The Community Plan

Kingston has a vision: Kingston – Canada’s Most Sustainable City. A sustainable community is a place where people want to live and work; it meets the needs of its citizens, now and in the future. It is sensitive to the environment and reaches a higher quality of life.

The Sustainable Kingston Plan serves to help us move towards sustainability in several ways:

• It reflects Kingstonians' desire to foster a sense of community ownership, stewardship, community resilence and self-sufficiency, now and in the future
• It expresses our willingness to be specific about how we preserve, bolster, utilize and protect our cultural, economic, environmental and social resources so they will be enjoyed by future generations
• It acknowledges the Kingston community's profound concern with the current management of the Earth's natural and human resources
• It demonstrates our intention to become an example to other Canadian communities as they seek to become more sustainable

Sustainable Kingston, an Integrated Community Sustainability Plan (ICSP), is based on the cultural, economic, environmental, and social pillars of sustainability.

The high level objectives of Sustainable Kingston are:

• Enhance awareness of community sustainability and encourage the adoption of more sustainable choices by our organizations, institutions, businesses, citizens, and visitors
• Develop a long-term plan that defines the guiding principles, themes, theme statements, indicators, and goals that will help Kingston work towards the vision: Kingston - Canada's Most Sustainable City
• Provide a framework for aligning, building on and integrating municipal and community actions (plans, policies, programs, processes, and initiatives) that are currently underway or being planned
• Provide strategic guidance for current and future municipal decision-making that leads towards a cleaner, more attractive, more sustainable future for the community of Kingston
• Raise awareness and solicit contributions through Community Partnerships and Citizen Commitments
• Establish monitoring, reporting, and community consultation  practices so that Kingston's organizations, institutions, businesses, citizens, and visitors have up-to-date information
• Become a conduit for community input and a catalyst for discussion that will result in the development of a community owned and community involved process that is tailored to the unique needs and desires of Kingston
• Act as a living plan, subject to reflection and change through an annual process of community reporting, conferencing, and celebrating

Sustainable Kingston consists of three parts: a Plan, a Sustainable Kingston Website (the one you are currently on), a Governing Body (described in more detail in the Proposed Governance Model section of this website). Sustainable Kingston was developed by the FOCUS Kingston Steering Committee based on extensive input from individuals, municipal government, Kingston institutions, businesses and community organizations. This input was critical in shaping the Sustainable Kingston Plan.

Support Your Plan: Get Involved - Go to the How to Get Involved section of this website.