Dr. Ryan Gibson, Ashleigh Weeden (PhD candidate), and Melissa Visser (MSc Student) from the ‘Building the Future: Rural Infrastructure & Regional Economic Development’ project shared highlights from their research at the 2021 Ontario Good Roads Association Conference, held virtually this week.

The presentation was featured as part of the morning plenary on February 23rd and highlighted findings from case studies about innovative approaches rural communities are taking to managing their infrastructure and its connections to economic development, as well as early analysis of a survey completed by more than 260 rural leaders. Slides from the presentation can be accessed here: Connecting the Dots – 2021 OGRA Conference

The Building the Future project is funded by the Ontario Agri-Food Innovation Alliance and includes researchers from the University of Guelph and Simon Fraser University, and has been undertaken in partnership with the Ontario Good Roads Association, the Canadian Rural Revitalization Foundation, and the Government of Ontario.

Learn more by visiting www.ruraldev.ca/infrastructure or clicking the ‘Projects’ tab above and selecting the ‘Building the Future’ item in the drop-down menu.