Department ofNeighboring
A civic agency for civic agencyToronto · worldwide

What if we had a Department of Neighboring?

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

Neighboring is public work.

A neighbor is a noun. Neighboring 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 neighboring 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.

01 / Commission the Department

Put the Department to work.

You can commission the Department for one piece of work or invite it in for a longer, bounded engagement.

Now booking commissioned work, residencies, speaking and teaching for fall 2026 and 2027.

01policy + research

Work through a policy or systems question

The Department takes on policy and systems questions that cross mandates or fall between departments. Work can include research, analysis, policy development, evaluation or strategy.

02public works + prototypes

Make and test a civic idea

We build, test and revise civic ideas as objects, installations, programs, tools, learning experiences or temporary institutions. A prototype can be tactile, spatial, institutional or procedural.

03knowledge + mobilization

Put knowledge to work

We help research, experience and local knowledge reach the people who can act on them, through frameworks, measures, publications, tools and learning.

04on the record

Put overlooked work on the record

We create case studies, publications, documentary work and public records that make overlooked work easier to see, learn from and support.

05neighbor in residence

Bring the Department inside

A Neighbor in Residence is a time-bounded role inside an organization or institution, built around a particular question or piece of work. It gives the Department time to learn the place, build relationships and develop the work.

06speaking + teaching

Invite the Department to speak or teach

The Department offers briefings, talks, workshops and teaching on public health, policy, neighboring, civic agency, arts and institutional change. These are currently led by Dr. Kate Mulligan.

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.

OCTOBER 1–2, 2026

Neighborhood Nursing Design Sprint

Johns Hopkins University / Bloomberg Center for Public Innovation

OCTOBER 3, 2026

GLOW! Nuit Blanche

Find the Department at Daniels Spectrum, Toronto · 7–11 pm

OCTOBER 16–17, 2026

Healthy Ageing and Community Resilience: Building Integrated Community-Based Care for Older People

Keynote: It Takes a Neighbourhood to Age Well · National Health Research Institutes · Yunlin, Taiwan

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

NOVEMBER 25, 2026

Health Promotion Ontario AGM

Keynote · Online

DECEMBER 5, 2026

Harmony and Happiness in Civic Life Symposium

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

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@departmentofneighboring.org