Why this is one of our themes
It’s impossible to separate the health of a community from the health of the landscape within which it sits. Yet we try to do just that all the time; community or economic planning happens in one place, environmental conservation in another. However, when we conceive communities in such a way that they are sustainable – truly sustainable – socially and economically, we tend to have communities that are healthy ecologically, as well.
In this program area, Miistakis seeks to understand and promote the links between healthy landscapes and healthy communities. The basis of this research area is sustainability – linking the sustainable health of humans (socially, economically, and physically) with the sustainable health of landscapes. When we throw all of this into a pot and stir, we tend to see things float to the top like ecological infrastructure, resilience-based planning, sense of place, community hub development, walkability, transit-oriented development, landscape connectivity, water management, etc. These concepts don’t fit neatly into only one of environment, economy or society, because they largely exist along the linkages between those realms.
Our work in this research theme area generally includes:

• Seeking to better understand these linkages,
• Supporting deliberate planning that integrates landscape and community,
• Providing information and raising awareness about problems and possibilities, and/or
• Creating tools to help decision-makers. 

These efforts have led Miistakis to work with community planners, economists, developers, conservation groups, landowners, and a variety of others. Not surprisingly, in this research theme area, we work extensively with municipalities.

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