Browse Our Research
Presentation | 2015
Big City, Big Ideas: Data Innovation and City Governance
Mark Kleinman
Rapid developments in digital innovation and in the availability and application of large-scale data sets create opportunities both for new economic activities and jobs, and for new and cheaper ways of delivering city services. They also hold out possibilities for new ways that governments can engage with citizens, while at the same time raising concerns about data privacy.
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Video | 2015
Big City, Big Ideas: Data Innovation and City Governance
Mark Kleinman
This video features a lecture by IMFG Visiting Scholar Mark Kleinman. Rapid developments in digital innovation and in the availability and application of large-scale data sets create opportunities both for new economic activities and jobs, and for new and cheaper ways of delivering city services. They also hold out possibilities for new ways that governments can engage with citizens, while at the same time raising concerns about data privacy.
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Presentation | 2015
Big City, Big Ideas: Cities, Museums, and Soft Power
Gail Lord and Ngaire Blakenberg
Internationally renowned cultural planners Gail Lord and Ngaire Blankenberg discuss how and why museums and cities can work together to activate their soft power - influence through attraction, persuasion and agenda-setting.
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Presentation | 2015
Mi$$ing Links: Infrastructure Financing Tools & Smart Growth
Dave Marshall
Are infrastructure financing tools underutilized when it comes to planning for smart growth? Do we run the risk of undercutting “smart growth” efforts if we assume infrastructure financing tools to be growth-neutral?
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Presentation | 2015
Policing Costs in Ontario: How to Back Away from a Breaking Point
Robert Scherf
This talk surveys the fiscal impacts of rising police salaries for Ontario's municipalities, then goes on to present research about best practices for controlling costs.
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Presentation | 2015
The Diminishing Returns to Density: Built form and soft infrastructure costs
Murtaza Haider
Conventional wisdom and the literature in urban planning suggest that high density built form is preferable to low density because it is more environmentally sustainable and results in lower hard infrastructure costs. This presentation entertains the other side of the argument: that high density built form can increase soft infrastructure costs.
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Presentation | 2015
Financing Metropolitan Cities: Understanding the Need for Different Approaches and Strategies
Enid Slack
Presentation delivered by IMFG Director Enid Slack at the International Property Tax Conference on Sustainable Strategies for Local Revenue Mobilization.
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Forum Paper | 2015
IMFG@10: The Past, Present, and Future of City Finance and Governance
Richard M. Bird, Alan Broadbent, Enid Slack, and Zack Taylor
On IMFG’s tenth anniversary, panelists Enid Slack, Richard M. Bird, and Zack Taylor look at the past, present, and future of municipal finance and governance and give their progress reports: what have cities learned?
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Search Research Archive
CBC News Online: Gabe Eidelman on Strong Mayor Powers
December 9, 2025
Toronto Star: 13th Annual Toronto City Manager’s Address
November 25, 2025
Global Radio: Enid Slack on the Challenges Facing Municipalities
October 21, 2025
