On Wednesday, October 19, 2022, our expert panel examined what the “Strong Mayors” policy actually means: what difference will it really make? Is it a sea change or a tempest in a teapot? Will strong mayors actually mean stronger cities?

On June 14, 2022, IMFG Post-Doctoral Fellow Hsi-Chuan Wang presented his ongoing research on informal settlement policies in two capital cities in the global south: Accra, Ghana, and Buenos Aires, Argentina. Both countries experienced significant financial system reform, economic liberation, and far-reaching public sector restructuring in the 1990s. Since that time, Accra and Buenos Aires have taken different approaches to housing and infrastructure provision in informal settlements. The findings suggest that the perceptions and approaches toward low-income residents changed in both places at the national and local levels between the 1980s and 2000s. Moreover, compared with Accra, Buenos Aires has undertaken a wider range of policies and strategies to improve settlements, especially after the economic depression in the early 21st century. This difference in approach can be partly attributed to different governance structures in the two cities.

On May 25, 2022, IMFG Visiting Scholar Gerard Turley presented on the story of Ireland’s new residential property tax, covering the background and country context, design features, implementation, and reform lessons.

On May 10, 2022, IMFG Graduate Fellow Fernando Calderón Figueroa explored the relationship between trust and the built environment of neighbourhoods across Canadian municipalities. First, he used data from Statistics Canada’s General Social Survey to show that trust is spatially concentrated — in other words, that people with similar levels of trust towards others tend to be in proximity to one another. Second, he argued that the spatial composition of cities — measured through people’s proximity to amenities like libraries, parks, and schools — is positively correlated with trust, and that a having a lot of amenities in close proximity to each other promotes the kind of recurrent casual encounters that lead to higher levels of trust.

On April 26, IMFG Graduate Fellow Shervin Ghaem-Maghami examined how selected municipalities in the GTA are engaging immigrants in planning decisions, and how such public participation activities can be improved to most meaningfully draw upon the strengths and adapt to the needs of newcomer communities.

The COVID-19 pandemic has had significant impacts on global cities in particular. Many of the assets of global cities – connectivity, proximity, agglomeration – almost overnight proved also to be vulnerabilities. As cities emerge from the pandemic into the economic recovery phase, their underlying strengths are beginning to re-emerge. But cities, and city policies, have also been changed by the pandemic, and cities will need to adapt and adjust to address some of these issues, particularly regarding urban inequalities, which the experience of the pandemic has exposed. In this talk, Professor Mark Kleinman of King’s College London discussed these issues with a particular focus on London UK, but drawing also on comparative evidence.

On March 1, 2022. a panel of academics and practitioners examined the growing threat of cyberattack to local governments in Canada and other parts of the world. How do municipalities need to adjust process and existing practices? What is the risk? What are the costs of action/inaction? Where do municipalities start to ensure they are protected?

On February 16, 2022, a panel of academics and practitioners examined the growing smart city industry and the advancement of data-intensive public infrastructure in Canada.

On February 1, 2022, a panel of academics and practitioners looked at the future of the relationship between municipalities and the platform economy. Looking at examples from across the country the panel examined questions including: What trends around the platform economy are lasting, which are short term? What new regulation is needed? Are new taxation models or user fee frameworks needed?

For the tenth annual IMFG City Manager's Address, Chris Murray spoke to the urgency of a whole-of-community and whole-of-government approach to tackle the precursors of homelessness before the downstream consequences and costs multiply for all orders of government.