Browse Our Research 

On June 14, 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.
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In this video, IMFG Visiting Scholar Gerard Turley presents on the story of Ireland’s new residential property tax, covering the background and country context, design features, implementation, and reform lessons.
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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.
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In the final paper of the IMFG’s Urban Project series, Tomas Hachard explores how Canada’s intergovernmental infrastructure could be reformed to include municipalities. Drawing on an analysis of how other countries have made space for municipalities in their intergovernmental processes, the paper offers four approaches to intergovernmental reform in Canada from eliminating unfunded mandates to strengthening trilateral relations.
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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. Second, he argued that the spatial composition of cities 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.
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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.
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The three papers in this report identify where municipalities currently face constraints, how other orders of government can support municipalities, and where intergovernmental cooperation is needed.  
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Over the last several decades, municipalities have increasingly relied on the private sector to help build affordable housing. Julie Mah analyzes and maps the affordable housing outcomes achieved in Toronto through Section 37 agreements. Between 1988 and 2018, the ad hoc use of Section 37 generated a limited number of affordable units. However, as the city implements a new inclusionary zoning policy in November 2021, Mah’s analysis of where, how many, and what type of affordable units were produced through Section 37 agreements creates a baseline against which the new approach can be evaluated
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