Notre travail

An urban neighbourhood can be many things to its residents beyond a shared place to live. It can be where to find and/or offer support to community members, join others in working for better public services and resources, and where residents can lead flourishing lives. However, it can also be a fragile place.

In the first in a special series leading up to the Canadian Urban Institute’s upcoming ‘At the Crossroads’ conference, CityTalk host Mary Rowe resumes her ongoing conversation with Zita Cobb, co-founder of Shorefast (Fogo Island, Newfoundland & Labrador) on the growing importance and value of nurturing local economies to serve and sustain everyone in the community, urban or rural.

As the price of entry into many neighborhood housing markets continues to sky-rocket, we need more models for both renting or owning a home. President and CEO of the Canadian Mortgage and Housing Corporation Romy Bowers discusses the need for government policies and support, and the crucial role for everyone in Canada’s housing ‘system’ must play to create a more diverse mix of housing choices that meet our collective needs.

Mental Health and Homelessness are inextricably linked crises affecting Canada’s urban communities. Medical Director at Inner-City Health Associates, Dr. Andrew Bond speaks about his on-the-ground experience in providing coordinated supports, and how essential local models of practice are the best solution to not only rebuilding coordinated systems across jurisdictions, but also restoring the levels of civic trust so crucial to healthy, diverse downtowns and main street neighborhoods.

Millions of square feet of office space sit empty across Canada and fewer workers are coming downtown. What opportunity do these vacant and underutilized office spaces present for increasing housing supply while making downtown districts across Canada vibrant, equitable, livable, and resilient?

The challenges posed by the COVID-19 pandemic revealed many possibilities for how urban design could create better public places to serve the public good. This episode discusses new models for how neighborhoods and districts function, what progress looks like, and how public infrastructure such as public libraries can be leveraged in new ways.

A look back at the lessons learned from pandemic response efforts surrounding public safety, placemaking, social inequities, the financialization of the housing sector and what changes are possible through community and government collaboration.