IMFG Post-Doctoral Fellow Andrew Wang provided a number of examples of self-help cases from an informal settlement in Accra, Ghana, to highlight how they have built up the settlers’ daily public spaces. Wang argued that this kind of urban design represents a social movement that strengthens community norms and helps lead to political and social change.

On July 13, IMFG Post-Doctoral Fellow Julie Mah presented preliminary findings from her research on Section 37 agreements from 1988 to 2018 that contain affordable housing benefits to understand the housing outcomes achieved through Toronto’s negotiated and incentive-based approach.

Graduate Fellow Devin Bissky Dziadyk reviewed the decades of research on the property tax, and provided new estimates of the incidence of the tax in Canada. Most estimates suggest that the property tax is regressive. If so, what does the regressivity of the property tax imply for cities, and do we need to reform the property tax to make it fairer?

Graduate Fellow James Ankers examined the implications for Toronto of recent national re-engagement in housing policy. He analyzed major elements of the National Housing Strategy, assessed how it differs from previous housing policy efforts, and explored the new policy tools and approaches the federal government is using to engage local partners in the development and management of new housing stock.

This webinar looked at the following questions: What role do airports play in ensuring thriving and prosperous city regions? How will that change following the COVID-19 crisis? How can governments at all levels work together to make sure airports are fully integrated within their regions and continue to succeed as economic hubs?

Toronto’s Inclusionary Zoning (IZ) policy will go before City Council this year. The IZ tool has produced new affordable housing by compelling developers to set aside a portion of their new housing units as affordable housing in the US and the UK. What lessons can help inform the implementation of IZ in Toronto?

The COVID-19 pandemic has revealed the importance of cities as partners in implementing and enforcing national and provincial policies, programs, and services. This webinar looked at how can federal-provincial-municipal collaboration be improved and what models exist for all three orders government to come together and address shared policy challenges?

This webinar examined the impacts of regeneration initiatives on housing affordability in Detroit. It analyzed how property tax abatements, housing subsidies and demand-side incentives can help to stabilize neighbourhoods and spur redevelopment activity, but also contribute to gentrification pressures and potential displacement.

What does Toronto and the region need to recover from COVID-19 and build back stronger? How can we build on recent successes and continue to address and overcome the constraints and barriers that have historically limited effective intergovernmental and intersectoral collaboration? What will partnership look like across the GTHA?

Many Canadian municipalities have taken hits to their budgets due to the COVID-19 pandemic. But what has the effect been on municipalities around the world? Have municipalities in different countries fared better than others? What accounts for any differences? What needs to be done to ensure municipalities bounce back?