A CREW partnership project in St. James Town, Toronto
St. James Town is one of the most densely populated neighbourhoods in Canada, and one of the most exposed to extreme heat. High-rise apartment towers, limited tree canopy, and aging cooling infrastructure combine to put residents at real risk during heat events. This is a risk that falls hardest on seniors, newcomers, and low-income households.
The Ward 13 Community Climate Resilience Map is a collaborative project between CREW (Community Resilience to Extreme Weather), and Sprout Climate. Together, we're building a tool that helps residents understand the climate vulnerabilities in their own neighbourhood and gives them what they need to prepare, respond, and advocate for change.
What the map does
The tool is built around three resident-facing stories:
Know Your Neighbourhood helps residents see where heat risk, green space access, and social infrastructure intersect block by block, turning abstract climate data into something immediately relevant to where they live.
Emergency Preparedness connects residents to cooling centres, local support networks, and CREW's "shadow responder" model — the neighbours, local organizations, and institutions who provide help before emergency services arrive.
Climate Justice and Advocacy surfaces the patterns of inequity behind the data, giving residents and community leaders the evidence base they need to push for policy change — from tree canopy equity to stronger protections for tenants without adequate cooling.
Resident stories on the map are drawn directly from Sprout's Climate Stories Map platform (https://climatestories.place), with CREW curating which stories appear for Ward 13. This keeps residents in control of their own narratives while giving CREW an active role as community steward.
The project also draws on asset-based community development and participatory backcasting, using a Three Horizons framework to work backward from a resilient future for Ward 13 toward the concrete steps that get us there.
Partners
- CREW — primary community partner and future map steward, bringing deep local relationships and emergency preparedness expertise.