From the Field Blog

Surprise, excitement, admiration – I felt all these emotions listening to Edward Jackson and Karim Harji speak last month about impact investment in the Canadian context. Being entirely immersed in this sector in the U.S. and Europe, I came to Toronto for the Aga Khan Foundation Canada’s (AKFC) launch of its Seminars on Innovative Financing for Development, with the impression that impact investing in Canada was - at best - a long-term proposition. This impression quickly was dispelled by Jackson, a faculty member at the School of Public Policy and Administration at Carleton University, and Harji, a co-founder and partner at Purpose Capital.

Parks are complex elements of a city. They can serve scores of different uses, some may be specialized in their function, or they may simply provide visual appeal for residents. Whatever function they were designed to serve, they act to define the shape and feel of a city and its neighborhoods. Urban open space has come to mean more than just city parks and tree lined streets. What makes greenery and green spaces so appealing and necessary to tourists and city dwellers alike are benefits like shade, a place to retreat from city noises, space for recreation and even viewing wildlife, and a haven from heat, pollution, and stress. Many childhood memories have been made by families in their local park. If you are among the three-quarters of America's population who live in a metropolitan area, you know urban open space means green, growing things -- individual street trees as well as large public parks -- that add to the experience of living in a city.