The Department of Neighbouring
A civic agency for civic agencyToronto · worldwide

What if we had a Department of Neighbouring?

policy + research · knowledge + mobilization · public works + prototypes · speaking + teaching

What really helps people and institutions care, coordinate and act together—on ordinary days, and when the lights go out?

Our health, democracy and public life depend on people and institutions having enough agency, connection and shared space to act together. Those connections run within and between communities, teams, organizations, sectors and governments.

They are built through care work, trust, local knowledge, shared places and coordination across roles and differences. Some of this work is formal and paid; some is informal. Much is fragmented, undervalued, poorly supported or no one’s clear responsibility.

It rarely appears in budgets, professional records or official accounts. What if it did?

Human health and life happen in relationships—with other people; with place, nature and culture; with economies, politics and institutions; and with our own minds, bodies and sense of self. The Department works in the in-between, where those relationships are made, strained, neglected, repaired and changed.

For a future you can feel.

Commission
the Department

Neighbouring is public work.

A neighbour is a noun. Neighbouring is a verb: the work of making, keeping and repairing the relationships that let us live together.

The Department is an independent civic and cultural studio, and a working prototype of what could happen if neighbouring were treated as a public responsibility—and as a deeply valued contribution to public life.

We call this systems acupressure: finding the point where a small intervention can change what a system notices or does. That intervention might be a policy, a piece of research, a public work, a publication, a tool, a learning experience or a temporary institution. We build, test and revise the form the work needs.

Work with us

You know this work matters. Let’s give it a place.

The Department helps you make overlooked work visible, build the case for investment and try out what could change.

Commission research, a public work, a prototype, a talk or a learning experience—or bring us inside as a Neighbour in Residence.

Work with us ↗

Existing Department work can also be hosted, taught, published or adapted. Explore selected work ↗

Coming Up

A few places you can find the Department in the coming months.

NOVEMBER 12–13, 2026

State of Canada’s Cities Summit

Lightning talk · Canadian Urban Institute · Ottawa

NOVEMBER 17, 2026

Cities for Everyone

Webinar with Gil Penalosa of 8-80 Cities

DECEMBER 5, 2026

Harmony and Happiness in Civic Life Symposium

Invited presentation · Harvard Chan × Saint Francis University · Hong Kong

DECEMBER 2026 · DATE TO BE CONFIRMED

Health Promotion Ontario

Keynote · Online

Supporters, partners & hosts

The Department’s work is supported, commissioned, hosted and developed in collaboration with a growing range of civic, cultural, health and academic organizations.

02 / About

Two decades connecting health, public policy, community life and institutional change.

The Department was founded by Dr. Kate Mulligan, a Toronto-based health geographer, policy researcher, writer and civic artist.

For more than 20 years, she has worked with governments, universities, health systems, cultural institutions and communities on the relationship between public systems and everyday life.

She founded the Canadian Institute for Social Prescribing and co-chairs the International Social Prescribing Collaborative, which connects work in more than 40 countries. She is an Associate Professor at the University of Toronto’s Dalla Lana School of Public Health and a Commonwealth Fund Harkness Senior Fellow.

Her work has included policy research, implementation, community mobilization, institution-building, teaching and public art. The Department is founded and led by Dr. Mulligan and brings in collaborators as the work requires.

The Department of Neighbouring, established 2026, seal

03 / Correspondence

Let’s make this official.

Get in touch about commissioning the Department, hosting or supporting a project, or inviting the Department to speak or teach.

hello@departmentofneighbouring.org