, improved and more nuanced public policy, and enhanced rural infrastructure development programming.