Emily Burton-Brown With temperatures dropping as low as -37 C with wind chill, Toronto experienced record breaking cold this winter. This prompted Environment Canada to issue an extreme cold weather alert, triggering the opening of temporary Warming Respite Centres for the city’s homeless. The homeless needed no warning: freezing temperatures have already contributed to overcrowding…
Category: Urban
MPACC 2018: Affordable Rental Housing in the City of Toronto
Ian T. D. Thomson and Lina Pulido On January 19, graduate students from the School of Public Policy & Governance (SPPG) and the Department of Geography and Planning took part in the 2018 Municipal Policy Action Case Competition (MPACC) at the University of Toronto. MPACC is an annual student-led case competition geared towards tackling problems…
The Rise of the Sharing Economy
What does it mean for North American cities? by Andrew Klain and Avery Maloney The sharing economy is on the rise: in 2014, the global sharing economy was worth $14 billion USD, and it is estimated to grow in value by $335 billion USD by 2025. The growing presence of the sharing economy in traditional markets, markets…
Bioharvesting: A Potential Solution for Improving the Toronto Harbour’s Water Quality
Ian T. D. Thomson The Toronto Harbour area is contaminated. Though frequently used for various recreational activities, such as boating, swimming and fishing, since 1986 the federal government has designated it an Area of Concern (AOC) due to issues with water quality and environmental health. The source of these issues? Storm water overflows mixing with…
The Environment and Natural Resources: from Silent Spring to Climate Change
Cindy Liu and Tom Piekarski The fifth panel of the Canada’s Policy Transformation conference focused on the environment and natural resources. The panel’s speakers were Professor Jennifer Winter from the University of Calgary, Deborah McGregor from York University, and Matti Siemiatycki from the University of Toronto. Professor Jennifer Winter opened the panel with insight on…
Understanding Smarter Cities: the iPhones of Municipal Governments
by Anna-Kay Russell What is a smart city? That was the first question that came to mind when I saw a promotion for an academic panel called “Understanding Smarter Cities: What Happens Next?”, recently hosted by the Innis College Urban Studies program. After trying to answer the question myself – thinking of smart cities like…
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